1 Kings 8:46

8:46 “The time will come when your people ¹  will sin against you (for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry with them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their own land, ²  whether far away or close by.

1 Kings 8:2

8:2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival ³  in the month Ethanim ⁴  (the seventh month).

1 Kings 6:36

6:36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of chiseled stones and a row of cedar beams.

Proverbs 20:9

20:9 Who can say, ⁵  “I have kept my heart clean; ⁶ 

I am pure ⁷  from my sin”?

Ecclesiastes 7:20

7:20 For ⁸  there is not one truly ⁹  righteous person on the earth

who continually does good and never sins.

Isaiah 64:6

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹⁰ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Romans 3:10

3:10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

Romans 7:21

7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.

Galatians 3:22

3:22 But the scripture imprisoned ¹¹  everything and everyone ¹²  under sin so that the promise could be given – because of the faithfulness ¹³  of Jesus Christ – to those who believe.

Galatians 5:17

5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ¹⁴  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ¹⁵  each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹⁶  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ¹⁷  of slavery.

John 1:8-10

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify ¹⁸  about the light. 1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ¹⁹  was coming into the world. ²⁰  1:10 He was in the world, and the world was created ²¹  by him, but ²²  the world did not recognize ²³  him.

[8:46]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (your people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:46]  ² tn Heb “the land of the enemy.”

[8:2]  ³ sn The festival. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.

[8:2]  ⁴ sn The month Ethanim. This would be September-October in modern reckoning.

[20:9]  ⁵ sn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is affirming that no one can say this because no one is pure and free of sin.

[20:9]  ⁶ tn The verb form זִכִּיתִי (zikkiti) is the Piel perfect of זָכָה (zakhah, “to be clear; to be clean; to be pure”). The verb has the idea of “be clear, justified, acquitted.” In this stem it is causative: “I have made my heart clean” (so NRSV) or “kept my heart pure” (so NIV). This would be claiming that all decisions and motives were faultless.

[20:9]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I am pure” (טָהֵר, taher) is a Levitical term. To claim this purity would be to claim that moral and cultic perfection had been attained and therefore one was acceptable to God in the present condition. Of course, no one can claim this; even if one thought it true, it is impossible to know all that is in the heart as God knows it.

[7:20]  ⁷ tn The introductory particle כִּי (ki) is rendered variously: “for” (KJV); “indeed” (NASB); not translated (NIV); “for” (NJPS). The particle functions in an explanatory sense, explaining the need for wisdom in v. 19. Righteousness alone cannot always protect a person from calamity (7:15-16); therefore, something additional, such as wisdom, is needed. The need for wisdom as protection from calamity is particularly evident in the light of the fact that no one is truly righteous (7:19-20).

[7:20]  ⁸ tn The term “truly” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Qoheleth does not deny the existence of some people who are relatively righteous.

[64:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[3:22]  ¹¹ tn Or “locked up.”

[3:22]  ¹² tn Grk “imprisoned all things” but τὰ πάντα (ta panta) includes people as part of the created order. Because people are the emphasis of Paul’s argument ( “given to those who believe” at the end of this verse.), “everything and everyone” was used here.

[3:22]  ¹³ tn Or “so that the promise could be given by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; Eph 3:12; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.

[5:17]  ¹³ tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.

[5:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).

[5:1]  ¹⁵ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ¹⁶ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[1:10]  ²¹ tn Or “was made”; Grk “came into existence.”

[1:10]  ²² tn Grk “and,” but in context this is an adversative use of καί (kai) and is thus translated “but.”

[1:10]  ²³ tn Or “know.”