Ulangan 32:21

32:21 They have made me jealous ¹  with false gods, ² 

enraging me with their worthless gods; ³ 

so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, ⁴ 

with a nation slow to learn ⁵  I will enrage them.

Ulangan 32:1

Invocation of Witnesses

32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;

hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Kisah Para Rasul 17:1

Paul and Silas at Thessalonica

17:1 After they traveled through ⁶  Amphipolis ⁷  and Apollonia, ⁸  they came to Thessalonica, ⁹  where there was a Jewish synagogue. ¹⁰ 

Kisah Para Rasul 18:1

Paul at Corinth

18:1 After this ¹¹  Paul ¹²  departed from ¹³  Athens ¹⁴  and went to Corinth. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 74:1-2

Psalm 74 ¹⁶ 

A well-written song ¹⁷  by Asaph.

74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? ¹⁸ 

Why does your anger burn ¹⁹  against the sheep of your pasture?

74:2 Remember your people ²⁰  whom you acquired in ancient times,

whom you rescued ²¹  so they could be your very own nation, ²² 

as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!

Zakharia 10:1-2

The Restoration of the True People

10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains ²³  – the Lord who causes thunderstorms – and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field. 10:2 For the household gods ²⁴  have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd. ²⁵ 

Kisah Para Rasul 14:15-17

14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures ²⁶  just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn ²⁷  from these worthless ²⁸  things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, ²⁹  the sea, and everything that is in them. 14:16 In ³⁰  past ³¹  generations he allowed all the nations ³²  to go their own ways, 14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, ³³  by giving you rain from heaven ³⁴  and fruitful seasons, satisfying you ³⁵  with food and your hearts with joy.” ³⁶ 

[32:21]  ¹ sn They have made me jealous. The “jealousy” of God is not a spirit of pettiness prompted by his insecurity, but righteous indignation caused by the disloyalty of his people to his covenant grace (see note on the word “God” in Deut 4:24). The jealousy of Israel, however (see next line), will be envy because of God’s lavish attention to another nation. This is an ironic wordplay. See H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:938-39.

[32:21]  ² tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”

[32:21]  ³ tn Heb “their empty (things).” The Hebrew term used here to refer pejoratively to the false gods is הֶבֶל (hevel, “futile” or “futility”), used frequently in Ecclesiastes (e.g., Eccl 1:1, “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”).

[32:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “what is not a people,” or a “nonpeople.” The “nonpeople” (לֹא־עָם, lo’-’am) referred to here are Gentiles who someday would become God’s people in the fullest sense (cf. Hos 1:9; 2:23).

[32:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “a foolish nation” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV); NIV “a nation that has no understanding”; NLT “I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”

[17:1]  ⁶ tn BDAG 250 s.v. διοδεύω 1 has “go, travel through” for this verse.

[17:1]  ⁷ sn Amphipolis. The capital city of the southeastern district of Macedonia (BDAG 55 s.v. ᾿Αμφίπολις). It was a military post. From Philippi this was about 33 mi (53 km).

[17:1]  ⁸ sn Apollonia was a city in Macedonia about 27 mi (43 km) west southwest of Amphipolis.

[17:1]  ⁹ sn Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was a city in Macedonia about 33 mi (53 km) west of Apollonia. It was the capital of Macedonia. The road they traveled over was called the Via Egnatia. It is likely they rode horses, given their condition in Philippi. The implication of v. 1 is that the two previously mentioned cities lacked a synagogue.

[17:1]  map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[17:1]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[18:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “After these things.”

[18:1]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹³ tn Or “Paul left.”

[18:1]  ¹⁴ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[18:1]  ¹⁵ sn Corinth was the capital city of the senatorial province of Achaia and the seat of the Roman proconsul. It was located 55 mi (88 km) west of Athens. Corinth was a major rival to Athens and was the largest city in Greece at the time.

[18:1]  map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[74:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 b.c., asks God to consider Israel’s sufferings and intervene on behalf of his people. He describes the ruined temple, recalls God’s mighty deeds in the past, begs for mercy, and calls for judgment upon God’s enemies.

[74:1]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[74:1]  ¹⁸ sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.

[74:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.

[74:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.

[74:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

[74:2]  ²² tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).

[10:1]  ²³ tn Heb “the latter rain.” This expression refers to the last concentration of heavy rainfall in the spring of the year in Palestine, about March or April. Metaphorically and eschatologically (as here) the “latter rain” speaks of God’s outpouring of blessing in the end times (cf. Hos 6:3; Joel 2:21-25).

[10:2]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew word תְּרָפִים (tÿrafim, “teraphim”) refers to small images used as means of divination and in other occult practices (cf. Gen 31:19, 34-35; 1 Sam 19:13, 16; Hos 3:4). A number of English versions transliterate the Hebrew term (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV) or simply use the generic term “idols” (so KJV, NIV, TEV).

[10:2]  ²⁵ sn Shepherd is a common OT metaphor for the king (see esp. Jer 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 23:1-2; 50:6; Ezek 34).

[14:15]  ²⁶ tn Grk “with the same kinds of feelings,” L&N 25.32. BDAG 706 s.v. ὁμοιοπαθής translates the phrase “with the same nature τινί as someone.” In the immediate context, the contrast is between human and divine nature, and the point is that Paul and Barnabas are mere mortals, not gods.

[14:15]  ²⁷ tn Grk “in order that you should turn,” with ἐπιστρέφειν (epistrefein) as an infinitive of purpose, but this is somewhat awkward contemporary English. To translate the infinitive construction “proclaim the good news, that you should turn,” which is much smoother English, could give the impression that the infinitive clause is actually the content of the good news, which it is not. The somewhat less formal “to get you to turn” would work, but might convey to some readers manipulativeness on the part of the apostles. Thus “proclaim the good news, so that you should turn,” is used, to convey that the purpose of the proclamation of good news is the response by the hearers. The emphasis here is like 1 Thess 1:9-10.

[14:15]  ²⁸ tn Or “useless,” “futile.” The reference is to idols and idolatry, worshiping the creation over the Creator (Rom 1:18-32). See also 1 Kgs 16:2, 13, 26; 2 Kgs 17:15; Jer 2:5; 8:19; 3 Macc 6:11.

[14:15]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[14:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “them, who in.” The relative pronoun (“who”) was replaced by the pronoun “he” (“In past generations he”) and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek and the awkwardness of two relative clauses (“who made the heaven” and “who in past generations”) following one another.

[14:16]  ³¹ tn On this term see BDAG 780 s.v. παροίχομαι. The word is a NT hapax legomenon.

[14:16]  ³² tn Or “all the Gentiles” (in Greek the word for “nation” and “Gentile” is the same). The plural here alludes to the variety of false religions in the pagan world.

[14:17]  ³³ tn The participle ἀγαθουργῶν (agaqourgwn) is regarded as indicating means here, parallel to the following participles διδούς (didou") and ἐμπιπλῶν (empiplwn). This is the easiest way to understand the Greek structure. Semantically, the first participle is a general statement, followed by two participles giving specific examples of doing good.

[14:17]  ³⁴ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[14:17]  ³⁵ tn Grk “satisfying [filling] your hearts with food and joy.” This is an idiomatic expression; it strikes the English reader as strange to speak of “filling one’s heart with food.” Thus the additional direct object “you” has been supplied, separating the two expressions somewhat: “satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”

[14:17]  ³⁶ sn God’s general sovereignty and gracious care in the creation are the way Paul introduces the theme of the goodness of God. He was trying to establish monotheism here. It is an OT theme (Gen 8:22; Ps 4:7; 145:15-16; 147:8-9; Isa 25:6; Jer 5:24) which also appears in the NT (Luke 12:22-34).