Yesaya 6:13

6:13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, ¹  like one of the large sacred trees ²  or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. ³  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.” ⁴ 

Yesaya 37:31

37:31 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit. ⁵ 

Yesaya 49:20-23

49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement

will say within your hearing,

‘This place is too cramped for us, ⁶ 

make room for us so we can live here.’ ⁷ 

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ⁸ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ⁹ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ¹⁰  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ¹¹ 

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

and they will lick the dirt on ¹²  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

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

Yesaya 54:1-3

Zion Will Be Secure

54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!

Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one are more numerous

than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

54:2 Make your tent larger,

stretch your tent curtains farther out! ¹³ 

Spare no effort,

lengthen your ropes,

and pound your stakes deep. ¹⁴ 

54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your children will conquer ¹⁵  nations

and will resettle desolate cities.

Yesaya 60:22

60:22 The least of you will multiply into ¹⁶  a thousand;

the smallest of you will become a large nation.

When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 92:13-15

92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,

they grow in the courts of our God.

92:14 They bear fruit even when they are old;

they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. ¹⁸ 

92:15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,

is just and never unfair. ¹⁹ 

Yeremia 30:19

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ²⁰ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ²¹ 

I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

Hosea 2:23

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ²²  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ²³  will say, ‘You are ²⁴  my God!’”

Hosea 14:5-6

14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like a lily,

he will send down his roots like a cedar of ²⁵  Lebanon.

14:6 His young shoots will grow;

his splendor will be like an olive tree,

his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

Zakharia 2:11

2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, ²⁶  and they will also be my ²⁷  people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you.

Zakharia 10:8-9

10:8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before. 10:9 Though I scatter ²⁸  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return.

Roma 11:16-26

11:16 If the first portion ²⁹  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ³⁰ 

11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ³¹  the richness of the olive root, 11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 11:19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 11:20 Granted! ³²  They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 11:22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but ³³  God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; ³⁴  otherwise you also will be cut off. 11:23 And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, ³⁵  so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel ³⁶  until the full number ³⁷  of the Gentiles has come in. 11:26 And so ³⁸  all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion;

he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

Galatia 3:29

3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, ³⁹  heirs according to the promise.

Filipi 3:3

3:3 For we are the circumcision, ⁴⁰  the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, ⁴¹  exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials ⁴² 

Wahyu 11:15

The Seventh Trumpet

11:15 Then ⁴³  the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying:

“The kingdom of the world

has become the kingdom of our Lord

and of his Christ, ⁴⁴ 

and he will reign for ever and ever.”

[6:13]  ¹ tn Or “be burned” (NRSV); NIV “laid waste.”

[6:13]  ² tn Heb “like a massive tree or like a big tree” (perhaps, “like a terebinth or like an oak”).

[6:13]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has “which in the felling, a sacred pillar in them.” Some take מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) as “stump,” and translate, “which, when chopped down, have a stump remaining in them.” But elsewhere מַצֶּבֶת refers to a memorial pillar (2 Sam 18:18) and the word resembles מַצֶּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”). בָּם (bam, “in them”) may be a corruption of בָּמָה (bamah, “high place”; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has במה). אֳשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) becomes a problem in this case, but one might emend the form to וּכְּאֲשֵׁרָה (ukÿ’asherah, “or like an Asherah pole”) and translate, “like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole.” Though the text is difficult, the references to sacred trees and a sacred pillar suggest that the destruction of a high place is in view, an apt metaphor for the judgment of idolatrous Judah.

[6:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a holy offspring [is] its sacred pillar.” If מַצֶּבֶת (matsevet) is taken as “stump,” one can see in this statement a brief glimpse of hope. The tree (the nation) is chopped down, but the stump (a righteous remnant) remains from which God can restore the nation. However, if מַצֶּבֶת is taken as “sacred pillar” (מַצֶּבָה, matsevah; see the previous note), it is much more difficult to take the final statement in a positive sense. In this case “holy offspring” alludes to God’s ideal for his covenant people, the offspring of the patriarchs. Ironically that “holy” nation is more like a “sacred pillar” and it will be thrown down like a sacred pillar from a high place and its land destroyed like the sacred trees located at such shrines. Understood in this way, the ironic statement is entirely negative in tone, just like the rest of the preceding announcement of judgment. It also reminds the people of their failure; they did not oppose pagan religion, instead they embraced it. Now they will be destroyed in the same way they should have destroyed paganism.

[37:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “The remnant of the house of Judah that is left will add roots below and produce fruit above.”

[49:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.

[49:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”

[49:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ⁹ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

[49:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

[49:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

[49:23]  ¹² tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

[54:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “the curtains of our dwelling places let them stretch out.”

[54:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your stakes strengthen.”

[54:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “take possession of”; NAB “shall dispossess.”

[60:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).

[60:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”

[92:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they are juicy and fresh.”

[92:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord, my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”

[30:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

[30:19]  ²¹ sn Compare Jer 29:6.

[2:23]  ²² tn Heb “for myself.”

[2:23]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.

[2:23]  ²⁴ tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).

[14:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “like Lebanon” (so KJV; also in the following verse). The phrase “a cedar of” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it is supplied in translation for clarity. Cf. TEV “the trees of Lebanon”; NRSV “the forests of Lebanon.”

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ²⁷ tc The LXX and Syriac have the 3rd person masculine singular suffix in both places (“his people” and “he will settle”; cf. NAB, TEV) in order to avoid the Lord’s speaking of himself in the third person. Such resort is unnecessary, however, in light of the common shifting of person in Hebrew narrative (cf. 3:2).

[10:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.

[11:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ³⁰ sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.

[11:17]  ³¹ tn Grk “became a participant of.”

[11:20]  ³² tn Grk “well!”, an adverb used to affirm a statement. It means “very well,” “you are correct.”

[11:22]  ³³ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[11:22]  ³⁴ tn Grk “if you continue in (the) kindness.”

[11:25]  ³⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[11:25]  ³⁶ tn Or “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”

[11:25]  ³⁷ tn Grk “fullness.”

[11:26]  ³⁸ tn It is not clear whether the phrase καὶ οὕτως (kai Joutws, “and so”) is to be understood in a modal sense (“and in this way”) or in a temporal sense (“and in the end”). Neither interpretation is conclusive from a grammatical standpoint, and in fact the two may not be mutually exclusive. Some, like H. Hübner, who argue strongly against the temporal reading, nevertheless continue to give the phrase a temporal significance, saying that God will save all Israel in the end (Gottes Ich und Israel [FRLANT], 118).

[3:29]  ³⁹ tn Grk “seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.

[3:3]  ⁴⁰ tn There is a significant wordplay here in the Greek text. In v. 2 a rare, strong word is used to describe those who were pro-circumcision (κατατομή, katatomh, “mutilation”; see BDAG 528 s.v.), while in v. 3 the normal word for circumcision is used (περιτομή, peritomh; see BDAG 807 s.v.). Both have τομή (the feminine form of the adjective τομός [tomo"], meaning “cutting, sharp”) as their root; the direction of the action of the former is down or off (from κατά, kata), hence the implication of mutilation or emasculation, while the direction of the action of the latter is around (from περί, peri). The similarity in sound yet wide divergence of meaning between the two words highlights in no uncertain terms the differences between Paul and his opponents.

[3:3]  ⁴¹ tc The verb λατρεύω (latreuw; here the participial form, λατρεύοντες [latreuonte"]) either takes a dative direct object or no object at all, bearing virtually a technical nuance of “worshiping God” (see BDAG 587 s.v.). In this text, πνεύματι (pneumati) takes an instrumental force (“by the Spirit”) rather than functioning as object of λατρεύοντες. However, the word after πνεύματι is in question, no doubt because of the collocation with λατρεύοντες. Most witnesses, including some of the earliest and best representatives of the Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine texts (א* A B C D² F G 0278^vid 33 1739 1881 Ï co Ambr), read θεοῦ (qeou; thus, “worship by the Spirit of God”). But several other important witnesses (א² D* P Ψ 075 365 1175 lat sy Chr) have the dative θεῷ (qew) here (“worship God by the Spirit”). Ì⁴⁶ is virtually alone in its omission of the divine name, probably due to an unintentional oversight. The dative θεῷ was most likely a scribal emendation intended to give the participle its proper object, and thus avoid confusion about the force of πνεύματι. Although the Church came to embrace the full deity of the Spirit, the NT does not seem to speak of worshiping the Spirit explicitly. The reading θεῷ thus appears to be a clarifying reading. On external and internal grounds, then, θεοῦ is the preferred reading.

[3:3]  ⁴² tn Grk “have no confidence in the flesh.”

[11:15]  ⁴³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[11:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”