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OET (OET-LV) The For/Because to_Mōsaʸs/(Mosheh) he_is_saying:
I_will_be_showing_mercy to_whom wishfully I_may_be_showing_mercy, and I_will_be_having_compassion to_whom wishfully I_may_be_having_compassion.
OET (OET-RV) because he said to Mosheh: ‘I will be merciful to whoever I want, and I will have pity on anyone I want.’
In this section, Paul began by asking if God acts unjustly when he chooses some people and not others. Paul answered his own question with a strong “No!” All God’s choices depend on his mercy and not on anything about the people he chooses. God made Pharaoh the way he was when he wanted the Jews to leave Egypt.
Paul spoke to a possible complaint about no one ultimately being able to resist God’s will. He said that complaining to God about that is futile.
God shows his anger and power against people he has hardened. He does this to show how great his mercy is to other people. Both Jews and Gentiles are eligible to receive his mercy.
Here are other possible headings for this section:
God’s choices/will are/is sovereign/supreme
God chooses whom he wants for both Jews and Gentiles
For He says to Moses:
For in the Scriptures he said to Moses,
For in God’s Word he said to Moses,
For: Here this word introduces a quote from the Old Testament that supports what Paul said in 9:14b.Cranfield (page 483).
He says to Moses: The Greek and the BSB use the present tense here. Greek scholars call it the historical present.They usually say it indicates vividness or prominence. In many languages the normal way of referring to a past event must be used. In English, this is the past tense. For example:
he said to Moses (GNT)
This clause introduces a quote from Scripture. Some language translations always note that in their translations. For example:
In Scripture he said to Moses
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
“I will have mercy on whoever I choose to have mercy upon,
“If I chose to be merciful to someone, I will be merciful to him/them.
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
and I will have pity on whoever I choose to have pity upon.”
And if I want to show pity to someone, I will show pity to him/them.”
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”: The Hebrew language repeats a similar meaning for emphasis. It is a poetic form in Hebrew.
The Greek word that the BSB translates as have mercy refers to being concerned for someone in a bad situation and helping him in some way. This includes even forgiving him for something bad he did. The Greek word that the BSB translates as have compassion refers to being concerned or sad for someone in a bad situation. It may or may not imply helping the person.
Some languages will have two words, one for have mercy and one for have compassion. For example:
“I will show mercy to whom I will, I will take pity on whom I will.” (NABRE)
“I am the one who rules/governs whom I will pity/have mercy on. I am the one who rules as to whom I will have compassion for (lit. emotionally-stirred liver).”Yakan Back Translation on TW.
But it will be difficult in some languages to find two words that have such similar meanings. If that is true in your language, you may want to use just one word and use some other way than repetition to emphasize the words here. For example:
I will have mercy/pity on whom I chose to have mercy/pity on. Very true!
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy: This clause indicates that God chooses whom he will have mercy on. For example:
I will show mercy to anyone I choose (NLT)
I will be merciful to anyone I want to (GW)
mercy: This word refers to being concerned for someone in a bad situation and helping him in some way, including even forgiving him for something bad he did.
This quote is from Exodus 33:19. 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: Τῷ Μωϋσεῖ Γάρ λέγει Ἐλεήσω ὅν ἄν ἐλεῶ καί οἰκτειρήσω ὅν ἄν οἰκτείρω)
For indicates that what follows this word explains what came before it. For here indicates that what follows is the reason why what Paul said in the previous verse is true. Use a natural way in your language for indicating a reason. Alternate translation: [This is due to the fact that]
Note 2 topic: writing-quotations
τῷ Μωϋσεῖ γὰρ λέγει
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τῷ Μωϋσεῖ Γάρ λέγει Ἐλεήσω ὅν ἄν ἐλεῶ καί οἰκτειρήσω ὅν ἄν οἰκτείρω)
Here Paul uses this clause to introduce a quotation from an Old Testament book ([Exodus 33:19](../exo/33/19.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: [For he says to Moses that which is written in the Scriptures]
Note 3 topic: writing-pronouns
λέγει & ἐλεήσω & ἐλεῶ & οἰκτειρήσω & οἰκτείρω
˱he˲_˓is˒_saying & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τῷ Μωϋσεῖ Γάρ λέγει Ἐλεήσω ὅν ἄν ἐλεῶ καί οἰκτειρήσω ὅν ἄν οἰκτείρω)
The pronouns he and I here refer to God. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [God says … “I, God, will have mercy … I will have mercy … I, God, will have compassion … I will have compassion”]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture
λέγει
˱he˲_˓is˒_saying
Here Paul uses the present tense verb says to refer to something that happened in the past. If it would not be natural to do that in your language, you could use the past tense in your translation. Alternate translation: [he said]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks
ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ, καὶ οἰκτειρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτείρω
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τῷ Μωϋσεῖ Γάρ λέγει Ἐλεήσω ὅν ἄν ἐλεῶ καί οἰκτειρήσω ὅν ἄν οἰκτείρω)
This sentence is a quotation from [Exodus 33:19](../exo/33/19.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 / abstractnouns
ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ, καὶ οἰκτειρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτείρω
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τῷ Μωϋσεῖ Γάρ λέγει Ἐλεήσω ὅν ἄν ἐλεῶ καί οἰκτειρήσω ὅν ἄν οἰκτείρω)
If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of mercy and compassion, you could express the same ideas in another way. Alternate translation: [I will act mercifully to whomever I will act mercifully, and I will act compassionately to whomever I will act compassionately]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism
ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ, καὶ οἰκτειρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτείρω
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τῷ Μωϋσεῖ Γάρ λέγει Ἐλεήσω ὅν ἄν ἐλεῶ καί οἰκτειρήσω ὅν ἄν οἰκτείρω)
These statements use parallelism internally and between each other. They emphasize that God does whatever he wants. If it would be helpful in your language, consider using another form that emphasizes that God is graciously kind to exactly those and only those to whom he chooses to show kindness, and he does so without outside influence.
9:15 This quotation from Exod 33:19 focuses on God’s nature: God is free from obligation or constraint in bestowing mercy on people.
OET (OET-LV) The For/Because to_Mōsaʸs/(Mosheh) he_is_saying:
I_will_be_showing_mercy to_whom wishfully I_may_be_showing_mercy, and I_will_be_having_compassion to_whom wishfully I_may_be_having_compassion.
OET (OET-RV) because he said to Mosheh: ‘I will be merciful to whoever I want, and I will have pity on anyone I want.’
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.