Ulangan 7:7-9

The Basis of Israel’s Election

7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. 7:8 Rather it is because of his ¹  love ²  for you and his faithfulness to the promise ³  he solemnly vowed ⁴  to your ancestors ⁵  that the Lord brought you out with great power, ⁶  redeeming ⁷  you from the place of slavery, from the power ⁸  of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, ⁹  the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully ¹⁰  with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Ulangan 9:5

9:5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, ¹¹  that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he ¹²  made on oath to your ancestors, ¹³  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Ulangan 10:15

10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he ¹⁴  show his loving favor, ¹⁵  and he chose you, their descendants, ¹⁶  from all peoples – as is apparent today.

Mazmur 105:6-10

105:6 O children ¹⁷  of Abraham, ¹⁸  God’s ¹⁹  servant,

you descendants ²⁰  of Jacob, God’s ²¹  chosen ones!

105:7 He is the Lord our God;

he carries out judgment throughout the earth. ²² 

105:8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,

the promise he made ²³  to a thousand generations –

105:9 the promise ²⁴  he made to Abraham,

the promise he made by oath to Isaac!

105:10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as a lasting promise, ²⁵ 

Yesaya 41:8-9

The Lord Encourages His People

41:8 “You, my servant Israel,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

offspring of Abraham my friend, ²⁶ 

41:9 you whom I am bringing back ²⁷  from the earth’s extremities,

and have summoned from the remote regions –

I told you, “You are my servant.”

I have chosen you and not rejected you.

Yeremia 31:1

31:1 At that time I will be the God of all the clans of Israel ²⁸ 

and they will be my people.

I, the Lord, affirm it!” ²⁹ 

Maleakhi 1:2

1:2 “I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?”

“Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord explains, “yet I chose Jacob

Lukas 1:72-73

1:72 He has done this ³⁰  to show mercy ³¹  to our ancestors, ³² 

and to remember his holy covenant ³³  –

1:73 the oath ³⁴  that he swore to our ancestor ³⁵  Abraham.

This oath grants ³⁶ 

Roma 9:5

9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, ³⁷  and from them, ³⁸  by human descent, ³⁹  came the Christ, ⁴⁰  who is God over all, blessed forever! ⁴¹  Amen.

[7:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on “He” in 7:6.

[7:8]  ² tn For the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) as a term of choice or election, see note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “oath.” This is a reference to the promises of the so-called “Abrahamic Covenant” (cf. Gen 15:13-16).

[7:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “swore on oath.”

[7:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13).

[7:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “by a strong hand” (NAB similar); NLT “with such amazing power.”

[7:8]  ⁷ sn Redeeming you from the place of slavery. The Hebrew verb translated “redeeming” (from the root פָּדָה, padah) has the idea of redemption by the payment of a ransom. The initial symbol of this was the Passover lamb, offered by Israel to the Lord as ransom in exchange for deliverance from bondage and death (Exod 12:1-14). Later, the firstborn sons of Israel, represented by the Levites, became the ransom (Num 3:11-13). These were all types of the redemption effected by the death of Christ who described his atoning work as “a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28; cf. 1 Pet 1:18).

[7:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NRSV), a metaphor for power or domination.

[7:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “the God.” The article here expresses uniqueness; cf. TEV “is the only God”; NLT “is indeed God.”

[7:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and חֶסֶד (khesed) should be understood not as “covenant” plus “loyalty” but as an adverbial construction in which חֶסֶד (“loyalty”) modifies the verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “keeps”).

[9:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. NAB, NIV “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the Lord’s favor. As he states in both vv. 4-5, the main reason he allowed Israel to take this land was the sinfulness of the Canaanites who lived there (cf. Gen 15:16).

[9:5]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

[9:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[10:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37).

[10:15]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.

[105:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[105:6]  ¹⁸ tc Some mss have “Israel,” which appears in the parallel version of this psalm in 1 Chr 16:13.

[105:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[105:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[105:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[105:7]  ²² tn Heb “in all the earth [are] his judgments.”

[105:8]  ²³ tn Heb “[the] word he commanded.” The text refers here to God’s unconditional covenantal promise to Abraham and the patriarchs, as vv. 10-12 make clear.

[105:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “which.”

[105:10]  ²⁵ tn Or “eternal covenant.”

[41:8]  ²⁶ tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).

[41:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “whom I have taken hold of [i.e., to lead back].”

[31:1]  ²⁸ sn This verse repeats v. 22 but with specific reference to all the clans of Israel, i.e., to all Israel and Judah. It functions here as a transition to the next section which will deal with the restoration of Israel (31:3-20) and Judah (31:21-25) and their reunification in the land (31:27-29) under a new covenant relation with God (31:31-37). See also the study note on 30:3 for further reference to this reunification in Jeremiah and the other prophets.

[31:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[1:72]  ³⁰ tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ³¹ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ³² tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ³³ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

[1:73]  ³⁴ tn This is linked back grammatically by apposition to “covenant” in v. 72, specifying which covenant is meant.

[1:73]  ³⁵ tn Or “forefather”; Grk “father.”

[1:73]  ³⁶ tn Again for reasons of English style, the infinitival clause “to grant us” has been translated “This oath grants” and made the beginning of a new sentence in the translation.

[9:5]  ³⁷ tn Grk “of whom are the fathers.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[9:5]  ³⁸ tn Grk “from whom.” Here the relative pronoun has been replaced by a personal pronoun.

[9:5]  ³⁹ tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

[9:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “Messiah.” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed.”)

[9:5]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever,” or “the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever!” or “the Messiah who is over all. God be blessed forever!” The translational difficulty here is not text-critical in nature, but is a problem of punctuation. Since the genre of these opening verses of Romans 9 is a lament, it is probably best to take this as an affirmation of Christ’s deity (as the text renders it). Although the other renderings are possible, to see a note of praise to God at the end of this section seems strangely out of place. But for Paul to bring his lament to a crescendo (that is to say, his kinsmen had rejected God come in the flesh), thereby deepening his anguish, is wholly appropriate. This is also supported grammatically and stylistically: The phrase ὁ ὢν (Jo wn, “the one who is”) is most naturally taken as a phrase which modifies something in the preceding context, and Paul’s doxologies are always closely tied to the preceding context. For a detailed examination of this verse, see B. M. Metzger, “The Punctuation of Rom. 9:5,” Christ and the Spirit in the New Testament, 95-112; and M. J. Harris, Jesus as God, 144-72.