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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 15 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31 V32 V33
OET (OET-LV) but as it_has_been_written:
To_whom not it_was_declared concerning him, they_will_be_seeing, and those_who not have_heard, they_will_be_understanding.
OET (OET-RV) but as it has been written:
⇔ ‘Anyone who hasn’t been told about him,
⇔ they will be seeing,
⇔ and anyone who hasn’t heard about him,
⇔ they will be understanding.’
In this section, Paul told the believers in Rome that he was convinced that they were good, had knowledge, and were able to teach each other. He reminded them that he had been very bold in this letter. He wanted the Gentiles to be acceptable to God regarding their faith.
He told the believers in Rome that he was proud of his work for God. His work was to help Gentiles to believe in Jesus. He told them that he always wanted to preach the gospel where people did not know about Christ.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles
Paul’s Reason for Writing (NLT)
Rather, as it is written:
It is as the Scriptures say,
That is like what Isaiah wrote in God’s Book,
Rather: The Greek word indicates strong contrast. But the quote (15:21b–c) contrasts to “building on someone else’s foundation.” The quote supports “I would not be building on someone else’s foundation” (15:20c) rather than contrasts with it.
In some languages indicating contrast would indicate the correct meaning of the connection. But in some languages omitting the contrast would indicate the correct connection. For example:
As the scripture says (GNT)
in accordance with scripture: (NJB)
It is just as the Scriptures say (CEV)
as it is written: This clause introduces a quote from Scripture. See how you translated this clause in 15:9, except that here the prophet Isaiah wrote instead of King David.
“Those who were not told about Him will see,
“The ones to whom no one has spoken about him, they will see/understand,
“The people, no one has told them about him, they will hear and understand his message.
This quote is from Isaiah 52:15. If you indicate the location of quotes from the Old Testament with cross-references, you may want to do so here.
Those who were not told: This is a passive clause. It implies someone telling these people rather than just overhearing the message. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:
Those whom someone has not told
Some languages can use “hear” and still imply that someone told them rather than just overhearing. For example:
Those who have not heard
about Him: Here the word about means “concerning.” For example:
of him (ESV)
The word Him refers to the person whom God called “my servant” in Isaiah 52:13. Jews of Paul’s time understood this as a reference to the Messiah. This is a quote from the Old Testament. You should not explain to whom Him refers in your translation, or add the name Jesus. You may want to explain the meaning in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:
This refers to the Messiah, whom God called “my servant” just a few verses earlier, in Isaiah 52:13.
will see: Here the word see is a figure of speech that means “perceive/understand.” These people will understand the gospel of Jesus even though they had not heard it before. Some languages cannot use see in that way. If that is true in your language, translate the correct meaning. For example:
perceive/understand
and those who have not heard will understand.”
and the ones who have not yet heard about him will understand this new thing.”
Those who have not heard it will understand its challenging message.”
have not heard: The phrase “about Him” is implied from 15:21b. In some languages it is more natural or clear to repeat it here. For example:
have never heard of him
will understand: The Greek word here refers to understanding something that challenges one’s thinking or way of life.BDAG. Many languages would need to translate this meaning with more than one word. For example:
understand the new idea/ideas
understand this new news
The meaning of 15:21c is very similar to 15:21b. This is a common feature of Hebrew poetry. If possible, use words of similar meaning when translating these two lines. For example:
Those who have never been told of him will see/understand, and those who have never heard will be clear about it.
Those who have never been told of him will see/understand, and those who have never heard will be grasp its meaning.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast
ἀλλὰ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
The word But introduces a contrast. Here, But indicates that what follows is the opposite of what Paul said in the last clause of the previous verse. Use the best way in your language to indicate a strong contrast. Alternate translation: [On the contrary,]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἀλλὰ καθὼς γέγραπται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
In this verse Paul quotes Scripture to state that he preaches the gospel to those who have never heard it, which he also stated in the previous verse. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [Instead of doing that, I aspire to preach the gospel where it has not been preached before. Doing so is just as it is written]
Note 3 topic: writing-quotations
καθὼς γέγραπται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
See how you translated this phrase in [1:17](../01/17.md).
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
καθὼς γέγραπται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
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, you could indicate Isaiah as the subject. Alternate translation: [just as Isaiah wrote]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks
οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὄψονται, καὶ οἳ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν, συνήσουσιν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
This sentence is a quotation from [Isaiah 52:15](../isa/52/15.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 6 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism
οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὄψονται, καὶ οἳ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν, συνήσουσιν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
These two clauses mean the same thing. Isaiah says the same thing twice, in slightly different ways, to emphasize that non-Jewish people will hear about the Messiah. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine the phrases into one. Alternate translation: [Those who have not heard about him will certainly understand]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀλλά καθώς γέγραπται Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περί αὐτοῦ ὄψονται καί οἵ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν συνήσουσιν)
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. Alternate translation: [Those to whom no one had reported concerning him]
Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ὄψονται & συνήσουσιν
˱they˲_˓will_be˒_seeing & ˱they˲_˓will_be˒_understanding
Isaiah implies that the non-Jewish people who never heard about the Messiah will understand who the Messiah is and what he has done. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [will see who the Messiah is … will understand who he is]
Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ὄψονται
˱they˲_˓will_be˒_seeing
Paul quotes Isaiah using see to refer to perceiving something. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [will perceive]
OET (OET-LV) but as it_has_been_written:
To_whom not it_was_declared concerning him, they_will_be_seeing, and those_who not have_heard, they_will_be_understanding.
OET (OET-RV) but as it has been written:
⇔ ‘Anyone who hasn’t been told about him,
⇔ they will be seeing,
⇔ and anyone who hasn’t heard about him,
⇔ they will be understanding.’
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.