They were broken off because they did not believe is literally “by unbelief they were broken off.” The Good News Translation changes the noun phrase “by unbelief” to a verb phrase because they did not believe. This restructuring requires that the causative expression (because …) be placed second in the English sentence. The Greek “by faith you have stood” is dealt with similarly: while you remain in place because you believe.

Have proud thoughts is the same verb which appears in 12.16 (be proud). Have proud thoughts about it is in some languages more readily expressed as “have proud thoughts because of it” or “be proud because you have taken their place.”

Be afraid (so An American Translation*; New American Bible “fearful”) is perhaps the nearest English equivalent of Paul’s words here. The Revised Standard Version rendering “stand in awe” (Moffatt “feel awed”) is a bit high level for the average English reader and does not convey the full impact of what Paul is saying. On the other hand, the New English Bible rendering “be on your guard” appears to move in a direction other than what Paul intends in this passage. Nevertheless, in some languages one must make a distinction between fear of something which exists at the time and fear of what may come. It is the second type of fear which is involved at this point, and therefore it may well be rendered by a term which implies “beware.”

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 .