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Romans 6:19
New English Translation
Romans 6:19
New English Translation
19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.)[a] For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
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- Romans 6:19 tn Or “because of your natural limitations” (NRSV). sn Verse 19 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.
Psalm 34:14
New English Translation
Psalm 34:14
New English Translation
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Footnotes
- Psalm 34:14 tn Or “do good.”
- Psalm 34:14 tn Heb “seek peace and pursue it.”
Isaiah 1:16-17
New English Translation
Isaiah 1:16-17
New English Translation
16 [a] Wash! Cleanse yourselves!
Remove your sinful deeds[b]
from my sight.
Stop sinning.
17 Learn to do what is right.
Promote justice.
Give the oppressed reason to celebrate.[c]
Take up the cause of the orphan.
Defend the rights of the widow.[d]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 1:16 sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.
- Isaiah 1:16 sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun מַעַלְלֵיכֶם (maʿalleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).
- Isaiah 1:17 tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The translation assumes an emendation of חָמוֹץ (khamots, “oppressor [?]”) to חָמוּץ (khamuts, “oppressed”), a passive participle from II חָמַץ (khamats, “oppress”; HALOT 329 s.v. II חמץ) and takes the verb II אָשַׁר (ʾashar) in the sense of “make happy” (the delocutive Piel, meaning “call/pronounce happy,” is metonymic here, referring to actually effecting happiness). The parallelism favors this interpretation, for the next two lines speak of positive actions on behalf of the destitute. The other option is to retain the MT pointing and translate, “set right the oppressor,” but the nuance “set right” is not clearly attested elsewhere for the verb I אשׁר. This verb does appear as a participle in Isa 3:12 and 9:16 with the meaning “to lead or guide.” If it can mean to “lead” or “rebuke/redirect” in this verse, the prophet could be contrasting this appeal for societal reformation (v. 17c) with a command to reorder their personal lives (v. 17a-b). J. A. Motyer (The Prophecy of Isaiah, 47) suggests that these three statements (v. 17a-c) provide “the contrast between the two ends of imperfect society, the oppressor and the needy, the one inflicting and the other suffering the hurt. Isaiah looks for a transformed society wherever it needs transforming.”
- Isaiah 1:17 tn This word refers to a woman who has lost her husband, by death or divorce. The orphan and widow are often mentioned in the OT as epitomizing the helpless and impoverished who have been left without the necessities of life due to the loss of a family provider.
Amos 5:14-15
New English Translation
Amos 5:14-15
New English Translation
14 Seek good and not evil so you can live!
Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies just might be with you,
as you claim he is.
15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right.
Promote[a] justice at the city gate.[b]
Maybe the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on[c] those who are left from[d] Joseph.[e]
Footnotes
- Amos 5:15 tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).
- Amos 5:15 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.
- Amos 5:15 tn Or “will show favor to.”
- Amos 5:15 tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); cf. CEV “what’s left of your people.”
- Amos 5:15 sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
1 Thessalonians 5:22
New English Translation
1 Thessalonians 5:22
New English Translation
22 Stay away from every form of evil.
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3 John 11
New English Translation
3 John 11
New English Translation
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is bad but what is good.[a] The one who does good is of God; the one who does what is bad has not seen God.[b]
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- 3 John 1:11 sn The exhortation do not imitate what is bad but what is good is clearly a reference to Diotrephes’ evil behavior. The author exhorts Gaius (whom he wishes to continue assisting the missionaries) not to follow the negative example of Diotrephes, but to do what is right. Implicitly there may be a contrast between the bad behavior of Diotrephes and the good reputation of Demetrius (mentioned in the following verse), but it seems more likely that Demetrius is himself one of the traveling missionaries (perhaps their leader), rather than the leader of a local congregation who, unlike Diotrephes, has supported the missionaries himself.
- 3 John 1:11 sn The statement The one who does what is bad has not seen God is asyndetic; its abrupt introduction adds emphasis. The statement reiterates the common Johannine theme of behavior as an indication of genuine faith, found in 1 John in 3:6, 10; 4:7, 20; and in the Gospel of John in 3:17-21. By implication, the genuineness of Diotrephes’ faith is called into question, because he has obviously done what is bad (v. 11b; cf. vv. 9-10). In John’s terminology it is clear that the phrase has not seen God is equivalent to “is not a genuine Christian” (see John 3:17-21 and 1 John 3:6, 10; 4:7, 20).
New English Translation (NET)
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