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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 4 V1 V2 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25
OET (OET-LV) For/Because what the scripture is_saying?
And believed Abraʼam the in_god, and it_was_counted to_him for righteousness.
God called Abraham righteous because he believed what God told him (Genesis 15:1–6). In this section, Paul used that example to show that all people must believe in God for him to call them righteous. He did that for Abraham before Abraham was circumcised. So that shows that God makes people right with himself because they believe in him and not because they are circumcised.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
The Example of Abraham (GNT)
God called Abraham righteous because he believed
Abraham is/as an example of how to become righteous before God
The lesson/model of God calling Abraham righteous because he believed God
For what does the Scripture say?
For what does the Holy Book say?
Indeed, God’s Book says this:
For: The conjunction For introduces support for Abraham not being able to boast before God in 4:2c. For example:
because (NCV)
In some languages it is more natural to omit the conjunction and allow the context to imply the connection.
what does the Scripture say?: This is a rhetorical question. It functions to emphasize what God’s word says about Abraham. Here are some ways to translate this:
As a rhetorical question. For example:
What does Scripture say? (GW)
As a statement. For example:
Indeed, the Scriptures say
the Scriptures certainly tell us
the Scripture: The Greek word that the BSB translates as Scripture is literally “writing.” In the New Testament, this word always refers to something written in the Old Testament. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
the sacred writings
the writings which are holy
God’s message that they wrote
See how you translated the word Scripture in 1:2.
“Abraham believed God,
“Abraham believed God,
“Abraham believed God’s promise to him,
4:3b–c is a quote from Genesis 15:6. 4:3a does not explicitly introduce the quote from the Old Testament. In some languages it is more natural to explicitly introduce the quote. For example:
It says,…
Also see the second meaning line in the Display of 4:3a.
Abraham believed God: Here Paul used the word believed to refer to accepting what God said as true. This refers to Abraham believing that God would one day fulfill the promise that God told him. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Abraham trusted God to fulfill his promise
Abraham believed God’s promise to himTagbanwa Back Translation on TW.
Abraham had faith in God to fulfill his promise
and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
and by that believing God reckoned/counted him as upright.”
and so God called him a righteous man.”
and it was credited to him as righteousness: The word it refers to “Abraham believed God.” Some languages need to use a different word or phrase. For example:
and that was counted to him as righteousness
and that belief was counted to him as righteousness
it was credited to him as righteousness: The phrase it was credited indicates that God thought about Abraham believing him and so gave him the status of righteous. God called Abraham righteous because Abraham believed what God told him. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
it was reckoned to him as righteousness (RSV)
it was counted to him as righteousness (ESV)
he was declared to be a righteous person because of that belief of hisTagbanwa Back Translation on TW.
This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:
God counted him as righteousKankanaey Back Translation on TW.
because of his faith God accepted him as righteous (GNT)
because of his faith God said he was straight in his sightUma Back Translation on TW.
as righteousness: The word righteousness refers to the status of being right. Here it indicates that a person’s relationship with God is right. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
as a just man
to be right with God
These words are a quote found in Genesis 15:6. If you indicate the location of quotes from the Old Testament with cross-references, you may want to do so here.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
γὰρ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: τί Γάρ ἡ Γραφή λέγει ἐπίστευσεν Δέ Ἀβραάμ τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)
For here indicates that what follows in this verse is the reason why Paul said in the previous verse that Abraham cannot boast “before God.” Use a natural way in your language to introduce a reason clause. Alternate translation: [This is true because]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
τί & ἡ Γραφὴ λέγει
what & the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: τί Γάρ ἡ Γραφή λέγει ἐπίστευσεν Δέ Ἀβραάμ τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)
Paul is not asking for information, but is using the question form here to emphasize the truth of what he is saying. If you would not use a rhetorical question for this purpose in your language, you could translate his words as a statement or an exclamation and communicate the emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: [the scripture surely says]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / personification
τί & ἡ Γραφὴ λέγει
what & the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: τί Γάρ ἡ Γραφή λέγει ἐπίστευσεν Δέ Ἀβραάμ τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)
Here Paul uses say as if the scripture were a person who could speak. He means that the scripture he is about to quote contains information related to the topic he is discussing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [what information is in the scripture]
Note 4 topic: writing-quotations
τί & ἡ Γραφὴ λέγει?
what & the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: τί Γάρ ἡ Γραφή λέγει ἐπίστευσεν Δέ Ἀβραάμ τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)
Here Paul uses what does the scripture say to indicate a quotation from an Old Testament book ([Genesis 15:6](gen/15/06.md)). If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase that indicates that Paul is quoting from an important text. Alternate translation: [what is written in the scripture]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἡ Γραφὴ
the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: τί Γάρ ἡ Γραφή λέγει ἐπίστευσεν Δέ Ἀβραάμ τῷ Θεῷ καί ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)
Here, the scripture refers specifically to the quotation from [Genesis 15:6](../gen/15/06.md) that follows in this verse. It does not refer to the Scriptures in general. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [the scripture that Moses wrote in Genesis]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
˱it˲_˓was˒_reckoned ˱to˲_him for righteousness
If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you must state who did the action, Paul implies that “God” did it. Alternate translation: [God credited it to him as righteousness]
Note 7 topic: writing-pronouns
ἐλογίσθη
˱it˲_˓was˒_reckoned
The pronoun it refers to Abraham’s faith, which was implied by the statement that Abraham believed God. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [his faith was credited] or [his trust in God was credited]
Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
δικαιοσύνην
righteousness
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of righteousness, you could express the same idea in a different way. Alternate translation: [being righteous] or [being right with God]
OET (OET-LV) For/Because what the scripture is_saying?
And believed Abraʼam the in_god, and it_was_counted to_him for righteousness.
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.