2 Petrus 2:14-15

2:14 Their eyes, ¹  full of adultery, ²  never stop sinning; ³  they entice ⁴  unstable people. ⁵  They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! ⁶  2:15 By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, ⁷  who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ⁸ 

Yesaya 56:11

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ⁹ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 6:13

6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all of them practice deceit.

Yeremia 8:10

8:10 ¹¹ So I will give their wives to other men

and their fields to new owners.

For from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all practice deceit.

Yehezkiel 13:19

13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people ¹²  who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

Mikha 3:11

3:11 Her ¹³  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ¹⁴ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ¹⁵  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ¹⁶ 

Disaster will not overtake ¹⁷  us!”

Maleakhi 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹⁸  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

Roma 16:18

16:18 For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds ¹⁹  of the naive.

Roma 16:2

16:2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and provide her with whatever help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many, including me.

Kolose 1:17-18

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁰  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ²¹  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ²² 

Kolose 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²³  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

Titus 3:8

Summary of the Letter

3:8 This saying ²⁴  is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, ²⁵  so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people.

Titus 1:5

Titus’ Task on Crete

1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Titus 1:7

1:7 For the overseer ²⁶  must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, ²⁷  not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain.

Titus 1:11

1:11 who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught.

Titus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁸  a slave ²⁹  of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith ³⁰  of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness,

Pengkhotbah 5:2

5:2 Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God,

for God is in heaven and you are on earth!

Therefore, let your words be few.

Yudas 1:11

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, ³¹  and because of greed ³²  have abandoned themselves ³³  to ³⁴  Balaam’s error; hence, ³⁵  they will certainly perish ³⁶  in Korah’s rebellion.

[2:14]  ¹ tn Grk “having eyes.” See note on “men” at the beginning of v. 12.

[2:14]  ² tn Grk “full of an adulteress.”

[2:14]  ³ tn Grk “and unceasing from sin.” Some translate this “insatiable for sin,” but such a translation is based on a textual variant with inadequate support.

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “enticing.” See note on “men” at the beginning of v. 12.

[2:14]  ⁵ tn “People” is literally “souls.” The term ψυχή (yuch) can refer to one’s soul, one’s life, or oneself.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Grk “having hearts trained in greediness, children of cursing.” The participles continue the general description of the false teachers, without strong grammatical connection. The genitive κατάρας (kataras, “of cursing”) is taken attributively here.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Although many modern translations (e.g., NASB, TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT) read “Beor” here, this is due to harmonization with the OT rather than following a variant textual reading. The Greek text of NA²⁷ reads “Bosor,” an otherwise unattested form of the name of Balaam’s father.

[2:15]  ⁸ tn “Wages of unrighteousness” in Greek is the same expression found in v. 13, “wages for harmful ways.” The repetition makes the link between the false teachers and Balaam more concrete.

[56:11]  ⁹ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”

[8:10]  ¹¹ sn See Jer 6:12-15 for parallels to 8:10-12. The words of Jeremiah to the people may have been repeated on more than one occasion or have been found appropriate to more than one of his collection of messages in written and edited form. See Jer 36:4 and Jer 36:28 for reference to at least two of these collections.

[13:19]  ¹² tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”

[3:11]  ¹³ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[1:10]  ¹⁸ sn The rhetorical language suggests that as long as the priesthood and people remain disobedient, the temple doors may as well be closed because God is not “at home” to receive them or their worship there.

[16:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “hearts.”

[1:17]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[1:18]  ²¹ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ²² tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:1]  ²³ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:8]  ²⁴ sn This saying (Grk “the saying”) refers to the preceding citation (Titus 3:4-7). See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11 for other occurrences of this phrase.

[3:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “concerning these things.”

[1:7]  ²⁶ sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn Grk “as God’s steward.”

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were “servants (or slaves) of the Lord.”

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “for the faith,” possibly, “in accordance with the faith.”

[1:11]  ³¹ tn Or “they have gone the way of Cain.”

[1:11]  ³² tn Grk “for wages.”

[1:11]  ³³ tn The verb ἐκχέω (ekcew) normally means “pour out.” Here, in the passive, it occasionally has a reflexive idea, as BDAG 312 s.v. 3. suggests (with extra-biblical examples).

[1:11]  ³⁴ tn Or “in.”

[1:11]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and.” See note on “perish” later in this verse.

[1:11]  ³⁶ tn The three verbs in this verse are all aorist indicative (“have gone down,” “have abandoned,” “have perished”). Although the first and second could be considered constative or ingressive, the last is almost surely proleptic (referring to the certainty of their future judgment). Although it may seem odd that a proleptic aorist is so casually connected to other aorists with a different syntactical force, it is not unparalleled (cf. Rom 8:30).