4:1 Where do the conflicts and where 2 do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, 3 from your passions that battle inside you? 4
17:1 After they traveled through 19 Amphipolis 20 and Apollonia, 21 they came to Thessalonica, 22 where there was a Jewish synagogue. 23
29:13 The sovereign master 24 says,
“These people say they are loyal to me; 25
they say wonderful things about me, 26
but they are not really loyal to me. 27
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual. 28
7:8 Ephraim has mixed itself like flour 29 among the nations;
Ephraim is like a ruined cake of bread that is scorched on one side. 30
7:9 Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, 31
but he does not recognize it!
His head is filled with gray hair,
but he does not realize it!
7:10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,
yet they refuse to return to the Lord their God!
In spite of all this they refuse to seek him!
7:11 Ephraim has been like a dove,
easily deceived and lacking discernment.
They called to Egypt for help;
they turned to Assyria for protection.
10:2 Their heart is slipping;
soon they will be punished for their guilt.
The Lord 32 will break their altars;
he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.
6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, 33 your whole body will be full of light.
6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate 34 the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise 35 the other. You cannot serve God and money. 36
2:14 The wise man can see where he is going, 40 but the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I also realized that the same fate 41 happens to them both. 42
3:16 I saw something else on earth: 43
In the place of justice, there was wickedness,
and in the place of fairness, 44 there was wickedness.
1 tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).
2 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
3 tn Grk “from here.”
4 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
5 tn Or “but took leave of.”
6 tn Grk “and saying”; the participle εἰπών (eipwn) has been translated as “added” rather than “said” to avoid redundancy with the previous “said farewell.” The participle εἰπών has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
7 tn Or “will return.”
8 tn The participle θέλοντος (qelontos), a genitive absolute construction, has been translated as a conditional adverbial participle. Again Paul acts in dependence on God.
9 tn A new sentence was begun here in the translation due to the length of the sentence in Greek and the requirements of contemporary English style, which generally uses shorter sentences.
10 tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
11 tn Grk “finding.” The participle εὑρών (Jeurwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
12 sn On Aquila and his wife Priscilla see also Acts 18:18, 26; Rom 16:3-4; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19. In the NT “Priscilla” and “Prisca” are the same person. This author uses the full name Priscilla, while Paul uses the diminutive form Prisca.
13 sn Pontus was a region in the northeastern part of Asia Minor. It was a Roman province.
14 sn Claudius refers to the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from
15 tn Or “to leave.”
16 map For location see JP4 A1.
17 tn Or “went to.”
18 tn Grk “left out of their midst”; the referent (the Areopagus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn BDAG 250 s.v. διοδεύω 1 has “go, travel through” for this verse.
20 sn Amphipolis. The capital city of the southeastern district of Macedonia (BDAG 55 s.v. ᾿Αμφίπολις). It was a military post. From Philippi this was about 33 mi (53 km).
21 sn Apollonia was a city in Macedonia about 27 mi (43 km) west southwest of Amphipolis.
22 sn Thessalonica (modern Salonica) was a city in Macedonia about 33 mi (53 km) west of Apollonia. It was the capital of Macedonia. The road they traveled over was called the Via Egnatia. It is likely they rode horses, given their condition in Philippi. The implication of v. 1 is that the two previously mentioned cities lacked a synagogue.
map For location see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.
23 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
24 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
25 tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”
26 tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”
27 tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.
28 tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”
29 tn The words “like flour” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied by the imagery.
30 tn Heb “a cake of bread not turned.” This metaphor compares Ephraim to a ruined cake of bread that was not turned over in time to avoid being scorched and burned (see BDB 728 s.v. עֻגָה). Cf. NLT “as worthless as a half-baked cake.”
31 tn Heb “foreigners consume his strength”; NRSV “devour (sap NIV) his strength.”
32 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
33 tn Or “sound” (so L&N 23.132 and most scholars). A few scholars take this word to mean something like “generous” here (L&N 57.107). partly due to the immediate context concerning money, in which case the “eye” is a metonymy for the entire person (“if you are generous”).
34 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.
35 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”
36 tn Grk “God and mammon.”
sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.
37 tn Grk “give alms,” but this term is not in common use today. The giving of alms was highly regarded in the ancient world (Deut 15:7-11).
38 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.
39 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
40 tn Heb “has his eyes in his head.” The term עַיִן (’ayin, “eye”) is used figuratively in reference to mental and spiritual faculties (BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.a). The term “eye” is a metonymy of cause (eye) for effect (sight and perception).
41 sn The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.
42 tn The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example of synecdoche of general (“all of them”) for the specific (“both of them,” that is, both the wise man and the fool).
43 tn Heb “under the sun.”
44 tn Or “righteousness.”