Kejadian 8:21

8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ¹  and said ²  to himself, ³  “I will never again curse ⁴  the ground because of humankind, even though ⁵  the inclination of their minds ⁶  is evil from childhood on. ⁷  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

Ulangan 29:19

29:19 When such a person ⁸  hears the words of this oath he secretly ⁹  blesses himself ¹⁰  and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” ¹¹  This will destroy ¹²  the watered ground with the parched. ¹³ 

Ayub 15:16

15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, ¹⁴ 

who drinks in evil like water! ¹⁵ 

Amsal 6:18

6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, ¹⁶ 

feet that are swift to run ¹⁷  to evil,

Pengkhotbah 7:29

7:29 This alone have I discovered: God made humankind upright,

but they have sought many evil schemes.

Pengkhotbah 9:3

9:3 This is the unfortunate fact ¹⁸  about everything that happens on earth: ¹⁹ 

the same fate awaits ²⁰  everyone.

In addition to this, the hearts of all people ²¹  are full of evil,

and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die. ²² 

Yeremia 17:9

17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.

It is incurably bad. ²³  Who can understand it?

Yehezkiel 8:9

8:9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.”

Yehezkiel 8:12

8:12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? ²⁴  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’”

Matius 15:19

15:19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Markus 7:21-23

7:21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 7:22 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly. 7:23 All these evils come from within and defile a person.”

Efesus 2:1-3

New Life Individually

2:1 And although you were ²⁵  dead ²⁶  in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which ²⁷  you formerly lived ²⁸  according to this world’s present path, ²⁹  according to the ruler of the kingdom ³⁰  of the air, the ruler of ³¹  the spirit ³²  that is now energizing ³³  the sons of disobedience, ³⁴  2:3 among whom ³⁵  all of us ³⁶  also ³⁷  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ³⁸  even as the rest… ³⁹ 

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.

[8:21]  ¹ tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

[8:21]  ² tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

[8:21]  ³ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[8:21]  ⁴ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

[8:21]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

[8:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

[8:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “from his youth.”

[29:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[29:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.

[29:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “heart.”

[29:19]  ¹² tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.

[29:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”

[15:16]  ¹⁴ tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toáe„ba„ et le verbe táb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217ff.). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).

[15:16]  ¹⁵ sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water – freely and in large quantities.

[6:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “heart that devises plans of wickedness.” The latter term is an attributive genitive. The heart (metonymy of subject) represents the will; here it plots evil schemes. The heart is capable of evil schemes (Gen 6:5); the heart that does this is deceitful (Prov 12:20; 14:22).

[6:18]  ¹⁷ tc The MT reads “make haste to run,” that is, be eager to seize the opportunity. The LXX omits “run,” that is, feet hastening to do evil. It must have appeared to the LXX translator that the verb was unnecessary; only one verb occurs in the other cola.

[6:18]  sn The word “feet” is here a synecdoche, a part for the whole. Being the instruments of movement, they represent the swift and eager actions of the whole person to do some harm.

[9:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “evil.”

[9:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn The term “awaits” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.

[9:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “also the heart of the sons of man.” Here “heart” is a collective singular.

[9:3]  ²² tn Heb “and after that [they go] to [the place of] the dead.”

[17:9]  ²³ tn Or “incurably deceitful”; Heb “It is incurable.” For the word “deceitful” compare the usage of the verb in Gen 27:36 and a related noun in 2 Kgs 10:19. For the adjective “incurable” compare the usage in Jer 15:18. It is most commonly used with reference to wounds or of pain. In Jer 17:16 it is used metaphorically for a “woeful day” (i.e., day of irreparable devastation).

[17:9]  sn The background for this verse is Deut 29:18-19 (29:17-18 HT) and Deut 30:17.

[8:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  sn This type of image is explicitly prohibited in the Mosaic law (Lev 26:1).

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn The adverbial participle “being” (ὄντας, ontas) is taken concessively.

[2:1]  ²⁶ sn Chapter 2 starts off with a participle, although you were dead, that is left dangling. The syntax in Greek for vv. 1-3 constitutes one incomplete sentence, though it seems to have been done intentionally. The dangling participle leaves the readers in suspense while they wait for the solution (in v. 4) to their spiritual dilemma.

[2:2]  ²⁷ sn The relative pronoun which is feminine as is sins, indicating that sins is the antecedent.

[2:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “walked.”

[2:2]  sn The Greek verb translated lived (περιπατέω, peripatew) in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn Or possibly “Aeon.”

[2:2]  sn The word translated present path is the same as that which has been translated [this] age in 1:21 (αἰών, aiwn).

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “domain, [place of] authority.”

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “of” (but see the note on the word “spirit” later in this verse).

[2:2]  ³² sn The ruler of the kingdom of the air is also the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. Although several translations regard the ruler to be the same as the spirit, this is unlikely since the cases in Greek are different (ruler is accusative and spirit is genitive). To get around this, some have suggested that the genitive for spirit is a genitive of apposition. However, the semantics of the genitive of apposition are against such an interpretation (cf. ExSyn 100).

[2:2]  ³³ tn Grk “working in.”

[2:2]  ³⁴ sn Sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” However, it also contains a subtle allusion to vv. 4-10: Some of those sons of disobedience have become sons of God.

[2:3]  ³⁵ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ³⁶ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ³⁷ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ³⁸ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ³⁹ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.