Paragraph 2:5–11

2:5a

But: There is contrast between God’s kindness leading to repentance (2:4b) and this man not wanting to repent.

But the scholars who translated some English versions did not see contrast here and did not translate the Greek conjunction. For example:

Your stubborn refusal to repent… (New Jerusalem Bible)

because of: This man’s hard and unrepentant heart is the basis for God being angry with him. Here are other ways to translate this word:

according to
-or-
In (Revised English Bible)
-or-
you have a hard and stubborn heart, and so (Good News Translation)

your hard and unrepentant heart: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hard means “stubbornness” here. The man was stubborn in that he refused to change his way of thinking or behaving.

The word unrepentant indicates that the man did not want to repent. He did not feel sorry about his sins and did not want to stop doing them.

Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

you are stubborn and refuse to change (New Century Version)
-or-
you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
you are stubborn and don’t want to change the way you think (God’s Word)
-or-
your heads are hard, you do not want to abandon your sins

It is possible that this phrase is a figure of speech that means “you stubbornly refuse to repent.” For example:

your obstinate refusal to repent (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
you refuse to repent because your minds are hard

heart: Here this word refers to the part of a person in which thoughts and feelings occur. In some languages people use a different part of the body, such as the mind, throat, liver, or stomach, in this way. In other languages people use a non-figurative word or phrase. For example:

insides/liver
-or-
mind

2:5b

you are storing up wrath against yourself: The phrase storing up is a metaphor. Here it indicates that God continues to be ready to punish this person because he continues to refuse to repent. In some languages a literal translation would have the wrong meaning. If that is true in your language, translate the meaning of the metaphor. For example:

you are causing God to be more and more angry with you
-or-
you are adding to the anger that God will have against you (God’s Word)

wrath against yourself: Here the word wrath refers to God’s anger. God is angry with this person because of his hard and impenitent heart. In some languages it is more clear to explain whose anger this is. For example:

⌊God’s⌋ wrath for/against you

for the day of wrath: This phrase refers to God’s judgment day. It will occur in the future. God is angry with wrongdoers who have refused to repent and will punish them.

This phrase is explained in 2:5c. If the meaning of this phrase is still not clear with reading 2:5c, you may want to:

• Explain it in the text. For example:

on the day of wrath ⌊and judgment⌋ ⌊of all people⌋

• Explain it in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:

This refers to God’s judgment day. It will occur in the future. God will be angry with wrongdoers who have refused to repent.

2:5c

God’s righteous judgment will be revealed: The phrase will be revealed indicates that everyone will see God’s righteous judgment. This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause here. For example:

On that day everyone will see God’s right judgments. (New Century Version)

God’s righteous judgment: This phrase refers to God rightly judging people. He will look at what a person has done and thought and then rightly reward them or punish them. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

God’s just verdicts (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
God will judge people fairly according to their deeds and thoughts

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