Section 10:16–21
The Jews do not believe and are stubborn
In this section Paul spoke about the Jews. They heard the good news about Jesus as the Christ/Messiah, but many did not believe it. God made some of them jealous of God bringing many non-Jews into his kingdom, even though they were not seeking him before they heard the good news. Paul then quoted Isaiah about the Jews being disobedient and opposing God.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
Many Jews have rejected the gospel of Jesus
-or-
Gentiles accept Jesus but Jews reject him
Paragraph 10:16–18
10:16a
not all of them welcomed the good news: Here the words not all indicate that some welcomed the good news and some did not. It does not say or imply how many of the total welcomed, only that it was not all. In some languages it is more natural to use or explain with “only some.” For example:
they have not all welcomed, ⌊only some of them did⌋
-or-
only some of them welcomed
them: Many scholars say that Paul spoke of the Jews here. The New International Version makes that clear here:
the Israelites (New International Version)
good news: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as good news refers to the good news about God. Here are other ways to translate this word:
good/sweet news
-or-
good news ⌊about God⌋
-or-
message/report that causes joy
See how you translated this word in 1:1 or 2:16.
10:16b
For: Here this word introduces support for what Paul said in 10:16a.
Isaiah says: This introduces a quote from the Old Testament. Isaiah spoke or wrote these words more than seven hundred years before Paul wrote Romans. Some languages make it clear the following words are from the Old Testament. For example:
⌊In Scripture,⌋ Isaiah said ⌊long ago⌋
Isaiah: Isaiah was one of the prophets of God. He wrote the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. In some languages it is more clear to indicate that he was a prophet. For example:
⌊the prophet⌋ Isaiah
says: The verb is present tense, but Isaiah wrote the words of 10:16c over seven hundred years before Paul lived. Greek scholars call it the historical present. In many languages the normal way of referring to a past event must be used. For example:
said (Good News Translation)
10:16c
This is a quote from Isaiah 53:1. If you indicate the location of quotes from the Old Testament with cross-references, you may want to do so here.
Lord: Here, this refers to God. Some languages must indicate who is lord. For example:
Lord ⌊God⌋
who has believed our message?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes that few people have believed what Isaiah told them. Translate with that meaning. Here are some ways:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
who has believed what he has heard from us? (English Standard Version)
-or-
who believed what we told them? (New Century Version)
-or-
has anyone believed what we said? (Contemporary English Version)
• As a statement. For example:
Few have believed our message.
-or-
Few people have believed what we told them.
-or-
Only a few believed what we said.
our message: This phrase is just three Greek words, “the report of-us.” The BDAG defines the main word as “account, report, message.” Here God told Isaiah what to say. For example:
what he has heard from us (English Standard Version)
our: Here this word probably refers to Isaiah and God. God told him what to say to the Jews, and Isaiah told them that message.
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