SIL Translator’s Notes on Romans 10:18

10:18a

did they not hear?: This is a rhetorical question. The Greek grammar indicates that Paul expected the readers to answer, “They have heard.” Paul answered the question himself in 10:18b. If possible, translate in a way that expects the answer “They have heard.” For example:

Is it perhaps possible that the Jews didn’t hear concerning Cristo? They indeed heard
-or-
truly, it seems that they haven’t/didn’t hear, right? No. It is very true [that] they heard.

Paul answered his own question in 10:18b, so you should translate this as a question.

they: Based on 10:18c–d, the word they probably refers to people in general.

10:18b

Indeed they did: For an answer of they did (hear) to the question of 10:18a, some languages will preface it with “Yes” (or Indeed as the Berean Standard Bible) and some languages will preface it with “No.” Use the correct pattern for your language. For example:

Truly they heard
-or-
But no. They definitely were told.

10:18c–d

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world”: This is a quote of the first two parts of Psalm 19:4. If you indicate the location of quotes from the Old Testament with cross-references, you may want to do so here.

10:18c

This is a quotation from the Old Testament Some languages usually introduce Old Testament quotes in a certain way. For example:

Indeed, they did. ⌊As the Scriptures say,
-or-
Indeed, the did. ⌊It is as David said in the Holy Book,

Their voice: In Psalm 19:4, the word Their refers to the things in the sky like the sun and moon and stars. Here in this verse of Romans, Paul did not explain or indicate the meaning. He implied those taking the gospel of Jesus. But 10:18c–d is a quote from the Old Testament, so you should not explain Paul’s implied meaning in your translation of this verse. But you may want to explain the meaning in a footnote on this verse. Here is an example footnote:

In Psalm 19:4 the writer said that the heavens declare the glory of God even though they cannot speak. The shining of the sun, moon and stars is like a voice speaking about that glory to every part of the earth. Paul used that picture to assert that the gospel had gone out to everyone on earth, including the Jews.
-or-
Here, Paul spoke of those taking the gospel of Jesus to many places in the world.

voice: This word here refers to what people said, particularly the gospel about Jesus. In some languages a different word or phrase must be used for that meaning. For example:

message (New Century Version)
-or-
talk/news

has gone out into all the earth: This phrase indicates that the news of the gospel has spread into places other than where it started. So it refers to the gospel being heard in places all over the earth. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

has gone throughout the earth (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
spread to the whole world

10:18d

their words to the ends of the world: This phrase has a similar meaning to “Their voice has gone out to all the earth.” Hebrew poetry repeats similar meaning for emphasis. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

their words reached the ends of the earth (Good News Translation)
-or-

18c for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, 18d their message ⌊has gone out⌋ to the farthest corners/places of the world

the ends of the world: This phrase refers to the farthest places in the world. See the above examples.

General Comment on 10:18c–d

In some languages repeating the same meaning is confusing or has a different meaning than emphasis. If that is true in your language, emphasize the meaning in another way. For example:

for “Their voice/message has gone out to all the earth, even the farthest places.”

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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