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16 In the fourth generation[a] your descendants will return here, for the wickedness of the Amorites is not yet complete.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 15:16 Generation: the Hebrew term dor is commonly rendered as “generation,” but it may signify a period of varying length. A “generation” is the period between the birth of children and the birth of their parents, normally about twenty to twenty-five years. The actual length of a generation can vary, however; in Jb 42:16 it is thirty-five and in Nm 32:13 it is forty. The meaning may be life spans, which in Gn 6:3 is one hundred twenty years and in Is 65:20 is one hundred years.

14 (A)Thus, in dealing with other nations, the Sovereign Lord patiently waits until they reach the full measure of their sins before punishing them; but with us he has decided to deal differently,

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Punishment of Idolaters. 18 [a]The wrath[b] of God[c] is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness(A) of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:18–3:20 Paul aims to show that all humanity is in a desperate plight and requires God’s special intervention if it is to be saved.
  2. 1:18–32 In this passage Paul uses themes and rhetoric common in Jewish-Hellenistic mission proclamation (cf. Wis 13:1–14:31) to indict especially the non-Jewish world. The close association of idolatry and immorality is basic, but the generalization needs in all fairness to be balanced against the fact that non-Jewish Christian society on many levels displayed moral attitudes and performance whose quality would challenge much of contemporary Christian culture. Romans themselves expressed abhorrence over devotion accorded to animals in Egypt. Paul’s main point is that the wrath of God does not await the end of the world but goes into action at each present moment in humanity’s history when misdirected piety serves as a facade for self-interest.
  3. 1:18 The wrath of God: God’s reaction to human sinfulness, an Old Testament phrase that expresses the irreconcilable opposition between God and evil (see Is 9:11, 16, 18, 20; 10:4; 30:27). It is not contrary to God’s universal love for his creatures, but condemns Israel’s turning aside from the covenant obligations. Hosea depicts Yahweh as suffering intensely at the thought of having to punish Israel (Hos 11:8–9). God’s wrath was to be poured forth especially on the “Day of Yahweh” and thus took on an eschatological connotation (see Zep 1:15).

By your stubbornness and impenitent heart,(A) you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, (B)who will repay everyone according to his works:[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 2:6 Will repay everyone according to his works: Paul reproduces the Septuagint text of Ps 62:12 and Prv 24:12.