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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Rom C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16
Rom 14 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23
OET (OET-LV) For/Because it_has_been_written:
˓Am˒_living I, is_saying the_master that to_me will_be_bowing every knee, and will_be_confessing every tongue to_ the _god.
OET (OET-RV) As it’s been written:
⇔ “Yahweh is telling me, ‘I am alive
⇔ and every person will bow to me,
⇔ and each one will confess to God.’ ”
In this section, Paul told his readers that they must accept other believers who are not strong in their faith. These other believers do things that are not based in their faith, hence they are “weak” in their faith. One example that Paul gave of this “weak” faith is someone who avoids meat because it has been devoted to the Roman gods.
Paul also told his readers to not argue over differences of opinion (14:1). In 14:5, he gave an example of this: some believers hold the holy days as something special but other believers do not. Paul reminded his readers that they all belong to the Lord Jesus.
Paul told his readers that they must not judge other believers to be bad people or despise them. He reminded them that they all will stand before God as their judge, and give an account of their deeds.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
Do not consider other believers to be bad people
Do not look down on other believers
It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord,
For some words that were written long ago say, “The Lord says, ‘Just as it is certain that I live,
For the Scripture says, “The Lord God says, ‘In the same way that it is true that I live,
It is written: Here these words introduce support for what Paul said in 14:10c. This clause also introduces a quote from Scripture. The main part of the quote is from Isaiah 45:23, with “As I live, says the Lord” possibly from Isaiah 49:18 or a number of other places in the Old Testament.
The book of Isaiah was written hundreds of years before Paul wrote the letter to the Romans. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate the quote was written at the same time as Paul wrote here. If that is true in your language, indicate that the quote was written long before Paul wrote. For example:
It was written long ago
This clause refers to what was written in the Old Testament. Some languages must make that explicit to be clear. For example:
The scripture says (GNT)
This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause here. For example:
Isaiah/someone wrote long ago
What God caused to be written saying,
It says in the Holy Book
See how you translated this clause in 1:17 or 12:19.
As surely as I live, says the Lord: In the Greek, the phrase says the Lord occurs in the middle of spoken words. In many languages this phrase must occur before the spoken words. For example:
The Lord says, ‘As I live,
As surely as I live: This is an oath. It indicates that in the same way that it is true that God lives, what he says after is also true. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
As I live (ESV)
As certainly as I live (GW)
the Lord: The word Lord refers to someone who has authority over people. Here this phrase refers to God. In some languages it is more natural to indicate who this Lord is. For example:
the Lord God
See how you translated the word Lord in 4:8 or 12:19.
every knee will bow before Me;
it will be to me that every knee shall bow,
I am the one to whom every person will bow down,
14:11b–c is a quote from Isaiah 45:23. If you indicate the location of quotes from the Old Testament with cross-references, you may want to do so here.
every knee will bow before Me: This clause is more literally “every knee will bend to me.” This refers to kneeling. Here kneeling indicates that these people submit to God. In some languages a literal translation would indicate a different meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
Explain in the text. For example:
everyone shall bow in submission to me
Translate literally and explain the meaning in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:
This clause indicates that people will kneel in submission to God.
every knee: This phrase implies every person. For example:
everyone (GNT)
will: The Greek is the future tense. It is a prophecy and implies that this will certainly happen.
bow: This word implies that the person bowing acknowledges that the person he is bowing to has greater status, power, or authority. Use a word or phrase with that meaning.
before Me: This phrase is emphasized in the Greek by being first in the clause. If possible emphasize this phrase. For example:
to me every knee shall bow
every knee shall bow, behold/hey, to me
every knee shall bow to me and me alone
every tongue will confess to God.”
and every mouth will praise God.’ ”
and every person will praise God.’ ”
(RSV:) and every tongue shall give praise to God: There are three ways to interpret the Greek word that the RSV translates as give praise:
It means to praise here. For example:
everyone will praise God (GW) (RSV, NJB, NABRE, NASB, NLT, GW, CEV, NET)
It means to confess something here. For example:
every tongue will confess to God (NIV) (BSB, NIV, ESV, KJV)
It means to acknowledge that God is the one and only true God. For example:
every tongue will acknowledge God (NIV11) (NIV11, GNT, REB, NCV)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because BDAG chooses it.Cranfield, Dunn, and Moo also support interpretation (1) in their translations.
(RSV:) every tongue: This phrase implies every person. For example:
everyone (GNT)
(RSV:) shall: The Greek is the future tense. As a prophecy it is implied here that this will certainly happen.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases
γάρ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
For indicates that what follows this word explains what came before it. For here indicates that what follows in this verse explains what Paul said in the previous verse. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a different expression. Alternate translation: [In fact,]
Note 2 topic: writing-quotations
γέγραπται
˱it˲_˓has_been˒_written
See how you translated the similar phrase in [1:17](../01/17.md).
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
γέγραπται
˱it˲_˓has_been˒_written
If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can state this in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Since Paul is referring to something Isaiah wrote ([Isaiah 49:18](../isa/49/18.md) and [45:23](../isa/45/23.md)), you could indicate Isaiah as the subject. Alternate translation: [Isaiah wrote]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks
ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει Κύριος, ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
This sentence contains quotations from [Isaiah 49:18](../isa/49/18.md) and [45:23](../isa/45/23.md). It may be helpful to your readers to indicate this by setting off all of this material with quotation marks or with whatever punctuation or convention your language uses to indicate a quotation.
Note 5 topic: writing-pronouns
ζῶ ἐγώ & ἐμοὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
In this sentence I and me refer to God. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [As I, God, live … to me]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure
ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει Κύριος
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these phrases. Alternate translation: [The Lord says, “As I live,”]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ζῶ ἐγώ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
This phrase is used to start an oath or solemn promise. Use the most natural way in your language to indicate an oath. Alternate translation: [You can be certain that]
Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche
κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ
˓will_be˒_bowing (Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
Paul uses the words knee and tongue to refer to the entire person who is doing these acts. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [every person will bow down and every person will confess to God]
Note 9 topic: translate-symaction
κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ
˓will_be˒_bowing (Some words not found in SR-GNT: γέγραπται Γάρ Ζῶ ἐγώ λέγει Κύριος ὅτι ἐμοί κάμψει παν γόνυ καί πάσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ)
This action was an expression of worship in this culture. See how you translated a similar expression in [11:4](../11/04.md). Alternate translation: [every person will worship]
Note 10 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis
ἐξομολογήσεται
˓will_be˒_confessing
Paul is leaving out some of the words that a sentence would need in many languages to be complete. If it would be helpful in your language, you could supply these words from the context. Alternate translation: [will confess that I am Lord]
Note 11 topic: figures-of-speech / 123person
τῷ Θεῷ
¬the ˱to˲_God
The Lord uses the word God to refer to himself. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use the first person, as in the UST.
14:11 This quotation is from Isa 49:18; 45:23. In its original context, Isa 45:23 is surrounded by assertions of God’s sovereignty (Isa 45:22, 24). Only the sovereign God has the right to stand in judgment (Rom 14:10, 12).
OET (OET-LV) For/Because it_has_been_written:
˓Am˒_living I, is_saying the_master that to_me will_be_bowing every knee, and will_be_confessing every tongue to_ the _god.
OET (OET-RV) As it’s been written:
⇔ “Yahweh is telling me, ‘I am alive
⇔ and every person will bow to me,
⇔ and each one will confess to God.’ ”
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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