Yehezkiel 16:47

16:47 Have you not copied their behavior ¹  and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time ²  you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were!

Ulangan 32:15-21

Israel’s Rebellion

32:15 But Jeshurun ³  became fat and kicked,

you ⁴  got fat, thick, and stuffed!

Then he deserted the God who made him,

and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.

32:16 They made him jealous with other gods, ⁵ 

they enraged him with abhorrent idols. ⁶ 

32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,

to gods they had not known;

to new gods who had recently come along,

gods your ancestors ⁷  had not known about.

32:18 You have forgotten ⁸  the Rock who fathered you,

and put out of mind the God who gave you birth.

A Word of Judgment

32:19 But the Lord took note and despised them

because his sons and daughters enraged him.

32:20 He said, “I will reject them, ⁹ 

I will see what will happen to them;

for they are a perverse generation,

children ¹⁰  who show no loyalty.

32:21 They have made me jealous ¹¹  with false gods, ¹² 

enraging me with their worthless gods; ¹³ 

so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, ¹⁴ 

with a nation slow to learn ¹⁵  I will enrage them.

Ulangan 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ¹⁶ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Kisah Para Rasul 17:8-20

17:8 They caused confusion among ¹⁷  the crowd and the city officials ¹⁸  who heard these things. 17:9 After ¹⁹  the city officials ²⁰  had received bail ²¹  from Jason and the others, they released them.

Paul and Silas at Berea

17:10 The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea ²²  at once, during the night. When they arrived, ²³  they went to the Jewish synagogue. ²⁴  17:11 These Jews ²⁵  were more open-minded ²⁶  than those in Thessalonica, ²⁷  for they eagerly ²⁸  received ²⁹  the message, examining ³⁰  the scriptures carefully every day ³¹  to see if these things were so. 17:12 Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few ³²  prominent ³³  Greek women and men. 17:13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica ³⁴  heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God ³⁵  in Berea, ³⁶  they came there too, inciting ³⁷  and disturbing ³⁸  the crowds. 17:14 Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast ³⁹  at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. ⁴⁰  17:15 Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, ⁴¹  and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. ⁴² 

Paul at Athens

17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, ⁴³  his spirit was greatly upset ⁴⁴  because he saw ⁴⁵  the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing ⁴⁶  the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles ⁴⁷  in the synagogue, ⁴⁸  and in the marketplace every day ⁴⁹  those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean ⁵⁰  and Stoic ⁵¹  philosophers were conversing ⁵²  with him, and some were asking, ⁵³  “What does this foolish babbler ⁵⁴  want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” ⁵⁵  (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) ⁵⁶  17:19 So they took Paul and ⁵⁷  brought him to the Areopagus, ⁵⁸  saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things ⁵⁹  to our ears, so we want to know what they ⁶⁰  mean.”

Mazmur 106:20

106:20 They traded their majestic God ⁶¹ 

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

Roma 1:23-25

1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ⁶²  or birds or four-footed animals ⁶³  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ⁶⁴  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ⁶⁵  their bodies among themselves. ⁶⁶  1:25 They ⁶⁷  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ⁶⁸  and worshiped and served the creation ⁶⁹  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Roma 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁷⁰  a slave ⁷¹  of Christ Jesus, ⁷²  called to be an apostle, ⁷³  set apart for the gospel of God. ⁷⁴ 

Kolose 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁷⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Yudas 1:4

1:4 For certain men ⁷⁶  have secretly slipped in among you ⁷⁷  – men who long ago ⁷⁸  were marked out ⁷⁹  for the condemnation I am about to describe ⁸⁰  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ⁸¹  and who deny our only Master ⁸²  and Lord, ⁸³  Jesus Christ.

[16:47]  ¹ tn Heb “walked in their ways.”

[16:47]  ² tn The Hebrew expression has a temporal meaning as illustrated by the use of the phrase in 2 Chr 12:7.

[32:15]  ³ tn To make the continuity of the referent clear, some English versions substitute “Jacob” here (NAB, NRSV) while others replace “Jeshurun” with “Israel” (NCV, CEV, NLT) or “the Lord’s people” (TEV).

[32:15]  sn Jeshurun is a term of affection derived from the Hebrew verb יָשַׁר (yashar, “be upright”). Here it speaks of Israel “in an ideal situation, with its ‘uprightness’ due more to God’s help than his own efforts” (M. Mulder, TDOT 6:475).

[32:15]  ⁴ tc The LXX reads the third person masculine singular (“he”) for the MT second person masculine singular (“you”), but such alterations are unnecessary in Hebrew poetic texts where subjects fluctuate frequently and without warning.

[32:16]  ⁵ tc Heb “with strange (things).” The Vulgate actually supplies diis (“gods”).

[32:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “abhorrent (things)” (cf. NRSV). A number of English versions understand this as referring to “idols” (NAB, NIV, NCV, CEV), while NLT supplies “acts.”

[32:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[32:18]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text is corrupt here; the translation follows the suggestion offered in HALOT 1477 s.v. שׁיה. Cf. NASB, NLT “You neglected”; NIV “You deserted”; NRSV “You were unmindful of.”

[32:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”

[32:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”

[32:21]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “what is not a god,” or a “nondeity.”

[32:21]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[32:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[17:8]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “They troubled the crowd and the city officials”; but this could be understood to mean “they bothered” or “they annoyed.” In reality the Jewish instigators managed to instill doubt and confusion into both the mob and the officials by their false charges of treason. Verse 8 suggests the charges raised again Paul, Silas, Jason, and the others were false.

[17:8]  ¹⁸ tn L&N 37.93 defines πολιτάρχης (politarch") as “a public official responsible for administrative matters within a town or city and a member of the ruling council of such a political unit – ‘city official.’”

[17:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[17:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the city officials) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:9]  ²¹ tn That is, “a payment” or “a pledge of security” (BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 1) for which “bail” is the most common contemporary English equivalent.

[17:10]  ²² sn Berea (alternate spelling in NRSV Beroea; Greek Beroia) was a very old city in Macedonia on the river Astraeus about 45 mi (75 km) west of Thessalonica.

[17:10]  map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[17:10]  ²³ tn Grk “who arriving there, went to.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (οἵτινες, Joitine") has been left untranslated and a new English sentence begun. The participle παραγενόμενοι (paragenomenoi) has been taken temporally.

[17:10]  ²⁴ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[17:11]  ²⁵ tn Grk “These”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue at Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “more willing to learn.” L&N 27.48 and BDAG 404 s.v. εὐγενής 2 both use the term “open-minded” here. The point is that they were more receptive to Paul’s message.

[17:11]  ²⁷ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:11]  map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[17:11]  ²⁸ tn Or “willingly,” “readily”; Grk “with all eagerness.”

[17:11]  ²⁹ tn Grk “who received.” Here the relative pronoun (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“they”) preceded by a semicolon, which is less awkward in contemporary English than a relative clause at this point.

[17:11]  ³⁰ tn This verb (BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω 1) refers to careful examination.

[17:11]  ³¹ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[17:12]  ³² tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).

[17:12]  ³³ tn Or “respected.”

[17:13]  ³⁴ sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).

[17:13]  ³⁵ tn Grk “that the word of God had also been proclaimed by Paul.” This passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:13]  ³⁶ sn Berea (alternate spelling in NRSV Beroea; Greek Beroia) was a very old city in Macedonia on the river Astraeus about 45 mi (75 km) from Thessalonica.

[17:13]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 911 s.v. σαλεύω 2 has “incite” for σαλεύοντες (saleuonte") in Acts 17:13.

[17:13]  sn Inciting. Ironically, it was the Jews who were disturbing the peace, not the Christians.

[17:13]  ³⁸ tn Or “stirring up” (BDAG 990-91 s.v. ταράσσω 2). The point is the agitation of the crowds.

[17:14]  ³⁹ tn Grk “to the sea.” Here ἕως ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν ({ew" epi thn qalassan) must mean “to the edge of the sea,” that is, “to the coast.” Since there is no mention of Paul taking a ship to Athens, he presumably traveled overland. The journey would have been about 340 mi (550 km).

[17:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “remained there”; the referent (Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ⁴¹ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[17:15]  ⁴² sn They left. See 1 Thess 3:1-2, which shows they went from here to Thessalonica.

[17:16]  ⁴³ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[17:16]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “greatly upset within him,” but the words “within him” were not included in the translation because they are redundant in English. See L&N 88.189. The term could also be rendered “infuriated.”

[17:16]  sn His spirit was greatly upset. See Rom 1:18-32 for Paul’s feelings about idolatry. Yet he addressed both Jews and Gentiles with tact and reserve.

[17:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “when he saw.” The participle θεωροῦντος (qewrounto") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle; it could also be translated as temporal.

[17:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Although the word διελέξατο (dielexato; from διαλέγομαι, dialegomai) is frequently translated “reasoned,” “disputed,” or “argued,” this sense comes from its classical meaning where it was used of philosophical disputation, including the Socratic method of questions and answers. However, there does not seem to be contextual evidence for this kind of debate in Acts 17:17. As G. Schrenk (TDNT 2:94-95) points out, “What is at issue is the address which any qualified member of a synagogue might give.” Other examples of this may be found in the NT in Matt 4:23 and Mark 1:21.

[17:17]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “and the devout,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44, and the note on the phrase “God-fearing Greeks” in 17:4.

[17:17]  ⁴⁸ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[17:17]  ⁴⁹ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.

[17:18]  ⁵⁰ sn An Epicurean was a follower of the philosophy of Epicurus, who founded a school in Athens about 300 b.c. Although the Epicureans saw the aim of life as pleasure, they were not strictly hedonists, because they defined pleasure as the absence of pain. Along with this, they desired the avoidance of trouble and freedom from annoyances. They saw organized religion as evil, especially the belief that the gods punished evildoers in an afterlife. In keeping with this, they were unable to accept Paul’s teaching about the resurrection.

[17:18]  ⁵¹ sn A Stoic was a follower of the philosophy founded by Zeno (342-270 b.c.), a Phoenician who came to Athens and modified the philosophical system of the Cynics he found there. The Stoics rejected the Epicurean ideal of pleasure, stressing virtue instead. The Stoics emphasized responsibility for voluntary actions and believed risks were worth taking, but thought the actual attainment of virtue was difficult. They also believed in providence.

[17:18]  ⁵² tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβάλλω 1 has “converse, confer” here.

[17:18]  ⁵³ tn Grk “saying.”

[17:18]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “ignorant show-off.” The traditional English translation of σπερμολόγος (spermologo") is given in L&N 33.381 as “foolish babbler.” However, an alternate view is presented in L&N 27.19, “(a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them off with pretense and show – ‘ignorant show-off, charlatan.’” A similar view is given in BDAG 937 s.v. σπερμολόγος: “in pejorative imagery of persons whose communication lacks sophistication and seems to pick up scraps of information here and there scrapmonger, scavenger…Engl. synonyms include ‘gossip’, ‘babbler’, chatterer’; but these terms miss the imagery of unsystematic gathering.”

[17:18]  ⁵⁵ tn The meaning of this phrase is not clear. Literally it reads “strange deities” (see BDAG 210 s.v. δαιμόνιον 1). The note of not being customary is important. In the ancient world what was new was suspicious. The plural δαιμονίων (daimoniwn, “deities”) shows the audience grappling with Paul’s teaching that God was working through Jesus.

[17:18]  ⁵⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[17:19]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:19]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “to the council of the Areopagus.” See also the term in v. 22.

[17:19]  sn The Areopagus has been traditionally understood as reference to a rocky hill near the Acropolis in Athens, although this place may well have been located in the marketplace at the foot of the hill (L&N 93.412; BDAG 129 s.v. ῎Αρειος πάγος). This term does not refer so much to the place, however, as to the advisory council of Athens known as the Areopagus, which dealt with ethical, cultural, and religious matters, including the supervision of education and controlling the many visiting lecturers. Thus it could be translated the council of the Areopagus. See also the term in v. 22.

[17:20]  ⁵⁹ tn BDAG 684 s.v. ξενίζω 2 translates the substantival participle ξενίζοντα (xenizonta) as “astonishing things Ac 17:20.”

[17:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “these things”; but since the referent (“surprising things”) is so close, the repetition of “these things” sounds redundant in English, so the pronoun “they” was substituted in the translation.

[106:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “their glory.” According to an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition, the text originally read “his glory” or “my glory.” In Jer 2:11 the Lord states that his people (Israel) exchanged “their glory” (a reference to the Lord) for worthless idols.

[1:23]  ⁶² tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ⁶³ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

[1:24]  ⁶⁴ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

[1:24]  ⁶⁵ tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

[1:24]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “among them.”

[1:25]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:25]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “the lie.”

[1:25]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “creature, created things.”

[1:1]  ⁷⁰ 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]  ⁷¹ tn Traditionally, “servant.” 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 someone who was Jewish 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]  ⁷² tc Many important mss, as well as several others (̲⁶ א A G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (̹⁰ B 81 pc). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred as slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus,” especially in certain letters such as Romans, Galatians, and Philippians. As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. A decision is difficult, but “Christ Jesus” is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ⁷³ tn Grk “a called apostle.”

[1:1]  ⁷⁴ tn The genitive in the phrase εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (euangelion qeou, “the gospel of God”) could be translated as (1) a subjective genitive (“the gospel which God brings”) or (2) an objective genitive (“the gospel about God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, an interplay between the two concepts is intended: The gospel which God brings is in fact the gospel about himself. However, in view of God’s action in v. 2 concerning this gospel, a subjective genitive notion (“the gospel which God brings”) is slightly preferred.

[1:1]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:4]  ⁷⁶ tn Grk “people.” However, if Jude is indeed arguing that Peter’s prophecy about false teachers has come true, these are most likely men in the original historical and cultural setting. See discussion of this point in the note on the phrase “these men” in 2 Pet 2:12.

[1:4]  ⁷⁷ tn “Among you” is not in the Greek text, but is obviously implied.

[1:4]  sn The infiltration referred to by the phrase slipped in among you was predicted by Peter (2 Pet 2:1), Paul (e.g., Acts 20:29-30), and OT prophets.

[1:4]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “in the past.” The adverb πάλαι (palai) can refer to either, though the meaning “long ago” is more common.

[1:4]  ⁷⁹ tn Grk “written about.”

[1:4]  ⁸⁰ tn Grk “for this condemnation.” τοῦτο (touto) is almost surely a kataphoric demonstrative pronoun, pointing to what follows in vv. 5-18. Otherwise, the condemnation is only implied (in v. 3b) or is merely a statement of their sinfulness (“ungodly” in v. 4b), not a judgment of it.

[1:4]  ⁸¹ tn Grk “debauchery.” This is the same word Peter uses to predict what the false teachers will be like (2 Pet 2:2, 7, 18).

[1:4]  sn Turned the grace of our God into a license for evil. One of the implications that the gospel in the apostolic period was truly a gospel of grace was the fact that the enemies of the gospel could pervert it into license. If it were a gospel of works, no such abuse could be imagined. Along these lines, note Rom 6:1 – “Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?” This question could not have even been asked had the gospel been one of works. But grace is easily misunderstood by those who would abuse it.

[1:4]  ⁸² tc Most later witnesses (P Ψ Ï sy) have θεόν (qeon, “God”) after δεσπότην (despothn, “master”), which appears to be a motivated reading in that it explicitly links “Master” to “God” in keeping with the normal NT pattern (see Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; 2 Tim 2:21; Rev 6:10). In patristic Greek, δεσπότης (despoth") was used especially of God (cf. BDAG 220 s.v. 1.b.). The earlier and better witnesses (Ì^72,78 א A B C 0251 33 81 323 1241 1739 al co) lack θεόν; the shorter reading is thus preferred on both internal and external grounds.

[1:4]  sn The Greek term for Master (δεσπότης, despoths) is the same term the author of 2 Peter used (2 Pet 2:1) to describe his Lord when he prophesied about these false teachers. Since δεσπότης is used only ten times in the NT, the verbal connection between these two books at this juncture is striking. This is especially so since both Peter and Jude speak of these false teachers as denying the Master (both using the same verb). The basic difference is that Peter is looking to the future, while Jude is arguing that these false teachers are here now.

[1:4]  ⁸³ tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1