Roma 10:18-19

10:18 But I ask, have they ¹  not heard? ²  Yes, they have: ³  Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. ⁴  10:19 But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? ⁵  First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.” ⁶ 

[10:18]  ¹ tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).

[10:18]  ² tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mh) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.

[10:18]  ³ tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mh) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.

[10:18]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.

[10:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “Israel did not ‘not know,’ did he?” The double negative in Greek has been translated as a positive affirmation for clarity (see v. 18 above for a similar situation).

[10:19]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.