Following the demands of English discourse structure, the Good News Translation once again makes a pronominal reference explicit (of the Jews is literally “of them”). Moreover, as with the previous sentence, so here also a verb must be supplied from the context (Good News Translation brought; Revised Standard Version “means”; An American Translation* takes the noun “riches” and transforms it into a verb “has so enriched”).

In a number of languages one cannot speak of a noun such as sin “bringing rich blessings.” However, sin can be expressed as a cause—for example, “because the Jews sinned, rich blessings have come to the world” or “because the Jews sinned, other people in the world have experienced so many good things.”

The Greek word rendered spiritual poverty in the Good News Translation is difficult to translate literally. Elsewhere in the New Testament it occurs only in 1 Corinthians 6.7 with the meaning of “failure” or “defeat.” The Revised Standard Version renders the word by “failure” and the New English Bible by “falling-off.” An American Translation* chooses the word “false step” and Moffatt “defection”; the Jerusalem Bible translates by two words “fall and defection.” Most commentators see in this word the meaning of “defeat,” while others point out that the basic idea in this context is “smaller” or “less.” If this last viewpoint is taken, the word may refer either to the small number of Jews who are saved or, as the Good News Translation interprets it, to their spiritual poverty.

As in the first clause of verse 12, there is also relation of cause and effect between spiritual poverty and the fact of “bringing rich blessings.” One may translate, therefore, as “because the Jews were spiritually poor, the Gentiles enjoyed rich blessings” or “because the Jews failed, rich blessings came to the Gentiles.”

The King James Version represents a rather literal rendering of the last part of this verse: “how much more their fulness?” Paul is arguing from the lesser to the greater, and so the phrase “how much more” must be taken as a reference to rich blessings in the previous line. This then is the logic for the Good News Translation rendering: How much greater the blessings will be.

The meaning of the word “fulness” is also disputed. Some take this as a reference to a time when the Jews will completely do the will of God (see 13.10). However, most commentators and modern translators understand it in the sense of the complete number of Jews who will finally be included in God’s salvation (Moffatt “what will it mean when they all come in”; An American Translation* “how much more good the addition of their full number will do”; New American Bible “how much more their full number”).

The final exclamation in verse 12 may be rendered as a strong affirmation in the form “the blessings will even be much greater when all the Jews are included” or “… when the number of those who experience salvation includes all the Jews.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .