Roma 7:18

7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. ¹ 

Roma 7:22-23

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

Ayub 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ² 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

Mazmur 119:25

ד (Dalet)

119:25 I collapse in the dirt. ³ 

Revive me with your word! ⁴ 

Amsal 30:2

30:2 Surely ⁵  I am more brutish ⁶  than any other human being, ⁷ 

and I do not have human understanding; ⁸ 

Amsal 30:5

30:5 Every word of God is purified; ⁹ 

he is like ¹⁰  a shield for those who take refuge in him. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹²  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ¹³  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ¹⁴  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ¹⁵ 

Yesaya 64:5-6

64:5 You assist ¹⁶  those who delight in doing what is right, ¹⁷ 

who observe your commandments. ¹⁸ 

Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.

How then can we be saved? ¹⁹ 

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ²⁰ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Lukas 5:8

5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, ²¹  for I am a sinful man!” ²² 

Lukas 7:6

7:6 So ²³  Jesus went with them. When ²⁴  he was not far from the house, the centurion ²⁵  sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, ²⁶  for I am not worthy ²⁷  to have you come under my roof.

Lukas 18:11-14

18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ²⁸  ‘God, I thank ²⁹  you that I am not like other people: ³⁰  extortionists, ³¹  unrighteous people, ³²  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ³³  18:12 I fast twice ³⁴  a week; I give a tenth ³⁵  of everything I get.’ 18:13 The tax collector, however, stood ³⁶  far off and would not even look up ³⁷  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ³⁸  to me, sinner that I am!’ ³⁹  18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified ⁴⁰  rather than the Pharisee. ⁴¹  For everyone who exalts ⁴²  himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Efesus 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ⁴³  – this grace was given, ⁴⁴  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

[7:18]  ¹ tn Grk “For to wish is present in/with me, but not to do it.”

[42:6]  ² tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).

[119:25]  ³ tn Heb “my soul clings to the dirt.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[119:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural “your words.”

[30:2]  ⁵ tn The particle כִּי (ki) functions in an asseverative sense, “surely; indeed; truly” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[30:2]  ⁶ tn The noun בַּעַר (ba’ar) means “brutishness”; here it functions as a predicate adjective. It is followed by מֵאִישׁ (me’ish) expressing comparative degree: “more than a man” or “more than any man,” with “man” used in a generic sense. He is saying that he has fallen beneath the level of mankind. Cf. NRSV “I am too stupid to be human.”

[30:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “than man.” The verse is using hyperbole; this individual feels as if he has no intelligence at all, that he is more brutish than any other human. Of course this is not true, or he would not be able to speculate on the God of the universe at all.

[30:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “the understanding of a man,” with “man” used attributively here.

[30:5]  ⁹ sn The text here uses an implied comparison (a figure of speech known as hypocatastasis): It compares the perfection of every word from God with some precious metal that has been refined and purified (e.g., Ps 12:6). The point is that God’s word is trustworthy; it has no defects and flaws, nothing false or misleading. The second half of the verse explains the significance of this point – it is safe to trust the Lord.

[30:5]  ¹⁰ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[30:5]  ¹¹ sn The line uses two more figures of speech to declare that God can be trusted for security and salvation. “Shield” is a simple metaphor – God protects. “Take refuge” is another implied comparison (hypocatastasis) – God provides spiritual rest and security for those who put their trust in him.

[6:5]  ¹² tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[64:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”

[64:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”

[64:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”

[64:5]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).

[64:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[5:8]  ²¹ sn Lord is a term of high respect in this context. God’s presence in the work of Jesus makes Peter recognize his authority. This vocative is common in Luke (20 times), but does not yet have its full confessional force.

[5:8]  ²² sn Peter was intimidated that someone who was obviously working with divine backing was in his presence (“Go away from me”). He feared his sinfulness might lead to judgment, but Jesus would show him otherwise.

[7:6]  ²³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the resultative action.

[7:6]  ²⁴ tn The participle ἀπέχοντος (apeconto") has been taken temporally.

[7:6]  ²⁵ sn See the note on the word centurion in 7:2.

[7:6]  ²⁶ tn Or “do not be bothered.”

[7:6]  ²⁷ sn Note the humility in the centurion’s statement I am not worthy in light of what others think (as v. 4 notes). See Luke 5:8 for a similar example of humility.

[18:11]  ²⁸ tn Or “stood by himself and prayed like this.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros eauton, “to/about himself”) could go with either the aorist participle σταθείς (staqeis, “stood”) or with the imperfect verb προσηύχετο (proshuceto, “he prayed”). If taken with the participle, then the meaning would seem at first glance to be: “stood ‘by himself’,” or “stood ‘alone’.” Now it is true that πρός can mean “by” or “with” when used with intransitive verbs such as ἵστημι ({isthmi, “I stand”; cf. BDAG 874 s.v. πρός 2.a), but πρὸς ἑαυτόν together never means “by himself” or “alone” in biblical Greek. On the other hand, if πρὸς ἑαυτόν is taken with the verb, then two different nuances emerge, both of which highlight in different ways the principal point Jesus seems to be making about the arrogance of this religious leader: (1) “prayed to himself,” but not necessarily silently, or (2) “prayed about himself,” with the connotation that he prayed out loud, for all to hear. Since his prayer is really a review of his moral résumé, directed both at advertising his own righteousness and exposing the perversion of the tax collector, whom he actually mentions in his prayer, the latter option seems preferable. If this is the case, then the Pharisee’s mention of God is really nothing more than a formality.

[18:11]  ²⁹ sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

[18:11]  ³⁰ tn Here the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used as a generic and can refer to both men and women (NASB, NRSV, “people”; NLT, “everyone else”; NAB, “the rest of humanity”).

[18:11]  ³¹ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

[18:11]  ³² sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

[18:11]  ³³ sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.

[18:12]  ³⁴ sn The law only required fasting on the Day of Atonement. Such voluntary fasting as this practiced twice a week by the Pharisee normally took place on Monday and Thursday.

[18:12]  ³⁵ tn Or “I tithe.”

[18:13]  ³⁶ tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.

[18:13]  ³⁷ tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).

[18:13]  ³⁸ tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).

[18:13]  ³⁹ tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.

[18:14]  ⁴⁰ sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.

[18:14]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:14]  ⁴² sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.

[3:8]  ⁴³ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ⁴⁴ sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).