Ver. 10. Οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος οὐδὲ els. There is something to be said for the idea that this is Paul’s thesis, rather than a quotation of Ps. xiv. 3. Ps. xiv. 3 is correctly quoted in ver. 12, and the Apostle would hardly quote it twice: δίκαιος, too, seems chosen to express exactly the conclusion to which he means to come in ver. 20. Still, the words come after καθὼς γέγραπται: hence they must be Scripture, and there is nothing they resemble so much as a free rendering of Ps. xiv. 3.
aL--19,
3 ” « , 5 ἐστι ποιῶν χρηστότητα, οὐκ ἐστιν ἕως ἑνός.
µένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν, ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν tie
ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν .
γέμει.
13
‘ , > - < - > ~ καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοις αὐτῶν :
” 32 έγνωσαν.
ο ερ ! 39 αυτων.
607
13. τάφος dvewy-
66?
a tos
14. “ dv τὸ ordéua! ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας 15. “'ὀξεῖς οἱ modes αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι aiva- 16. σύντριμμα
17. καὶ ὁδὸν "εἰρήνης οὐκ ¢ Lukei
18. “οὐκ ἐστι φόβος Θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν 10. οἶδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὅσα ὁ νόμος λέγει, τοῖς ἐν τῷ vdpwf Ch. iv. το,
g Heb.xi.33.
λαλεῖ: ἵνα wav στόμα Φφραγῇ, καὶ Ἑὐπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος h Here only.
1 στοµα; after στοµα B 17 read αυτων.
and H. put αντων in marg.
Ver. Il. οὐκ ἔστιν συνίων. For the form (συνίων or συνιῶν), see Winer, p. 97. If we read 6 συνίων the meaning is, There is no one to understand: if the article (as in the LXX) be omitted, ‘There is no one who has sense.
Ver. 12. ἠχρεώθησαν is the LXX
wendering of ane, which means
“to become sour,” ‘to turn” (of milk): one and all they have become good for nothing. χρηστότητα usually signifies kindness, and so it is rendered in 2 Cor. vi. 6, Eph. ii. 7, Col. iti. 12, ‘Lit. ili, 4 (cf. Rom. ii. 4, xi. 22: good- ness): here it answers to Hebrew 35x
and means “good”. οὐκ έστιν ἕως -€v0S, non est usque ad unum (Vulg.), which may be even more exactly given in the Scottish idiom: there is not the length of one.
Ver. 13. Tddos ... ἐδολιοῦσαν is an exact quotation of Ps. ν. το (LXX). The original seems to describe foreign -enemies whose false and treacherous language threatened ruin to Israel. For ‘the form ἐδολιοῦσαν, see Winer, p. ΟΙ (£.).. The termination is common in the LXX: Wetstein quotes one grammarian who calls it Boeotian and another Chal- cidic ; it was apparently widely diffused. The last clause, tés ἀσπίδων κ.τ.λ., is Ps. cxxxix. 4, LXX.
Vers τη. Psi κ. 255) mek oo παειν -quoted: (Ps. x. 7, A.V.). αὐτῶν after .στόμα (W, and H., margin) is a Hebrew idiom which the LXX has in this passage, only in the singular: οὗ τὸ «στόμα αὐτοῦ.
Vers. 15-17. These verses are rather .a free extract from, than a quotation of, Is. lix. 7, 8. They describe the moral -corruption of Israel in the age of the prophet. According to Lipsius, σύν- “Toippa καὶ ταλαιπωρία refer to the
This Hebr. idiom may be right, and W.
spiritual misery which comes upon the Jews in the path of self-righteousness. But it is much more natural to suppose that the Apostle is pointing to the destruction and misery which human wickedness inflicts on others, than to any such spiritual results of it. It is as if he had said, ‘‘ Wherever they go, you can trace them by the ruin and distress they leave behind”. The same con- sideration applies to ver. 17. It does not mean, ‘‘ They have failed to discover the way of salvation,” but ‘ they tread continually in paths of violence ”.
WerselS.0) Εξ καν. 2, κ with αὐτῶν for αὐτοῦ. This verse at once sums up and explains the universal corruption of mankind,
Ver. 19. At this point the first great division of the epistle closes, that which began with chap. i. 18, and has been occupied with asserting the universal prevalence of sin. ‘We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are in the law,” i.e., to the Jews. For the distinction of λέγειν (in which the object is the main thing) and λαλεῖν (in which the speaker and the mode of utterance are made prominent), see Trench, Synonyms, § lxxvi., and com- mentary on John viii. 43. It is most natural to suppose that by “ the things the law says’’ Paul means the words he has just quoted fromthe O.T. These words cannot be evaded by the very persons to whom the O.T. was given, and who have in it, so to speak, the spiritual environment of their life. In this case, 6 νόμος is used in the wider sense of the old revelation generally, not specifically the Pentateuch, or even the statutory part of Scripture. For this use of the word, cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 21, where ἐν τῷ vép introduces a quotation from Is. xxviii. 11: and John x. 34 (your law), xv. 25 (their law), both prefacing quota-