Discovery Box| (0.06) | (Act 8:36) | 2 tc A few later mss (E 36 323 453 945 1739 1891) add, with minimal differences in wording, 8:37 “He said to him, ‘If you believe with your whole heart, you may.’ He replied, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’” Verse 37 is lacking in P45,74 א A B C 33 614 vg syp,h co. It is clearly not a part of the original text of Acts. The variant is significant in showing how some in the early church viewed the necessity of a confession of faith. The present translation follows NA28 in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations. |
| (0.06) | (1Sa 14:18) | 1 tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath Jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v. 19. There are also quotations of this reading in rabbinic literature and medieval Jewish literature according to V. Aptowitzer, The Scripture in the Rabbinic Literature and Medieval Jewish Literature, Prolegomena (3 parts, Vindobonae, 1906, 1908, 1911). It is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, NJB, GWN, TEV, NLT, CEB, BBE). |
| (0.06) | (Job 13:7) | 2 tn The expression “for God” means “in favor of God” or “on God’s behalf.” Job is amazed that they will say false things on God’s behalf. |
| (0.06) | (Joh 8:38) | 4 tc A few significant witnesses lack ὑμῶν (humōn, “your”) here (P66,75 B L W 070), while the majority have the pronoun (א C D Θ Ψ 0250 ƒ1,13 33 565 892 M al lat sy). However, these mss do not agree on the placement of the pronoun: τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν ποιεῖτε (tou patros humōn poieite), τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν (tō patri humōn), and τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν ταῦτα (tō patri humōn tauta) all occur. If the pronoun is read, then the devil is in view and the text should be translated as “you are practicing the things you have heard from your father.” If it is not read, then the same Father mentioned in the first part of the verse is in view. In this case, ποιεῖτε should be taken as an imperative: “you [must] practice the things you have heard from the Father.” The omission is decidedly the harder reading, both because the contrast between God and the devil is now delayed until v. 41, and because ποιεῖτε could be read as an indicative, especially since the two clauses are joined by καί (kai, “and”). Thus, the pronoun looks to be a motivated reading. In light of the better external and internal evidence the omission is preferred. |
| (0.06) | (Jer 44:8) | 3 tn Verses 7b-8 are all one long, complex sentence governed by the interrogative “why.” The Hebrew text reads, “Why are you doing great harm to your souls [= “yourselves” (cf. BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.b[6])] so as to cut off [= “destroy”] from yourselves man and woman, child and baby [the terms are collective singulars and are to be interpreted as plurals], from the midst of Judah, so as not to leave to yourselves a remnant, by making me angry with the works of your hands, by sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have come to live, so as to cut off [an example of result rather than purpose after the particle לְמַעַן (lemaʿan; see the translator’s note on 25:7)] yourselves, and so that you may become a curse and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.” The sentence has been broken down and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style. An attempt has been made to retain an equivalent for all the subordinations and qualifying phrases. |
| (0.06) | (Gen 15:1) | 2 tn Heb “your reward [in] great abundance.” When the phrase הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד (harbeh me’od) follows a noun it invariably modifies the noun and carries the nuance “very great” or “in great abundance.” (See its use in Gen 41:49; Deut 3:5; Josh 22:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 12:2; 1 Kgs 4:29; 10:10-11; 2 Chr 14:13; 32:27; Jer 40:12.) Here the noun “reward” is in apposition to “shield” and refers by metonymy to God as the source of the reward. Some translate here “your reward will be very great” (cf. NASB, NRSV), taking the statement as an independent clause and understanding the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a substitute for a finite verb. However, the construction הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד is never used this way elsewhere, where it either modifies a noun (see the texts listed above) or serves as an adverb in relation to a finite verb (see Josh 13:1; 1 Sam 26:21; 2 Sam 12:30; 2 Kgs 21:16; 1 Chr 20:2; Neh 2:2). |
| (0.06) | (Eze 14:9) | 1 tn The translation is uncertain due to difficulty both in determining the meaning of the verb’s stem and its conjugation in this context. In the Qal stem the basic meaning of the verbal root פָּתַה (patah) is “to be gullible, foolish.” The doubling stems (the Pual and Piel used in this verse) typically give such stative verbs a factitive sense, hence either “make gullible” (i.e., “entice”) or “make into a fool” (i.e., “to show to be a fool”). The latter represents the probable meaning of the term in Jer 20:7, 10 and is followed here (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:193; R. Mosis “Ez 14, 1-11 - ein Ruf zur Umkehr,” BZ 19 [1975]: 166-69; and ThWAT 4:829-31). In this view, if a prophet speaks when not prompted by God, he will be shown to be a fool, but this does not reflect negatively on the Lord because it is God who shows him to be a fool. Secondly, the verb is in the perfect conjugation and may be translated as “I have made a fool of him” or “I have enticed him,” or to show determination (see IBHS 439-41 §27.2f and g), or in certain syntactical constructions as future. Any of these may be plausible if the doubling stems used are understood in the sense of “making a fool of.” But if understood as “to make gullible,” more factors come into play. As the Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, it is often translated as present perfect: “I have enticed.” In this case the Lord states that he himself enticed the prophet to cooperate with the idolaters. Such enticement to sin would seem to be a violation of God’s moral character, but sometimes he does use such deception and enticement to sin as a form of punishment against those who have blatantly violated his moral will (see, e.g., 2 Sam 24). If one follows this line of interpretation in Ezek 14:9, one would have to assume that the prophet had already turned from God in his heart. However, the context gives no indication of this. Therefore, it is better to take the perfect as indicating certitude and to translate it with the future tense: “I will entice.” In this case the Lord announces that he will judge the prophet appropriately. If a prophet allows himself to be influenced by idolaters, then the Lord will use deception as a form of punishment against that deceived prophet. A comparison with the preceding oracles also favors this view. In 14:4 the perfect of certitude is used for emphasis (see “I will answer”), though in v. 7 a participle is employed. For a fuller discussion of this text, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 23-25. |
| (0.06) | (1Pe 2:3) | 1 tn Grk “have tasted that the Lord is kind.” |
| (0.06) | (2Th 1:7) | 1 tn Grk “at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.” |
| (0.06) | (1Co 3:5) | 1 tn Grk “and to each as the Lord gave.” |
| (0.06) | (1Co 1:7) | 1 sn The revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ refers to the Lord’s return, when he will be revealed (cf. the reference to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in v. 8). |
| (0.06) | (Act 25:26) | 2 sn To my lord means “to His Majesty the Emperor.” |
| (0.06) | (Act 5:14) | 1 tn Or “More and more believers were added to the Lord.” |
| (0.06) | (Luk 19:16) | 2 tn Or “Lord”; or “Master.” (and so throughout this paragraph). |
| (0.06) | (Mat 25:20) | 2 tn Grk Or “Lord; or “Master” (and so throughout this paragraph). |
| (0.06) | (Mal 1:5) | 1 tn Or “Great is the Lord” (so NAB; similar NIV, NRSV). |
| (0.06) | (Mic 7:17) | 4 tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person. |
| (0.06) | (Mic 4:4) | 2 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord…has spoken.” |
| (0.06) | (Mic 4:13) | 3 tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.” |
| (0.06) | (Mic 2:13) | 4 tn Heb “the Lord [will be] at their head.” |
