Roma 9:33

9:33 just as it is written,

“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble

and a rock that will make them fall, ¹ 

yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ² 

Yesaya 28:16

28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says:

“Look, I am laying ³  a stone in Zion,

an approved ⁴  stone,

set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. ⁵ 

The one who maintains his faith will not panic. ⁶ 

Yesaya 49:23

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ⁷  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ⁸ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ⁹  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Yeremia 17:7

17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,

who put their confidence in me. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 17:1

17:1 ¹¹ The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel

on their stone-hard ¹²  hearts.

It is inscribed with a diamond ¹³  point

on the horns of their altars. ¹⁴ 

Pengkhotbah 2:6

2:6 I constructed pools of water for myself,

to irrigate my grove ¹⁵  of flourishing trees.

[9:33]  ¹ tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

[9:33]  ² sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.

[28:16]  ³ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

[28:16]  ⁴ tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

[28:16]  ⁵ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

[28:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

[49:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ⁹ tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[17:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence is in the Lord.” However, because this is a statement of the Lord and the translation chooses to show that the blessing comes from him, the first person is substituted for the divine name.

[17:1]  ¹¹ tn The chapter division which was not a part of the original text but was added in the middle ages obscures the fact that there is no new speech here. The division may have resulted from the faulty identification of the “them” in the preceding verse. See the translator’s note on that verse.

[17:1]  ¹² tn The adjective “stone-hard” is not in the Hebrew text. It is implicit in the metaphor and is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:26; and Job 19:24 for the figure.

[17:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “adamant.” The word “diamond” is an accommodation to modern times. There is no evidence that diamond was known in ancient times. This hard stone (perhaps emery) became metaphorical for hardness; see Ezek 3:9 and Zech 7:12. For discussion see W. E. Staples, “Adamant,” IDB 1:45.

[17:1]  ¹⁴ tn This verse has been restructured for the sake of the English poetry: Heb “The sin of Judah is engraved [or written] with an iron pen, inscribed with a point of a diamond [or adamant] upon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.”

[17:1]  sn There is biting sarcasm involved in the use of the figures here. The law was inscribed on the tablets of stone by the “finger” of God (Exod 31:18; 32:16). Later under the new covenant it would be written on their hearts (Jer 31:33). Blood was to be applied to the horns of the altar in offering the sin offering (cf., e.g., Lev 4:7, 18, 25, 20) and on the bronze altar to cleanse it from sin on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:18). Here their sins are engraved (permanently written, cf. Job 19:24) on their hearts (i.e., control their thoughts and actions) and on their altars (permanently polluting them).

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to water from them a grove” (or “forest).