2 Samuel 15:6

15:6 Absalom acted this way toward everyone in Israel who came to the king for justice. In this way Absalom won the loyalty ¹  of the citizens ²  of Israel.

Mazmur 12:3

12:3 May the Lord cut off ³  all flattering lips,

and the tongue that boasts! ⁴ 

Yesaya 30:10

30:10 They ⁵  say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”

and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! ⁶ 

Tell us nice things,

relate deceptive messages. ⁷ 

Kolose 2:4

2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments ⁸  that sound reasonable. ⁹ 

[15:6]  ¹ tn Heb “stole the heart.”

[15:6]  ² tn Heb “the men.”

[12:3]  ³ tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the Lord cut off”), not indicative (“The Lord will cut off”; see also Ps 109:15 and Mal 2:12). The psalmist appeals to God to destroy the wicked, rather than simply stating his confidence that he will. In this way he seeks to activate divine judgment by appealing to God’s just character. For an example of the power of such a curse, see Judg 9:7-57.

[12:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “a tongue speaking great [things].”

[30:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”

[30:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”

[2:4]  ⁸ tn BDAG 812 s.v. πιθανολογία states, “persuasive speech, art of persuasion (so Pla., Theaet. 162e) in an unfavorable sense in its only occurrence in our lit. ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ by specious arguments Col 2:4 (cp. PLips 40 III, 7 διὰ πιθανολογίας).”

[2:4]  ⁹ sn Paul’s point is that even though the arguments seem to make sense (sound reasonable), they are in the end false. Paul is not here arguing against the study of philosophy or serious thinking per se, but is arguing against the uncritical adoption of a philosophy that is at odds with a proper view of Christ and the ethics of the Christian life.