Hosea 11:12

God’s Lawsuit against Israel: Breach of Covenant

11:12 (12:1) ¹  Ephraim has surrounded me with lies;

the house of Israel has surrounded me ²  with deceit.

But Judah still roams about with ³  God;

he remains faithful to the Holy One.

Hosea 11:2

11:2 But the more I summoned ⁴  them,

the farther they departed from me. ⁵ 

They sacrificed to the Baal idols

and burned incense to images.

Kisah Para Rasul 17:18-19

17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ⁶  and Stoic ⁷  philosophers were conversing ⁸  with him, and some were asking, ⁹  “What does this foolish babbler ¹⁰  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ¹¹  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ¹²  17:19 So they took Paul and ¹³  brought him to the Areopagus, ¹⁴  saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?

Yeremia 3:10-11

3:10 In spite of all this, ¹⁵  Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” ¹⁶  says the Lord. 3:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah. ¹⁷ 

Lukas 12:47-48

12:47 That ¹⁸  servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or do what his master asked ¹⁹  will receive a severe beating. 12:48 But the one who did not know his master’s will ²⁰  and did things worthy of punishment ²¹  will receive a light beating. ²²  From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, ²³  and from the one who has been entrusted with much, ²⁴  even more will be asked. ²⁵ 

Efesus 5:11

5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather ²⁶  expose them. ²⁷ 

[11:12]  ¹ sn Beginning with 11:12, the verse numbers through 12:14 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 11:12 ET = 12:1 HT, 12:1 ET = 12:2 HT, etc., through 12:14 ET = 12:15 HT. From 13:1 to 13:16 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[11:12]  ² tn The phrase “has surrounded me” is not repeated in the Hebrew text here, but is implied by the parallelism in the preceding line. It is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons, smoothness, and readability.

[11:12]  ³ tn The verb רוּד (rud, “to roam about freely”) is used in a concrete sense to refer to someone wandering restlessly and roaming back and forth (BDB 923 s.v. רוּד; Judg 11:37). Here, it is used figuratively, possibly with positive connotations, as indicated by the preposition עִם (’im, “with”), to indicate accompaniment: “but Judah still goes about with God” (HALOT 1194 s.v. רוד). Some English versions render it positively: “Judah still walks with God” (RSV, NRSV); “Judah is restive under God” (REB); “but Judah stands firm with God” (NJPS); “but Judah yet ruleth with God” (KJV, ASV). Other English versions adopt the negative connotation “to wander restlessly” and nuance עִם in an adversative sense (“against”): “Judah is still rebellious against God” (NAB), “Judah is unruly against God” (NIV), and “the people of Judah are still rebelling against me” (TEV).

[11:2]  ⁴ tc The MT reads קָרְאוּ (qar’u, “they called”; Qal perfect 3rd person common plural from קָרַא, qara’, “to call”), cf. KJV, NASB; however, the LXX and Syriac reflect כְּקָרְאִי (kÿqar’i, “as I called”; preposition כְּ (kaf) + Qal infinitive construct from קָרַא + 1st person common singular suffix). The presence of the resumptive adverb כֵּן (ken, “even so”) in the following clause supports the alternate textual tradition reflected in the LXX and Syriac (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[11:2]  ⁵ tc The MT reads מִפְּנֵיהֶם (mippÿnehem, “from them”; preposition + masculine plural noun + 3rd person masculine plural suffix), so KJV, ASV, NASB; however, the LXX and Syriac reflect an alternate Hebrew textual tradition of מִפָּנַי הֵם (mippanay hem, “they [went away] from me”; preposition + masculine plural noun + 1st person common singular suffix, followed by 3rd person masculine plural independent personal pronoun); cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV. The textual variant was caused simply by faulty word division.

[17:18]  ⁶ sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ⁷ sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ⁸ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[17:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to the council of the Areopagus.” See also the term in v. 22.

[17:19]  sn The Areopagus has been traditionally understood as reference to a rocky hill near the Acropolis in Athens, although this place may well have been located in the marketplace at the foot of the hill (L&N 93.412; BDAG 129 s.v. ῎Αρειος πάγος). This term does not refer so much to the place, however, as to the advisory council of Athens known as the Areopagus, which dealt with ethical, cultural, and religious matters, including the supervision of education and controlling the many visiting lecturers. Thus it could be translated the council of the Areopagus. See also the term in v. 22.

[3:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And even in all this.”

[3:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”

[3:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”

[3:11]  sn A comparison is drawn here between the greater culpability of Judah, who has had the advantage of seeing how God disciplined her sister nation for having sinned and yet ignored the warning and committed the same sin, and the culpability of Israel who had no such advantage.

[12:47]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:47]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “or do according to his will”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity. This example deals with the slave who knew what the command was and yet failed to complete it.

[12:48]  ²⁰ tn Grk “did not know”; the phrase “his master’s will” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

[12:48]  ²¹ tn Grk “blows.”

[12:48]  ²² tn Grk “will receive few (blows).”

[12:48]  ²³ tn Grk “required from him”; but the words “from him” are redundant in English and have not been translated.

[12:48]  ²⁴ sn Entrusted with much. To be gifted with precious responsibility is something that requires faithfulness.

[12:48]  ²⁵ tn Grk “they will ask even more.”

[5:11]  ²⁶ tn The Greek conjunction καὶ (kai) seems to be functioning here ascensively, (i.e., “even”), but is difficult to render in this context using good English. It may read something like: “but rather even expose them!”

[5:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk “rather even expose.”