Lukas 17:10

17:10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; ¹  we have only done what was our duty.’” ² 

Bilangan 23:4

23:4 Then God met Balaam, who ³  said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

Bilangan 23:1

Balaam Blesses Israel

23:1 ⁴ Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

1 Samuel 15:13

15:13 When Samuel came to him, ⁵  Saul said to him, “May the Lord bless you! I have done what the Lord said.”

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ⁶  Israel along the way when Israel ⁷  came up from Egypt.

Kisah Para Rasul 10:16

10:16 This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into heaven. ⁸ 

Yesaya 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ⁹ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 58:2-3

58:2 They seek me day after day;

they want to know my requirements, ¹¹ 

like a nation that does what is right

and does not reject the law of their God.

They ask me for just decrees;

they want to be near God.

58:3 They lament, ¹²  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?

Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’

Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ¹³ 

you oppress your workers. ¹⁴ 

Zakharia 7:5-6

7:5 “Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh ¹⁵  months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me – for me, indeed? 7:6 And now when you eat and drink, are you not doing so for yourselves?’”

Matius 6:1

Pure-hearted Giving

6:1 “Be ¹⁶  careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. ¹⁷  Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Matius 6:5

Private Prayer

6:5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ¹⁸  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Matius 6:16

Proper Fasting

6:16 “When ¹⁹  you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive ²⁰  so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, ²¹  they have their reward.

Matius 9:14

The Superiority of the New

9:14 Then John’s ²²  disciples came to Jesus ²³  and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees ²⁴  fast often, ²⁵  but your disciples don’t fast?”

Matius 15:7-9

15:7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ²⁶  is far from me,

15:9 and they worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ²⁷ 

Roma 3:27

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ²⁸  It is excluded! By what principle? ²⁹  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!

Roma 10:1-3

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ³⁰  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ³¹  is for their salvation. 10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, ³²  but their zeal is not in line with the truth. ³³  10:3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Roma 10:1

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ³⁴  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ³⁵  is for their salvation.

Kolose 1:29

1:29 Toward this goal ³⁶  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ³⁷  works in me.

Galatia 1:14

1:14 I ³⁸  was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation, ³⁹  and was ⁴⁰  extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ⁴¹ 

Efesus 2:9

2:9 it is not from ⁴²  works, so that no one can boast. ⁴³ 

Efesus 2:1

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ⁴⁴  dead ⁴⁵  in your transgressions and sins,

Titus 1:8

1:8 Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled.

[17:10]  ¹ tn Some translations describe the slaves as “worthless” (NRSV) or “unworthy” (NASB, NIV) but that is not Jesus’ point. These disciples have not done anything deserving special commendation or praise (L&N 33.361), but only what would normally be expected of a slave in such a situation (thus the translation “we have only done what was our duty”).

[17:10]  ² tn Or “we have only done what we were supposed to do.”

[23:4]  ³ tn The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.

[23:1]  ⁴ sn The first part of Balaam’s activity ends in disaster for Balak – he blesses Israel. The chapter falls into four units: the first prophecy (vv. 1-10), the relocation (vv. 11-17), the second prophecy (vv. 18-24), and a further location (vv. 25-30).

[15:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “to Saul.”

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:16]  ⁸ tn Or “into the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[1:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ¹⁰ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[58:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “ways” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV); NLT “my laws.”

[58:3]  ¹² tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

[58:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

[7:5]  ¹⁵ tn The seventh month apparently refers to the anniversary of the assassination of Gedaliah, governor of Judah (Jer 40:13-14; 41:1), in approximately 581 b.c.

[6:1]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ Several mss (א L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892 1241 1424 al) have δέ (de, “but, now”) at the beginning of this verse; the reading without δέ is supported by B D W 0250 ˹³ Ï lat. A decision is difficult, but apparently the conjunction was added by later scribes to indicate a transition in the thought-flow of the Sermon on the Mount. NA²⁷ has δέ in brackets, indicating reservations about its authenticity.

[6:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”

[6:5]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[6:16]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[6:16]  ²⁰ tn Here the term “disfigure” used in a number of translations was not used because it could convey to the modern reader the notion of mutilation. L&N 79.17 states, “‘to make unsightly, to disfigure, to make ugly.’ ἀφανίζουσιν γὰρ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ‘for they make their faces unsightly’ Mt 6:16.”

[6:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:14]  ²² sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[9:14]  ²³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:14]  ²⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[9:14]  ²⁵ sn John’s disciples and the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly (Lev 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

[15:8]  ²⁶ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

[15:9]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

[3:27]  ²⁸ tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.

[3:27]  ²⁹ tn Grk “By what sort of law?”

[10:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:2]  ³² tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”

[10:2]  ³³ tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”

[10:2]  sn Their zeal is not in line with the truth means that the Jews’ passion for God was strong, but it ignored the true righteousness of God (v. 3; cf. also 3:21).

[10:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:29]  ³⁶ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ³⁷ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

[1:14]  ³⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:14]  ³⁹ tn Or “among my race.”

[1:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “was advancing beyond…nation, being.” The participle ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) was translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[1:14]  ⁴¹ sn The traditions of my ancestors refers to both Pharisaic and popular teachings of this time which eventually were codified in Jewish literature such as the Mishnah, Midrashim, and Targums.

[2:9]  ⁴² tn Or “not as a result of.”

[2:9]  ⁴³ tn Grk “lest anyone should boast.”

[2:1]  ⁴⁴ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ⁴⁵ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.