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OET (OET-RV) No one understands,
⇔ there’s not even one person trying to find God.
In this section, Paul used quotations from the Old Testament to show that the Jews sin against God. They are not better than the Gentiles. God will hold them responsible for their sins. Paul also said that when someone follows the law of Moses, that does not make God say he is righteous.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
Both Jews and Gentiles sin
No One is Righteous (NIV)
Everyone has sinned
There is no one who understands,
not one person understands right and wrong,
Nobody knows God’s ways/character.
who understands: Here this word probably refers to understanding of right and wrong.Exegetical Helps on TW quotes D.D. Whedon: “The Old Testament speaks of wisdom, folly, and understanding not so much from the intellectual as from the moral standpoint. To be wicked is to be a fool; to be righteous was to understand.” In some languages a literal translation would be too general. If that is true in your language, explain what it refers to here. For example:
who understands right and wrong
who discerns right from wrong
But it is also possible that the quoted poetic Hebrew line is meant to have a similar meaning to “no one seeks for God” (3:11b). In that case this verb refers to understanding who God is. For example:
Not one of them understands or even searches for God. (CEV)
who understands God’s character
no one who seeks God.
and not one person seeks God.
Nobody desires to know God.
no one who seeks God: This clause indicates that no one wants to know God, or have anything to do with God. The word seeks does not mean that God is lost. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
no one seeks to discover who God is
no one who seeks to know himKankanaey Back Translation on TW.
there is also no person who seeks for the true way going to GodWestern Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation on TW.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks
οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνίων; οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν Θεόν
not not (Some words not found in SR-GNT: οὐκ ἐστίν συνίων οὐκ ἐστίν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τόν Θεόν)
This sentence is Paul’s paraphrase of [Psalm 14:2](../psa/014/002.md) and [Psalm 53:3](../psa/053/003.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 2 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
οὐκ ἔστιν & οὐκ ἔστιν
not not (Some words not found in SR-GNT: οὐκ ἐστίν συνίων οὐκ ἐστίν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τόν Θεόν)
Paul is using the adjectives none as nouns in order to describe all people. If your language does not use adjectives in the same way, you could translate this with a noun phrase. Alternate translation: [There are no man … There are no man] or [There is no person … There is no person]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνίων
not not (Some words not found in SR-GNT: οὐκ ἐστίν συνίων οὐκ ἐστίν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τόν Θεόν)
Here, who understands refers to someone who is able to think wisely or correctly. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [There is none who is wise]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν Θεόν
the_‹one› seeking_out (Some words not found in SR-GNT: οὐκ ἐστίν συνίων οὐκ ἐστίν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τόν Θεόν)
Here, Paul quotes David using seeks to describe people attempting to know God as if God were lost and people needed to find him. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [who attempts to know God]
3:10-18 The six quotations in these verses, drawn from various parts of the Old Testament, all address human sinfulness. Paul follows the practice of rabbis who gathered together Old Testament texts on similar themes in a practice called pearl-stringing.
OET (OET-RV) No one understands,
⇔ there’s not even one person trying to find 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.