Mazmur 48:1-3

Psalm 48 ¹ 

A song, a psalm by the Korahites.

48:1 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise

in the city of our God, ²  his holy hill.

48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, ³ 

a source of joy to the whole earth. ⁴ 

Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; ⁵ 

it is the city of the great king.

48:3 God is in its fortresses;

he reveals himself as its defender. ⁶ 

Mazmur 147:19-20

147:19 He proclaims his word to Jacob,

his statutes and regulations to Israel.

147:20 He has not done so with any other nation;

they are not aware of his regulations.

Praise the Lord!

Ulangan 4:7-8

4:7 In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just ⁷  as this whole law ⁸  that I am about to share with ⁹  you today?

Ulangan 4:34-36

4:34 Or has God ¹⁰  ever before tried to deliver ¹¹  a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, ¹²  signs, wonders, war, strength, power, ¹³  and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 4:35 You have been taught that the Lord alone is God – there is no other besides him. 4:36 From heaven he spoke to you in order to teach you, and on earth he showed you his great fire from which you also heard his words. ¹⁴ 

Kisah Para Rasul 17:23

17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, ¹⁵  I even found an altar with this inscription: ¹⁶  ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, ¹⁷  this I proclaim to you.

Roma 2:17--3:2

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ¹⁸  and boast of your relationship to God ¹⁹  2:18 and know his will ²⁰  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ²¹  2:19 and if you are convinced ²²  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ²³  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ²⁴  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ²⁵ 

2:25 For circumcision ²⁶  has its value if you practice the law, but ²⁷  if you break the law, ²⁸  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ²⁹  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ³⁰  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ³¹  the written code ³²  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ³³  by the Spirit ³⁴  and not by the written code. ³⁵  This person’s ³⁶  praise is not from people but from God.

3:1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 3:2 Actually, there are many advantages. ³⁷  First of all, ³⁸  the Jews ³⁹  were entrusted with the oracles of God. ⁴⁰ 

[48:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 48. This so-called “Song of Zion” celebrates the greatness and glory of the Lord’s dwelling place, Jerusalem. His presence in the city elevates it above all others and assures its security.

[48:1]  ² sn The city of our God is Jerusalem, which is also referred to here as “his holy hill,” that is, Zion (see v. 2, as well as Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; 87:1; Dan 9:16).

[48:2]  ³ tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.

[48:2]  ⁴ sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).

[48:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.

[48:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “he is known for an elevated place.”

[4:8]  ⁷ tn Or “pure”; or “fair”; Heb “righteous.”

[4:8]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew phrase הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (hattorah hazzo’t), in this context, refers specifically to the Book of Deuteronomy. That is, it is the collection of all the חֻקִּים (khuqqim, “statutes,” 4:1) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “ordinances,” 4:1) to be included in the covenant text. In a full canonical sense, of course, it pertains to the entire Pentateuch or Torah.

[4:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “place before.”

[4:34]  ¹⁰ tn The translation assumes the reference is to Israel’s God in which case the point is this: God’s intervention in Israel’s experience is unique in the sense that he has never intervened in such power for any other people on earth. The focus is on the uniqueness of Israel’s experience. Some understand the divine name here in a generic sense, “a god,” or “any god.” In this case God’s incomparability is the focus (cf. v. 35, where this theme is expressed).

[4:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”

[4:34]  ¹² tn Heb “by testings.” The reference here is the judgments upon Pharaoh in the form of plagues. See Deut 7:19 (cf. v. 18) and 29:3 (cf. v. 2).

[4:34]  ¹³ tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”

[4:36]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and his words you heard from the midst of the fire.”

[17:23]  ¹⁵ tn Or “your sanctuaries.” L&N 53.54 gives “sanctuary” (place of worship) as an alternate meaning for the word σεβάσματα (sebasmata).

[17:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “on which was written,” but since it would have been carved in stone, it is more common to speak of an “inscription” in English. To simplify the English the relative construction with a passive verb (“on which was inscribed”) was translated as a prepositional phrase with a substantive (“inscription”).

[17:23]  ¹⁷ tn BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνοέω 1.b has “Abs. ὅ ἀγνοοῦντες εὐσεβεῖτε what you worship without knowing it (on the subject matter Maximus Tyr. 11, 5e: all sorts of philosophers ἴσασιν οὐκ ἑκόντες καὶ λέγουσιν ἄκοντες sc. τὸ θεῖον = they know and name God without intending to do so) Ac 17:23.” Paul, in typical Jewish Christian style, informs them of the true God, of whom their idols are an ignorant reflection.

[2:17]  ¹⁸ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ²² tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ²³ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ²⁴ tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

[2:25]  ²⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ²⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ²⁹ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ³¹ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ³² tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ³³ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ³⁴ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ³⁵ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ³⁶ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

[3:2]  ³⁷ tn Grk “much in every way.”

[3:2]  ³⁸ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A D² 33 Ï) have γάρ (gar) after μέν (men), though some significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses lack the conjunction (B D* G Ψ 81 365 1506 2464* pc latt). A few mss have γάρ, but not μέν (6 1739 1881). γάρ was frequently added by scribes as a clarifying conjunction, making it suspect here. NA²⁷ has the γάρ in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

[3:2]  tn Grk “first indeed that.”

[3:2]  ³⁹ tn Grk “they were.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁰ tn The referent of λόγια (logia, “oracles”) has been variously understood: (1) BDAG 598 s.v. λόγιον takes the term to refer here to “God’s promises to the Jews”; (2) some have taken this to refer more narrowly to the national promises of messianic salvation given to Israel (so S. L. Johnson, Jr., “Studies in Romans: Part VII: The Jews and the Oracles of God,” BSac 130 [1973]: 245); (3) perhaps the most widespread interpretation sees the term as referring to the entire OT generally.