NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Sampler

8/20/2019 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Sampler

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SAMPLERIncluding the complete books of Genesis and Matthew


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presented to:

by:

on:

the holy bible

your word is a lamp for my feet,a light on my path.

— PSALM 119:105 —


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C U L T U R A L

B A C K G R O U N D S

Study Bible

NIV


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Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture

n e w i n t e r n a t i o n a l v e r s i o n

http://goo.gl/En6zxe


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NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study BibleCopyright © 2016 by ZondervanAll rights reserved

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Quick Start Guide

to the NIV CulturalBackgrounds Study Bible

“Even though the Bible was written for us, it wasn’t written to us. When wetake our Western, modern culture and impose it on the text, we’re putting inmeaning that wasn’t there, and we’re missing the meaning that the text has.”

— Dr. John H. Walton“Sometimes people get frustrated with the Bible because the difficult figuresof speech and the images and the customs they read about seem foreign tothem. But when we explain those, then we open up the text of the Bible in afresh, new way to understand what the text of the Bible is really addressing.Ultimately, everything in the Bible was written in particular times and cultures.So even though everything in it is for all time, not everything in it is for all cir-cumstances. The better we understand the circumstances a passage originallyaddressed, the more confidently we can reapply its message to appropriatecircumstances today.” — Dr. Craig S. Keener

Welcome to the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. You have in your hands a comprehensive,multiuse tool that has been designed specifically to enhance your understanding of and apprecia-tion for the cultural backgrounds that form the footings on which the foundation of God’s Wordis built.

About the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study BibleThis study Bible has been purpose-built to do one thing: to increase your understanding of thecultural nuances behind the text of God’s Word so that your study experience, and your knowl-edge of the ideas behind the ideas in the text, is enriched and expanded.

This study Bible contains the full text of the New International Version of the Bible along witha library of study features designed to help you more completely grasp what the text is saying.

These notes introduce and explain a wide variety of information on the Biblical text, providingdeeper insights for individuals who are ready to devote themselves to serious study of the text.

What Help Do These Study Features Offer?Each of the features in the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible has been developed with thegoal of allowing readers to immerse themselves in the culture, the literature, the geography, andthe everyday life of the people to whom the Bible was originally written.

• Book Introductions answer questions about who wrote the books of the Bible, to whom, andwhen, as well as informing readers about the larger cultural and political context in whicha book was written. In the Old Testament, dates of writing and specific authorship for each

book are less clear than in the New Testament, where such information is marginally lesscontroversial, although still debated. That’s why the Old Testament introductions include“Key Concepts” and the New Testament Introductions include “Quick Glance” informationto help readers orient themselves.

• The New Testament includes a reference feature entitled “Key New Testament Terms” thatis designed to help clarify and further define the cultural contexts behind these terms. It’sincluded as a background feature to define and explain terms that often repeat in the NewTestament notes.


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viii | Quick Start Guide

• The NIV Center-column Cross Reference system aids in deeper study of the Bible’s themes,language and concepts by leading readers to related passages on the same or similar themes.

• Over 10,000 study notes have been placed close to the text that they amplify and explain.These have been designed to provide the reader with a deep and rich understanding of thenuances that the original readers and hearers of the Bible would have intuitively understood.They focus on the land, the literature, and the political and cultural contexts that the Bible’sauthors lived in, and emphasize how the people of Israel were both influenced by, as wellas how they were called to be different from, their surrounding culture.

• Full-color in-text maps, charts and diagrams, along with some 320 essays, summarize andexplain important background information and ideas from Scripture.

• Front and end matter features include author information, an author’s introduction withhelpful questions and answers about this Bible, more information on the NIV translationitself (in the NIV Preface), and many other helpful study tools.

• The NIV Concordance is a tool designed to help readers who remember a key word or phrasein a passage to locate the verses they are looking for. Words and names are listed alphabeti-cally, along with their more significant verse references.

• Color maps at the end of this study Bible complement the color maps in the interior of the

Bible to help readers to visualize the geographic context of what they are studying.Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with these features as you begin your study.We’re confident that as you expand your understanding of the social, economic, literary, andpolitical culture in which the Bible was written over the course of many centuries, that your un-derstanding of and love for God’s Word will increase all the more.


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Table of Contents

Author Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvi About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xixPreface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx

Ancient Texts Relating to the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxivOld Testament Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii

Old TestamentThe Torah:God Establishes His Covenant . .1

Genesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Leviticus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 0Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Deuteronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 9 1

Narrative Literature:God Working through

Events and Outcomes . . . . . . . . 3 5 7

Joshua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5 9Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 0 2Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4 81 Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4592 Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5121 Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5562 Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6171 Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7 6

2 Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1 7Ezra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6 2Nehemiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7 8Esther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799

Wisdom and HymnicLiterature:God’s Wisdom and Kingship. . . 8 1 5

Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1 7Psalms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7 7Proverbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 2 2Ecclesiastes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073

Song of Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088

Oracles of theProphets:God’s Plan Announced

through the Prophets . . . . . . . 1 1 0 1

Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 0 3

Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220Lamentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1319Ezekiel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 3 2Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1413Hosea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 5 4Joel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 7 1Amos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 7 8Obadiah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 9 8Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 0 3Micah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 1 3Nahum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 2 7Habakkuk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1535

Zephaniah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1542Haggai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1548Zechariah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1552Malachi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 7 0

The Time Between the Testaments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 7 7Key New Testament Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1584New Testament Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1593

New TestamentThe Gospels & Acts: Accounts of Jesus and

the Early Church . . . . . . . . . . . 1597

Matthew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1604Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 8 1Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 3 6John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 0 2Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865

The Letters &Revelation:Messages for the Growing

Global Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9 4 3

Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1945

1 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9 8 02 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 1 9Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 4 2Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2056Philippians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2071Colossians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 8 01 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20912 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21001 Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21052 Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2117

Titus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 2 5Philemon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 3 2Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2138James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 6 4

1 Peter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 7 72 Peter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 8 81 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 9 72 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 0 63 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 0 8Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 1 2Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 1 6

Table of Weights and Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 7 3Index of Articles in Canonical Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 7 5Index of Articles in Alphabetical Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 8 1Concordance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2287Index to Maps at End of Study Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0000


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x | Table of Contents

ChartsAncient Texts Related to the

Old Testament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x i v

Old Testament Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x v i i

Major Covenants in the Old Testament. . . . . . . . . . . 2 3

Major Types of Royal Covenantsin the Ancient Near East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3

Eras of Mesopotamian History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7

Eras of Egyptian History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7

Integrated Chronology of the Patriarchs . . . . . . . . .37

The Tribes of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Egyptian Kings of the New Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Hebrew Calendar and Selected Events . . . . . . . . . 130

The Red Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

The Tabernacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Tabernacle Furnishings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Old Testament Sacrifices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Zones of Purity in the Camp of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Sanctioned Relationships in theAncient Near East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Weights and Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Penalties for Sexual Offenses in Biblicaland Mesopotamian Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Old Testament Festivals and OtherSacred Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Encampment of the Tribes of Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Canaan’s Borders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Treaty Formats and Biblical Covenants . . . . . . . . . 303

Major Social Concerns in the Covenant . . . . . . . . 329

Ancient Near Eastern Treaties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

The Pattern of Chronological Noticesin Judges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

David’s Family Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Temple Furnishings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571

Chronology of Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

Chronology: Ezra-Nehemiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765

The Achaemenid Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802

Mesopotamian Literature Comparedwith Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822

The Wise Son According to Proverbs . . . . . . . . . . 1029

Character Traits in Proverbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 5 1

Ancient Near Eastern Monarchs:750 – 530 BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 0 7

Judean Kings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 1

Israelite Kings, Judean Kings,Assyrian Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 7

Egyptian Relationships Under Hezekiah . . . . . . 1167

Quotations from and References toIsaiah 53 in the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 0 3

Chronology of Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 3

Ezekiel’s Temple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 9 9

Boundaries of the Land in Ezekiel’s Vision . . . . . 1410

The Last Kings of Judah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 1 9

The Neo-Babylonian Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1419

Dreams and Dream Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1437

Ptolemies and Seleucids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 4 6

Proposed Dates for the Book of Micah . . . . . . . . 1517

From Malachi to Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 8 3

Foreign Domination of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 7 8 The Maccabean-Hasmonean Period. . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 8 0

New Testament Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 9 3

Jewish Sects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 5 8

One Arrangement of the Life of Christ . . . . . . . . 1665

House of Herod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1696

Major Archaeological Finds Relatingto the NT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 3 2

Zechariah’s and Mary’s Songs Compared . . . . . 1739

Mary’s Allusions to Hannah’s Song . . . . . . . . . . . . 1741Caesar and Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1744

The Capernaum Synagogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 5 0

Parables of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 8 1

Resurrection Appearances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 9 9

Ex 33 – 34 and Jn 1:14 – 18 Compared . . . . . . . . . 1804

Miracles of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 0 8

One Suggested Harmony of the Gospels . . . . . . 1858

Answered Charges and Parallel Figures

in Acts 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 8 1Roman Damascus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 9 0

Timeline of Paul’s Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 9 4

Rhetoric and Paul’s Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9 8 6

The Fruit of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2053

Jesus’ Teachings as Background in 1 Thessalonians4:13 — 5:11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 9 8

Jesus’ Teachings as Background in 2 Thessalonians2:1 – 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 0 2

Qualifications for Elders/Overseersand Deacons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 1 2

Selected Jewish and Christian Literature . . . . . . 2130

The “Greater Thans” in Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2142

Ex 7 – 10, Rev 8 – 9 and Rev 16 Compared . . . . . 2236


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Table of Contents | xi

Maps Table of Nations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Abram’s Travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Jacob’s Journeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

The Way of the Red Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Lands of Jazer and Gilead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

The Fall of Jericho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

The Northern Campaign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Dividing the Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Manassite Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Five Cities of the Philistines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

Gideon’s Battles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Moab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Capture and Return of the Ark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470David the Fugitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496

Exploits of David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

Saul’s Last Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507

David’s Conquests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

David’s “Empire” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

Rebellions Against David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Solomon’s Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

The Divided Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

Lives of Elijah and Elisha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

Assyrian Campaigns Against Israeland Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646

Exile of the Northern Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653

Nebuchadnezzar’s CampaignsAgainst Judah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

Exile of the Southern Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674

The City of the Jebusites/David’s Jerusalem. . . . 699

David and Solomon’s Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727

Return from Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763

Jerusalem of the Returning Exiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780

Persian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803

Nations Targeted in Isaiah’s Prophecies . . . . . . . 1139

Nations and Cities Mentioned in Isaiah. . . . . . . . 1147

Nations and Cities Under Judgmentin Jeremiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 1 0

Nations and Cities Under Judgmentin Ezekiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 7 3

Gog, of the Land of Magog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1394

The Neo-Babylonian Empire 626 – 539 BC . . . . . 1426

Alexander’s Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1442

Ptolemies and Seleucids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 4 7

Nations and Cities Mentioned in Amos. . . . . . . . 1480

Palestine of the Maccabees andHasmonean Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 7 9

Jesus’ Early Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 1 3

Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 1 5

House of Herod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1696

The Decapolis and the Lands Beyond

the Jordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 9 9

The Territories of Tyre and Sidon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705

Passion Week: Bethany, the Mountof Olives and Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 2 2

Jesus in Judea and Samaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 1 5

Jesus in Galilee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 2 0

Countries of People Mentionedat Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 7 0

Paul’s First Missionary Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1900

Paul’s Second Missionary Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9 0 8

Paul’s Third Missionary Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921

Paul’s Journey to Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1936

Ephesus in the Time of Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2058

Philippi in the Time of Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073

Letter to Colossae. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0 8 2

Paul’s Fourth Missionary Journey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 1 0

Troas to Ephesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 2 1

Titus Ministered on the Island of Crete . . . . . . . . 2126

Philemon Was a Member of the Churchin Colossae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 3 6

Peter Wrote This Letter to Provincesin Asia Minor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 7 9

Letters to the Seven Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 5

Rome’s Imports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 5 8


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Author Introduction

to the NIV CulturalBackgrounds Study Bible

Editor’s Note: This study Bible draws on the contributions of various scholars. The Old Testa-ment (OT) comprises three-quarters of the Bible, and to provide study notes and articles on thisbody of work, Dr. John Walton has drawn on the works of various contributors, including hisown work, in the Zondervan Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament . Also drawing ona range of research, Dr. Craig Keener, author of The IVP Bible Background Commentary: NewTestament , authored most NT notes, but others contributed some sidebars and “Quick Glance”notes.

Both scholars have published heavily documented works that support the sort of backgroundprovided here on a more accessible level. Both have been studying, writing and lecturing aroundthe world about the field of the Bible’s cultural backgrounds for the duration of their decades-longcareers as academics.

For whom has this study Bible been designed?

This study Bible is for those who want more out of the study of the Bible than they can get by

just reading the text on their own. The notes, illustrations, charts and other study tools offer con-tent for understanding that goes beyond most study Bibles. It is for the reader who isn’t contentwith being told what they should understand from the text, or with being given what they couldfigure out on their own. It is for the reader who already understands the importance of readingin context and seeing each book of the Bible as a whole. It is for the reader who is serious aboutthe Bible itself, but has not had advanced training in the world in which the message of the Biblefirst came alive.

Can’t I read and understand the Bible just from the text itself?

Study Bibles often focus on helping readers apply the Bible to daily life. To be sure, applyingthe Bible to daily life is very important. Yet those who read the Bible enough can glean most

principles from the Bible directly. After all, God’s story in the Bible is designed to be understoodby children. As Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you havehidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Mt 11:25),and “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter thekingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). Hearing God’s personal challenge from the Bible itself is moredirect than hearing a challenge from someone else’s comments. Spiritual life comes from God’sWord itself.

The complication is the gulf between the world of the Bible and the modern reader’s world.The problem is normally not that the modern reader doesn’t know their own world; it’s that thereader is not familiar with the world of the Bible. It is here that a study Bible can help most byexplaining the language, literature and culture of the Bible.

How does this study Bible differ from others that are available?

What these notes supply is background — the missing pieces of information that the biblicalwriters did not need to state explicitly because their original audiences intuitively knew them.Understanding these nuances help the reader “hear” the Bible in a way much closer to the waythe Bible’s first audience heard it. Although the best study Bibles today include some background,this study Bible is unique in the massive wealth of background that it provides.

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How will understanding the Bible’s cultural backgroundimprove my faith walk?

There is no such thing as a story or a teaching that doesn’t have a cultural setting. That is not tosay that a story or teaching is not relevant for another setting, but to remember that it comes tous from a particular place and in a particular language. God sent his Son Jesus Christ in the flesh,in a specific home, nation, town and era. Likewise, God didn’t send the Bible as a transcultural

feeling or impression, but gave it to us through the experiences that real people had in real his-torical situations. This Bible’s notes are meant to help readers hear and visualize the story closerto the way it was originally written, so they can get to know the people and places in the Biblemore on their own terms.

Readers from different cultures bring a range of experiences and insights to their Bible read-ing. The place where we come together, however, is when we read God’s Word in the concreteframework in which he gave it. It is especially when we hear the message in its authentic, originalcultural setting that we can reapply it afresh for our own different settings most fully, becausewe understand what issues were really being addressed. You should keep this purpose in mindas you read the notes.

Tell me about the notes in this Bible.The study tools in this Bible are not meant to tell the reader everything about the biblical text —especially not what will be self-evident from the context. They do not always tell readers what ismost important or what applies most directly to life, because these are points that mature readerscan learn to do on their own. What they do is equip readers to study the Bible more on its ownterms so they can discover its most valuable treasures for themselves.

Not every proposed background is equally relevant or certain, though the authors of the studynotes have tried to screen out the least relevant and least certain proposals. New discoveries, es-pecially in archaeology, also periodically invite us to revise older views, but the vast informationavailable already allows us to affirm much biblical background with full confidence.

How can we know for sure what the Bible’s ancient culture was like?

As a result of the recovery of over a million texts from the ancient world, and a century of persis-tent research by scholars, we are now in a position to add significant nuances to our understand-ing of the life and thought of those who lived in Israel in Bible times. The end result is a morethorough and comprehensive understanding of the text.

Through understanding the background, we can better understand why people spoke and act-ed the ways they did and can better identify with them. Besides helping us understand the worldthat people in the Bible lived in, study of ancient texts from the cultures in the biblical world canprovide information that we really need to understand the biblical material. If, as readers, we areisolated from the cultural background of the Bible, we might be inclined to think that the ideas in

the biblical text have no anchors in time and culture.

How was Israelite culture shaped by its surrounding culture?

Though the Bible is unique in its inspiration, we find that God often communicated through cul-ture rather than in total isolation from it. Becoming aware of this continuity with the ancient andclassical worlds can help us see these ideas in a larger context. God was replacing his people’sviews of God with a better one, but he was not replacing all of their culture.

Even when a Biblical text persuasively corrects its contemporary culture, we must be awareof how the text interacts with then-current thinking and literature. The biblical text formulatedits discussion in relation to the thinking found in the ancient literature. It would be no surprise,then, if areas of similarity should be found. This is far different from the contention that Israelite

literature is simply derivative mythology. There is a great distance between borrowing from aparticular piece of literature and resonating with the larger culture that has itself been influencedby its literatures.

Can you provide a modern example of this?

When Americans speak of the philosophy of “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,”they are resonating with an idea that has penetrated society over thousands of years rather than


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xiv | Author Introduction

simply borrowing from the writings of Epicurus. In a similar way, an observer from the distantfuture would fail to understand American culture of the 21st century if they did not understand thefoundations of individualism, personal rights, or consumerism (just to name a few of the influ-ences). To offer a more specific example: a reader in the distant future would need some histori-cal background to understand a familiar American question from the early twenty-first century:“Where were you on 9/11?” The question assumes a shared understanding of background thatthe asker does not bother to state.

Successful interpreters must try to understand the cultural background of the Bible just assuccessful missionaries must learn the culture, language and worldview of the people they aretrying to reach. This is the rationale for us to study the Bible in light its cultural context. What wewould contend, then, is that comparative work has three goals in mind:

1. We study the history of the biblical world as a means of recovering knowledge of the eventsthat shaped the lives of people in the ancient world.

2. We study archaeology as a means of recovering the lifestyle reflected in the material cultureof the ancient world.

3. We study the literature of the ancient world as a means of penetrating the heart and soulof the people who inhabited that world.

These goals are at the heart of comparative studies and will help us understand the Bible better.

How do we understand the Bible — a book that billions have turned to overmultiple centuries and many cultures — as literature in its ancient context?

Readers today approach very differently such different sorts of writings as satire, news reports ora declaration of war. Knowing how a work was intended is an important key for understandingit. It should therefore be no surprise that the inspired authors adapted genres (literary types) thatalready existed in the larger culture; otherwise the first audiences would not have known whatthese works were meant for. Whether we are looking at wisdom literature, hymnic literature, his-torical literature, legal literature or the letters in the NT, we find generous doses of both similarities

to and differences from the Biblical text and the literature of the time.Understanding the genre of a piece of literature is necessary if we want to more fully under-

stand the author’s intentions. Since perceiving an author’s intentions is essential to our theo-logical interpretation of a text, we recognize that understanding genre contributes to legitimatetheological interpretation. Some genres will operate differently in the ancient world than do themost similar genres in our own culture so we must become familiar with the mechanics of thegenres represented in the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

In light of all of this, we can logically concluded that without the guidance of comparativestudies, readers in cultures removed from the ancient world are bound to misinterpret the text atsome points.

But why is the study of cultural backgrounds so important?This field of research is important because grasping the original audience’s perspective helps

us understand the setting to which the inspired authors communicated their message.A text is a complex of ideas linked by threads of writing. Each phrase and each word com-

municates by the ideas and thoughts that they will trigger in the reader or hearer. Biblical writersnormally could take for granted that their audiences shared their language and culture; somematters, therefore, they assumed rather than stated. But what happens when later readers fromdifferent cultures approach these texts? As each person hears or reads the text, the message takesfor granted underlying gaps that need to be filled with meaning by the audience. (To use a previ-ous example, in a message today, we might take for granted that our audience understands the

term “9/11.”) Interpreters have the task of filling in those gaps, and when we are interpretingauthoritative texts, it is theologically essential that we fill them appropriately.This approach is critical to practical application, because information from the original culture

often fills those gaps in ways different from those we might guess, and these differences cansometimes yield quite theological insights. As readers who are interested in understanding thetext’s message, we should value comparative studies that highlight conceptual issues intended toillumine the cultural dynamics behind the text.

Another importance to cultural backgrounds, then, is that by becoming aware of the ways that


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Author Introduction | xv

ancient people thought, we can see the differences between them and us. If we know nothing ofthe ancient world, we will be inclined to impose our own culture and worldview on the biblicaltext. This will always be detrimental to our understanding.

What do I need to know before I begin?

Readers should carefully weigh how to use information in our notes, which we have deliberately

kept concise. Information present may show contrasts as well as similarities. Here are thereforesome principles to consider when comparing biblical texts with their ancient contexts:

1. Both cultural similarities and cultural differences must be considered.2. Similarities may suggest a common cultural heritage rather than borrowing from a specific

piece of literature.3. It is common to find similarities at the surface but differences at the conceptual level or

vice versa.4. All elements of the text must be understood in their own context as accurately as possible

before cross-cultural comparisons are made.5. Proximity in time, geography and spheres of cultural contact all increase the possibility of

interaction leading to influence.6. A case for literary borrowing can rarely be made and requires identification of likely chan-

nels of transmission.7. Similar functions may be performed by different genres in different cultures.8. When literary or cultural elements are borrowed they may in turn be transformed into

something quite different.9. A single culture will rarely be monolithic, either in a contemporary cross-section or in

consideration of a passage of time.10. Cultural terms in the text of the notes (e.g., use of the term “Palestine” in the Old Testa-

ment, which refers to the larger region in which the people of Israel lived), do not refer tocurrent political realities unless the notes indicate as such.

For more information, please see the article “Major Background Issues from the Ancient NearEast,” p. XXXX.


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Acknowledgments

The editors would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for their contributionsto the editorial and composition stages of the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible.

Editors of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary,Old Testament

David W. BakerDaniel BlockDaniel BodiEugene E. CarpenterMark W. ChavalasR. Dennis ColeIzak CorneliusPaul W. Ferris, Jr.Roy E. GaneDuane GarrettRichard S. Hess

John W. HilberAndrew E. HillKenneth G. HoglundPhilip S. JohnstonV. Phillips LongTremper Longman IIIErnest C. LucasFrederick J. MabieDale W. ManorDaniel M. MasterVictor H. Matthews

Alan R. Millard John MonsonIain ProvanSimon Sherwin

J. Glen TaylorAnthony TomasinoSteven VothBruce WellsEdwin M. Yamauchi

Other Content Providers

• InterVarsity Press for their permission to use portions of the IVP Bible BackgroundCommentary for both the Old and New Testaments

• Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary for their permission to use fifteen articles in theNew Testament from the NIV Archaeological Study Bible

NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Editorial and Composition Team

• Natalie J. Block, content editor• John R. Greco, New Testament theological reviewer• Ron Huizinga, interior and cover designer• Peachtree Editorial and Proofreading Service• Holly Lynne Smith, Old Testament theological reviewer

• Michael Vander Klipp, editor• Jonathan Walton, editorial assistant and illustrator• Kim Walton and Kim Tanner, visual editors• Sherri Hoffman and Nancy Wilson, page composition


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About the Authors

John H. Walton, Old Testament Editor

Ph.D. 1981 Hebrew and Cognate Studies, Hebrew Union College-JewishInstitute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dissertation: The Tower of Babel

M.A. 1975 Biblical Studies: Old Testament; Wheaton Graduate School

A.B. 1974 Economics/Accounting, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA

Dr. John H. Walton is Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College,

Wheaton, IL, where he has been a professor since 2001. Dr. Waltoncame to Wheaton after a 20-year career as a professor at Moody BibleInstitute in Chicago. He has written extensively on the backgroundsof the Old Testament, and has travelled the world lecturing about thisfield of study.

His publications include Lost World of Adam and Eve (IVP: 2015); Lost World of Scripture (IVP: 2013) with Brent Sandy; Job, NIV Application Commentary (Zonder-van: 2012); Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology (Eisenbrauns: 2011); The Zondervan Illustrated Bible

Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament (General Editor, Zondervan, 2009); The Lost World ofGenesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (IVP, 2009); Jonah (Expositor’s BibleCommentary, Zondervan: 2008); Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Baker:

2006); and Old Testament Today (Zondervan: 2004).Dr. Walton summarizes his chosen path of study in this way:

“It was in my college years that I encountered a book by Joseph Free, a formerWheaton professor, called Archaeology and Bible History. It was apologetic in focusbut brought to my attention the tremendous impact that archaeology and culturalbackground studies could have on our understanding of the Old Testament. It wasin the very year that I read that book that I made the decision to pursue Old Testa-ment studies as a vocational discipline. Instead of training to be an archaeologist, Idetermined to focus my attention on studies comparing the culture and literature ofthe Bible and the ancient Near East.

“I have never lost my fascination with this subject. But comparative studies onlyprovide one of the means by which I try to get people excited about the Old Testa-ment. I am saddened by how little exposure to and understanding of the Old Tes-tament many Christians have, but I am passionate in doing whatever I can do toremedy this spiritual and theological loss.”

Craig S. Keener, New Testament Editor

Ph.D., Duke University, 1991

M.A., M.Div., Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, 1985, 1987

B.A., Central Bible College / Evangel University, 1982

Dr. Craig S. Keener is the F.M. and Ada Thompson professor of BiblicalStudies at Asbury Seminary, Wilmore, KY. Before coming to Asbury in

July 2011, Dr. Keener was professor of New Testament at Palmer Theo-logical Seminary of Eastern University, where he taught for 15 years;before that time he was professor at Hood Theological Seminary. Craigis a sought-after speaker, writer and lecturer on the subject of New Tes-tament cultural backgrounds.


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xviii | About the Authors

Craig has authored 20 books, four of which have won book awards in Christianity Today. His IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (1993), now in its 2nd revised edition (2014),has sold more than half a million copies (including editions in several languages, including morethan fifty thousand copies in Korean). His recent books include Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (4 vols., 4500 pages; Baker Academic, 2012 – 2015); Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament

Accounts (2 vols., Baker Academic, 2011); The Historical Jesus of the Gospels (Eerdmans, 2009);The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Eerdmans, 2009); Romans (Cascade,2009); 1 – 2 Corinthians (Cambridge, 2005); The Gospel of John: A Commentary (2 vols., Hen-drickson/Baker Academic, 2003).

Dr. Keener describes the origins of his interest in the cultures of the New Testament world:

“Not everyone is called to spend their professional career studying the cultural set-tings of the Bible, but some of us are called to bring this information in an accessibleway to the body of Christ, as in this Bible. I’ve been studying the Bible’s culturalsettings since the beginning of my undergraduate work. But the Lord was preparingme for this field of study even before my conversion. Even as an early teenager I wasreading the works of Plato and Tacitus, the Roman historian, and spent time studyingmany different ancient sources.

“After my conversion I said to myself, ‘No, I don’t need to study any of thesesources. I’m just going to read the Bible. The Bible is good enough on its own.’ Butthe more I read the Bible, often 40 chapters a day, the more I realized that the authorstook for granted some information that their first readers knew — information that Ididn’t have without studying background. Additionally, cross-cultural experiences inAfrica, Asia and Latin America have helped me to think more cross-culturally. Both inpreaching and teaching contexts, I have found that understanding the culture of theBible helps my hearers understand the Biblical text more concretely and accurately.”


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Abbreviations

General

c century c. about, approximately cf. compare, confer

ch., chs. chapter, chapters e.g. for example etc. and so on

i.e. that is KJV King James (Authorized) Version lit. literally, literal NT New Testament OT Old Testament

p., pp. page, pagesv., vv. verse, verses (in the chapter being

commented on)

Standard abbreviations of month names are alsosometimes used, as well as a few other common

abbreviations.

The Old Testament

Genesis GeExodus Ex

Leviticus LevNumbers Nu

Deuteronomy DtJoshua JosJudges Jdg

Ruth Ru1 Samuel 1Sa2 Samuel 2Sa

1 Kings 1Ki2 Kings 2Ki

1 Chronicles 1Ch2 Chronicles 2Ch

Ezra EzrNehemiah Ne

Esther Est

Job JobPsalms PsProverbs Pr

Ecclesiastes EccSong of Songs SS

Isaiah IsaJeremiah Jer

Lamentations LaEzekiel EzeDaniel DaHosea Hos

Joel JoelAmos Am

Obadiah Ob

Jonah JnhMicah MicNahum Na

Habakkuk HabZephaniah Zep

Haggai HagZechariah Zec

Malachi Mal

The New Testament

Matthew MtMark Mk Luke Lk John JnActs Ac

Romans Ro1 Corinthians 1Co2 Corinthians 2Co

Galatians GalEphesians Eph

Philippians PhpColossians Col1 Thessalonians 1Th2 Thessalonians 2Th

1 Timothy 1Ti2 Timothy 2Ti

Titus TitusPhilemon PhmHebrews Heb

James Jas1 Peter 1Pe2 Peter 2Pe1 John 1Jn2 John 2Jn3 John 3Jn

Jude JudeRevelation Rev


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Preface

The goal of the New International Version (NIV) is to enable English-speaking people from aroundthe world to read and hear God’s eternal Word in their own language. Our work as translatorsis motivated by our conviction that the Bible is God’s Word in written form. We believe that theBible contains the divine answer to the deepest needs of humanity, sheds unique light on our pathin a dark world and sets forth the way to our eternal well-being. Out of these deep convictions,we have sought to recreate as far as possible the experience of the original audience — blendingtransparency to the original text with accessibility for the millions of English speakers around theworld. We have prioritized accuracy, clarity and literary quality with the goal of creating a trans-

lation suitable for public and private reading, evangelism, teaching, preaching, memorizing andliturgical use. We have also sought to preserve a measure of continuity with the long tradition oftranslating the Scriptures into English.

The complete NIV Bible was first published in 1978. It was a completely new translation madeby over a hundred scholars working directly from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic and Greektexts. The translators came from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and NewZealand, giving the translation an international scope. They were from many denominations andchurches — including Anglican, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Brethren, Christian Reformed, Churchof Christ, Evangelical Covenant, Evangelical Free, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Nazarene,Presbyterian, Wesleyan and others. This breadth of denominational and theological perspectivehelped to safeguard the translation from sectarian bias. For these reasons, and by the grace of

God, the NIV has gained a wide readership in all parts of the English-speaking world.The work of translating the Bible is never finished. As good as they are, English translations

must be regularly updated so that they will continue to communicate accurately the meaning ofGod’s Word. Updates are needed in order to reflect the latest developments in our understandingof the biblical world and its languages and to keep pace with changes in English usage. Recogniz-ing, then, that the NIV would retain its ability to communicate God’s Word accurately only if itwere regularly updated, the original translators established the Committee on Bible Translation(CBT). The Committee is a self-perpetuating group of biblical scholars charged with keepingabreast of advances in biblical scholarship and changes in English and issuing periodic updatesto the NIV. The CBT is an independent, self-governing body and has sole responsibility for theNIV text. The Committee mirrors the original group of translators in its diverse international anddenominational makeup and in its unifying commitment to the Bible as God’s inspired Word.

In obedience to its mandate, the Committee has issued periodic updates to the NIV. An initialrevision was released in 1984. A more thorough revision process was completed in 2005, resultingin the separately published TNIV. The updated NIV you now have in your hands builds on boththe original NIV and the TNIV and represents the latest effort of the Committee to articulate God’sunchanging Word in the way the original authors might have said it had they been speaking inEnglish to the global English-speaking audience today.

Translation Philosophy

The Committee’s translating work has been governed by three widely accepted principles about

the way people use words and about the way we understand them.First, the meaning of words is determined by the way that users of the language actually use

them at any given time. For the biblical languages, therefore, the Committee utilizes the best andmost recent scholarship on the way Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words were being used in biblicaltimes. At the same time, the Committee carefully studies the state of modern English. Good trans-lation is like good communication: one must know the target audience so that the appropriatechoices can be made about which English words to use to represent the original words of Scrip-ture. From its inception, the NIV has had as its target the general English-speaking population all


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Preface | xxi

over the world, the “International” in its title reflecting this concern. The aim of the Committeeis to put the Scriptures into natural English that will communicate effectively with the broadestpossible audience of English speakers.

Modern technology has enhanced the Committee’s ability to choose the right English wordsto convey the meaning of the original text. The field of computational linguistics harnesses thepower of computers to provide broadly applicable and current data about the state of the lan-

guage. Translators can now access huge databases of modern English to better understand thecurrent meaning and usage of key words. The Committee utilized this resource in preparingthe 2011 edition of the NIV. An area of especially rapid and significant change in English is theway certain nouns and pronouns are used to refer to human beings. The Committee thereforerequested experts in computational linguistics at Collins Dictionaries to pose some key questionsabout this usage to its database of English — the largest in the world, with over 4.4 billion words,gathered from several English-speaking countries and including both spoken and written English.(The Collins Study, called “The Development and Use of Gender Language in Contemporary Eng-lish,” can be accessed at http://www.thenivbible.com/about-the-niv/about-the-2011-edition/ .) Thestudy revealed that the most popular words to describe the human race in modern U.S. Englishwere “humanity,” “man” and “mankind.” The Committee then used this data in the updated NIV,

choosing from among these three words (and occasionally others also) depending on the context.A related issue creates a larger problem for modern translations: the move away from using thethird-person masculine singular pronouns — “he/him/his” — to refer to men and women equally.This usage does persist in some forms of English, and this revision therefore occasionally uses thesepronouns in a generic sense. But the tendency, recognized in day-to-day usage and confirmed bythe Collins study, is away from the generic use of “he,” “him” and “his.” In recognition of this shiftin language and in an effort to translate into the natural English that people are actually using, thisrevision of the NIV generally uses other constructions when the biblical text is plainly addressedto men and women equally. The reader will encounter especially frequently a “they,” “their” or“them” to express a generic singular idea. Thus, for instance, Mark 8:36 reads: “What good is it forsomeone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” This generic use of the “distributive” or

“singular” “they/them/their” has been used for many centuries by respected writers of English andhas now become established as standard English, spoken and written, all over the world.A second linguistic principle that feeds into the Committee’s translation work is that meaning

is found not in individual words, as vital as they are, but in larger clusters: phrases, clauses, sen-tences, discourses. Translation is not, as many people think, a matter of word substitution: Englishword x in place of Hebrew word y. Translators must first determine the meaning of the words ofthe biblical languages in the context of the passage and then select English words that accuratelycommunicate that meaning to modern listeners and readers. This means that accurate translationwill not always reflect the exact structure of the original language. To be sure, there is debate overthe degree to which translators should try to preserve the “form” of the original text in English.From the beginning, the NIV has taken a mediating position on this issue. The manual produced

when the translation that became the NIV was first being planned states: “If the Greek or Hebrewsyntax has a good parallel in modern English, it should be used. But if there is no good parallel,the English syntax appropriate to the meaning of the original is to be chosen.” It is fine, in otherwords, to carry over the form of the biblical languages into English — but not at the expense ofnatural expression. The principle that meaning resides in larger clusters of words means that theCommittee has not insisted on a “word-for-word” approach to translation. We certainly believethat every word of Scripture is inspired by God and therefore to be carefully studied to determinewhat God is saying to us. It is for this reason that the Committee labors over every single wordof the original texts, working hard to determine how each of those words contributes to what thetext is saying. Ultimately, however, it is how these individual words function in combination withother words that determines meaning.

A third linguistic principle guiding the Committee in its translation work is the recognitionthat words have a spectrum of meaning. It is popular to define a word by using another word,or “gloss,” to substitute for it. This substitute word is then sometimes called the “literal” mean-ing of a word. In fact, however, words have a range of possible meanings. Those meanings willvary depending on the context, and words in one language will usually not occupy the samesemantic range as words in another language. The Committee therefore studies each originalword of Scripture in its context to identify its meaning in a particular verse and then chooses anappropriate English word (or phrase) to represent it. It is impossible, then, to translate any given


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xxii | Preface

Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek word with the same English word all the time. The Committee does tryto translate related occurrences of a word in the original languages with the same English wordin order to preserve the connection for the English reader. But the Committee generally privilegesclear natural meaning over a concern with consistency in rendering particular words.

Textual Basis

For the Old Testament the standard Hebrew text, the Masoretic Text as published in the latestedition of Biblia Hebraica, has been used throughout. The Masoretic Text tradition contains mar-ginal notations that offer variant readings. These have sometimes been followed instead of thetext itself. Because such instances involve variants within the Masoretic tradition, they have notbeen indicated in the textual notes. In a few cases, words in the basic consonantal text have beendivided differently than in the Masoretic Text. Such cases are usually indicated in the textualfootnotes. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain biblical texts that represent an earlier stage of the trans-mission of the Hebrew text. They have been consulted, as have been the Samaritan Pentateuchand the ancient scribal traditions concerning deliberate textual changes. The translators also con-sulted the more important early versions. Readings from these versions, the Dead Sea Scrolls andthe scribal traditions were occasionally followed where the Masoretic Text seemed doubtful and

where accepted principles of textual criticism showed that one or more of these textual witnessesappeared to provide the correct reading. In rare cases, the translators have emended the Hebrewtext where it appears to have become corrupted at an even earlier stage of its transmission. Thesedepartures from the Masoretic Text are also indicated in the textual footnotes. Sometimes thevowel indicators (which are later additions to the basic consonantal text) found in the MasoreticText did not, in the judgment of the translators, represent the correct vowels for the original text.Accordingly, some words have been read with a different set of vowels. These instances are usu-ally not indicated in the footnotes.

The Greek text used in translating the New Testament has been an eclectic one, based on thelatest editions of the Nestle-Aland/United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament. The translatorshave made their choices among the variant readings in accordance with widely accepted prin-

ciples of New Testament textual criticism. Footnotes call attention to places where uncertaintyremains.

The New Testament authors, writing in Greek, often quote the Old Testament from its ancientGreek version, the Septuagint. This is one reason why some of the Old Testament quotations inthe NIV New Testament are not identical to the corresponding passages in the NIV Old Testament.Such quotations in the New Testament are indicated with the footnote “(see Septuagint).”

Footnotes and Formatting

Footnotes in this version are of several kinds, most of which need no explanation. Those givingalternative translations begin with “Or” and generally introduce the alternative with the last word

preceding it in the text, except when it is a single-word alternative. When poetry is quoted in afootnote a slash mark indicates a line division.It should be noted that references to diseases, minerals, flora and fauna, architectural details,

clothing, jewelry, musical instruments and other articles cannot always be identified with preci-sion. Also, linear measurements and measures of capacity can only be approximated (see theTable of Weights and Measures). Although Selah, used mainly in the Psalms, is probably a musicalterm, its meaning is uncertain. Since it may interrupt reading and distract the reader, this wordhas not been kept in the English text, but every occurrence has been signaled by a footnote.

As an aid to the reader, sectional headings have been inserted. They are not to be regarded aspart of the biblical text and are not intended for oral reading. It is the Committee’s hope that theseheadings may prove more helpful to the reader than the traditional chapter divisions, which were

introduced long after the Bible was written.Sometimes the chapter and/or verse numbering in English translations of the Old Testament

differs from that found in published Hebrew texts. This is particularly the case in the Psalms,where the traditional titles are included in the Hebrew verse numbering. Such differences areindicated in the footnotes at the bottom of the page. In the New Testament, verse numbers thatmarked off portions of the traditional English text not supported by the best Greek manuscriptsnow appear in brackets, with a footnote indicating the text that has been omitted (see, for ex-ample, Matthew 17:[21]).


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Preface | xxiii

Mark 16:9 – 20 and John 7:53 — 8:11, although long accorded virtually equal status with therest of the Gospels in which they stand, have a questionable standing in the textual history of theNew Testament, as noted in the bracketed annotations with which they are set off. A differenttypeface has been chosen for these passages to indicate their uncertain status.

Basic formatting of the text, such as lining the poetry, paragraphing (both prose and poetry),setting up of (administrative-like) lists, indenting letters and lengthy prayers within narratives andthe insertion of sectional headings, has been the work of the Committee. However, the choicebetween single-column and double-column formats has been left to the publishers. Also the is-suing of “red-letter” editions is a publisher’s choice — one that the Committee does not endorse.

The Committee has again been reminded that every human effort is flawed — including thisrevision of the NIV. We trust, however, that many will find in it an improved representation ofthe Word of God, through which they hear his call to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and to servicein his kingdom. We offer this version of the Bible to him in whose name and for whose glory ithas been made.

The Committee on Bible Translation


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xxiv | Ancient Texts

ANCIENT TEXTS RELATING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT

Major representative examples of ancient Near Eastern non-Biblical documents

that provide parallels to or shed light on various Old Testament passages

TITLE ORIGIN DESCRIPTION

AMARNA LETTERS Canaanite AkkadianFourteenth century BC

Hundreds of letters, written primarily by Canaanite scribes, illuminate social,political and religious relationships between Canaan and Egypt during thereigns of Amunhotep III and Akhenaten.

AMENEMOPE’S WISDOM EgyptianLate second millennium BC

Thirty chapters of wisdom instruction are similar to Pr 22:17—24:22 andprovide the closest external parallels to OT Wisdom Literature.

ATRAHASIS EPIC AkkadianEarly second millennium BC

A cosmological epic depic ts creation and early human history, including theflood (cf. Ge 1–9).

BABYLONIAN THEODICY AkkadianEarly first millennium BC

A sufferer and his friend dialogue with each other (cf. Job).

CYRUS CYLINDER AkkadianSixth century BC

King Cyrus of Persia records the conquest of Babylon (cf. Da 5:30; 6:28) andboasts of his generous policies toward his new subjec ts and their gods.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS Hebrew, Aramaic, GreekThird century BC to firstcentury AD

Several hundred scrolls and fragments include the oldest copies of OT booksand passages.

EBLA TABLETS Sumerian, EblaiteMid-third millennium BC

Thousands of commercial, legal, literary and epistolary texts describe thecultural vitality and political power of a pre-patriarchal civilization in northernSyria.

ELEPHANTINE PAPYRI AramaicLate fifth century BC

Contracts and letters document life among Jews who fled to southern Egyptafter Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC.

ENUMA ELISH AkkadianSecond millennium BC

Marduk, the Babylonian god of cosmic order, is elevated to the supremeposition in the pantheon. The seven-tablet epic contains an account of creation(cf. Ge 1–2).

GEZER CALENDAR HebrewTenth century BC

A schoolboy from west-central Israel describes the seasons, crops and farmingactivity of the agricultural year.

GILGAMESH EPIC AkkadianEarly second millennium BC

Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, experiences numerous adventures, including ameeting with Utnapishtim, the only survivor of a great deluge (cf. Ge 6–9).

HAMMURAPI’S CODE AkkadianEighteenth century BC

Together with similar law codes that preceded and followed it, the Code ofHammurapi exhibits close parallels to numerous passages in the Mosaiclegislation of the OT.

Cyrus Cylinder, a cuneiform text that

describes Cyrus’s (Persian ruler 559–530 BC) capture of Babylon in 539 BC.

Cyrus allowed the Jews to return from

Babylonia and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (2 Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:2–4; 7:1–5).

Kim Walton, courtesy of the British Museum

Gezer Calendar—

one of the earliestexamples of Hebrew

writing—highlights

the agriculturalseasons in Israel.

© 1995 Phoenix Data Systems


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Ancient Texts | xxv

ANCIENT TEXTS RELATING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT (CONT.)




HYMN TO THE ATEN EgyptianFourteenth century BC

The poem praises the beneficence and universality of the sun in languagesomewhat similar to that used in Ps 104.

ISHTAR’S DESCENT AkkadianFirst millennium BC

The goddess Ishtar temporarily descends to the netherworld, which is picturedin terms reminiscent of OT descriptions of Sheol.

JEHOIACHIN’S RATIONDOCKETS

AkkadianEarly sixth century BC

Brief texts from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II refer to rations allotted toJudah’s exiled king Jehoiachin and his sons (cf. 2Ki 25:27–30).

KING LISTS SumerianEarly second millennium BC

The reigns of Sumerian kings before the flood are desc ribed as lasting for thou-sands of years, reminding us of the longevity of the preflood patriarchs in Ge 5.

LACHISH LETTERS(OSTRACA)

HebrewEarly sixth century BC

Inscriptions on pottery fragments vividly portray the desperate days precedingthe Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 588–586 BC (cf. Jer 34:7).

LAMENTATION OVER THEDESTRUCTION OF UR

SumerianEarly second millennium BC

The poem mourns the destruction of the city of Ur at the hands of the Elamites(cf. the OT book of Lamentations).

LUDLUL BEL NEMEQI AkkadianLate second millennium BC

A suffering Babylonian nobleman describes his distress in terms faintlyreminiscent of the experiences of Job.

MARI TABLETS AkkadianEighteenth century BC

Letters and administrative texts provide detailed information regardingcustoms, language and personal names that reflect the culture of the OTpatriarchs.

MERNEPTAH STELE EgyptianThirteenth century BC Pharaoh Merneptah figuratively describes his victory over various peoples inwestern Asia, including “Israel.”

MESHA STELE(MOABITE STONE)

MoabiteNinth century BC

Mesha, king of Moab (see 2Ki 3:4 and note on 1:1), rebels against asuccessor of Israel’s king Omri.

Sennacherib’s Prism was discovered among theruins of Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian

Empire. It contains the annals of Sennacherib, the

Assyrian king who besieged Jerusalem in 701 BCduring the reign of King Hezekiah.

© 1995 Phoenix Data Systems

Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone), a Moabite

inscription (c. 840–820 BC), recounts theexploits of Mesha, king of Moab (2 Ki 3:4).

Z. Radovan/www.BibleLandPictures.com


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xxvi | Ancient Texts

ANCIENT TEXTS RELATING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT (CONT.)




MURASHU TABLETS AkkadianFifth century BC

Commercial documents describe financial transactions engaged in by Murashu andSons, a Babylonian firm that did business with Jews and other exiles.

MURSILIS’S TREATY WITHDUPPI-TESSUB

HittiteMid-secondmillennium BC

King Mursilis imposes a suzerainty treaty on King Duppi-Tessub. The literary outlineof this and other Hittite treaties is strikingly paralleled in OTcovenants established by God with his people.

NABONIDUS CHRONICLE AkkadianMid-sixth century BC

The account describes the absence of King Nabonidus from Babylon.His son Belshazzar is therefore the regent in charge of the kingdom(cf. Da 5:29–30).

NEBUCHADNEZZAR

CHRONICLE

Akkadian

Early sixth century BC

A chronicle from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II includes the Babylonian account of

the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC (see 2Ki 24:10–17).

NUZI TABLETS AkkadianMid-secondmillennium BC

Adoption, birthright sale and other legal documents graphically illustrateOT patriarchal customs current centuries earlier.

PESSIMISTIC DIALOGUE AkkadianEarly first millennium BC

A master and his servant discuss the pros and cons of various activities(cf. Ecc 1–2).

RAS SHAMRA TABLETS UgariticFifteenth–fourteenthcenturies BC

Canaanite deities and rulers experience adventures in epics that enrich our under-standing of Canaanite mythology and religion and of OT poetry.

SARGON LEGEND AkkadianFirst millennium BC

Sargon I (the Great), ruler of Akkad in the late third millennium BC, claims to havebeen rescued as an infant from a reed basket found floating in a river (cf. Ex 2).

SARGON’S DISPLAYINSCRIPTION

AkkadianEighth century BC

Sargon II takes credit for the conquest of Samaria in 722/721 BC and states that hecaptured and exiled 27,290 Israelites.

SENNACHERIB’S PRISM AkkadianEarly seventhcentury BC

Sennacherib vividly describes his siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC, makingHezekiah a prisoner in his own royal city (but cf. 2Ki 19:35–37).

SEVEN LEAN YEARSTRADITION

EgyptianSecond century BC

Egypt experiences seven years of low Niles and famine, which, by a contractualagreement between Pharaoh Djoser (twenty-eighth century BC) and a god, will be

followed by prosperity (cf. Ge 41).SHALMANESER’S BLACKOBELISK

AkkadianNinth century BC

Israel’s king Jehu presents tribute to Assyria’s king Shalmaneser III. AdditionalAssyrian and Babylonian texts refer to other kings of Israel and Judah.

SHISHAK’SGEOGRAPHICAL LIST

EgyptianTenth century BC

Pharaoh Shishak lists the cities that he captured or made tributary during hiscampaign in Judah and Israel (cf. 1Ki 14:25–26 and note on 14:25).

SILOAM INSCRIPTION HebrewLate eighth century BC

A Judahite workman describes the construction of an undergroundconduit to guarantee Jerusalem’s water supply during Hezekiah’s reign(cf. 2Ki 20:20; 2Ch 32:30).

SINUHE’S STORY Egyptian

Twentieth–nineteenthcenturies BC

An Egyptian official of the Twelfth Dynasty goes into voluntary exile in Aram (Syria)

and Canaan during the OT patriarchal period.

TALE OF TWO BROTHERS EgyptianThirteenth century BC

A young man rejects the amorous advances of his older brother’s wife(cf. Ge 39).

WENAMUN’S JOURNEY EgyptianEleventh century BC

An official of the temple of Amun at Thebes in Egypt is sent to Byblosin Canaan to buy lumber for the ceremonial barge of his god.


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? ? ? ?

©1985 The Zondervan Corporation

CreationGe 1–2

FallGe 3

FloodGe 6–9

BabelGe 11

Old Testament Chronology


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xxviii | Old Testament Chronology

2500 BC 220023002400 20002100

2500 BC 220023002400 20002100

2166 Abram born

2091 Abrammoves to

Canaan

2006 Jacoband Esau

born

1991Abraham

dies

2080Ishmael born

2066Isaac born

2050Abraham offers Isaac

TRADITIONAL DATES

DATES ACCEPTED BY MANY SCHOLARS

Dates are approximate and dependent on theinterpretative theories of various scholars. A keyelement in this chart is the use of the lowMesopotamian chronology together with certainastronomical and archaeological synchronismsfor the Twelfth and Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasties.

Emphasis is placed on broad historical periods andcultural sequences.

BIBLICAL HISTORY

Early Biblical Period

WORLD HISTORY

Ur III textsEblatexts

Akkadian Period

Hattian Kingdoms

Neo-Sumerian Period

Elamite Dynasties

First Intermediate PeriodOld Kingdom

Early Helladic Period

Early Minoan Period

Early Dynastic Period

S. MESOPOTAMIA

N. MESOPOTAMIA

EGYPT

SYRIA-PALESTINE

ANATOLIA

CRETE

PERSIA

GREECE

ITALY

Ebla

PatriarchsGe 12–50


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Old Testament Chronology | xxix

1500 BC1600170018001900

1500 BC1600170018001900

1929 Jacobflees toHarran

1876 Jacoband familysettle inEgypt

1859 Jacobdies

1886Isaac dies

1898Joseph sold into Egypt

1915Joseph born

1805Joseph dies

1526Moses born

Patriarchal Age Sojourn in Egypt

Hammurapitexts

Maritexts

Cappadociantexts

Isin-Larsa Period

Middle Kingdom

Amorite Period

Middle Minoan Period

Middle Helladic Period

Old Babylonian Period

Second Intermediate (Hyksos) Period

Hyksos Period

New Kingdom

Late Canaanite Period

Hittite Old Kingdom


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xxx | Old Testament Chronology

10001100120013001400 BC

10001100120013001400 BC

1367-1327Othniel

1309-1229Ehud

1209-1169Deborah

1162-1122Gideon

1050-

1010Saul

1010-970

David

970-930

Solomon

1446The exodus, “Red Sea” crossed

1406Moses diesJoshua appointed leaderIsraelites enter Canaan

Joshua dies1105

Samuel born

1078-1072Jephthah

1075-1055Samson

Exodus and Conquest Period of Judges

HISTORICALLYVERIFIABLE DATES

Medinet Habuinscriptions

Merneptahinscription

Amarnatexts

Ugaritictexts

Nuzitexts

Shishakinscription

1375-1050 Judges

Kassite Period

New Kingdom

Late Canaanite Period

Hittite Empire

Late Minoan Period

Late Helladic (Mycenean) Period

Middle Assyrian Period

Phrygian Period

Sea Peoples Phoenician,

Dorian States

Mitannian Kingdom

S. MESOPOTAMIA

N. MESOPOTAMIA

EGYPT

SYRIA-PALESTINE

ANATOLIA

CRETE

PERSIA

GREECE

ITALY

Dorian States

Exodus and ConquestEx 1:1–Jos 24:29

JudgesJdg 1:1–1Sa 9

United Kingdom1Sa 10–1Ki 11


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Old Testament Chronology | xxxi

400 BC500600700800900

400 BC500600700800900

930-909 Jeroboam I

908-886 Baasha885-874 Omri

874-853 Ahab

852-841 Joram

841-814 Jehu

793-753 Jeroboam II

752-742 Menahem

752-732 Pekah

732-722 Hoshea

KINGS OF ISRAEL

722 FALL OF THE

NORTHERN KINGDOM

538First groupreturns underZerubbabel

432Last groupreturnsunderNehemiah

458Second

groupreturns

under Ezra

930-913Rehoboam

910-869Asa

872-848Jehoshaphat

853-841Jehoram

841-835Athaliah

835-796 Joash

792-740 Azariah (Uzziah)

750-735 Jotham

735-715 Ahaz

715-686 Hezekiah

697-642 Manasseh

640-609 Josiah

609-598 Jehoiakim

597-586 ZedekiahKINGS OF JUDAH

Lines to timeline denote last year of reign or life

Coregencies and shortreigns are omitted

Sennacheribinscription

Cyrusinscription

Jehoiachintexts

586 Fall ofJerusalem

Aramean, and Neo-Hittite States

Assyrian Empire

Late Dynastic Period

Assyrian Empire

Etruscan States

Neo-BabylonianEmpire

Saite Dynasty

Kingdom of Lydia

City States

Achaemenian and Median Dynasties

Early Roman State

Classical Period

PersianEmpire

Persian

Empire

Roman Republic

H o s e a

7 5 0 - 7 1

5

A m o s 7 6 0 - 7 5

0

J o n a h 7 8 5 - 7 7

5

E l i j a h 8 7

5 - 8 4 8

E l i s h a 8 4 8 - 7 9 7

Prophets of Israel

E z e k i e l

5 9 3 - 5

7 1

6 0 5 - 5 8 5 ? O b a d i a h

6 2 6 - 5 8 5 J e r e m i a h

6 0 5 - 5 3 0 D a n i e l

7 4 0 - 6 8 1 I s a i a h

5 2 0 - 4 8 0 Z e c h a r i a h

4 4 0 - 4 3 0 M a l a c h

i

Prophets of Judah

Divided Kingdom1Ki 12–2Ki 17

ExileDaniel

RestorationEzra–Esther

Between theTestaments432–5 BC


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Old

Testament

The Torah ....................................... 1

Narrative Literature .......................357

Wisdom and Hymnic Literature ....... 815

Oracles of the Prophets ................. 1101


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GENESIS

Major Background Issuesfrom the Ancient Near East

To think about the ancient world, we can use the metaphor of a cultural riverthat flowed through the societies and thoughts of the peoples and nations ofthe ancient Near East. Israel was immersed in that cultural river; it was embed-

ded in that conceptual world. Sometimes God gave revelation that drew them out, asMoses from the Nile, and distinguished them; but we should generally think of themin this cultural river. Sometimes they were simply floating on its currents; sometimesthey veered out of the currents and stood apart. At other times they swam resolutelyupstream against those currents.

The twelve issues identified below describe major currents in this metaphoricalancient cultural river. Israel’s relationship to those currents varies case by case. Impor-tantly, however, as modern readers, we have no familiarity with that river at all. Ourcultural river is very different. Whether Israel was floating or swimming, as we readthrough the Old Testament we must recognize that they were in a different river thanwe are. To interpret the Old Testament well, we must try to dip into their cultural river.

1. The “Great Symbiosis.” People in the ancient world believed that the gods hadmade people as slave laborers because they were tired of growing their own food andtaking care of their own needs. People cared for the gods (who lived an opulent, pam-

pered lifestyle including food, drink, clothing, housing, etc.) and in turn, the gods tookcare of the people (because they had vested interests in doing so). Thus there was acodependent relationship of mutual need. This provides the context for understandingtemples, rituals, worship, and religious obligation in the ancient world. Israel is calledto a far different way of thinking, as Yahweh has no needs.

2. Presence of God in Sacred Space. This is an extension of the previous item. Peoplein the ancient world highly desired that their god to take up residence among them. Itwas important for the god so they could be pampered, and important for the peopleso that they could receive blessing. The presence of the god created sacred space thathad to be respected and honored. Limited access and purity requirements were takenvery seriously. Combined with the Great Symbiosis, this shows why all religion in the

ancient world was local. Only those who lived in the vicinity of the temple could beengaged in caring for the gods. And the gods would only be interested in providingfor and protecting those who could take care of him/her. It is not that the gods werepowerless beyond th

Documents

NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Sampler