'Love righteousness... think of the Lord in goodness and seek him in sincerity (haplotēs) of heart' shares Paul's distinctive pairing of 'holiness and sincerity of God.' The sincerity/single-heartedness vocabulary is at home in Hellenistic-Jewish wisdom, satisfying availability; the contact is lexical-thematic rather than a citation.

Love righteousness, you that be judges of the earth, Think you of the Lord with a good mind, And in singleness of heart seek you him;


Paul's claim that the promises find their 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Christ 'to the glory of God' draws on Isaiah's 'God of Amen/truth,' where one blesses and swears by the God of truth (LXX/Heb 'God of Amen'). The unusual liturgical 'Amen' tied to God's reliability points to this text as the lexical source for divine faithfulness sealing the promises. High thematic coherence with God's truthfulness.

so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.


'Know that YHWH your God is the faithful God who keeps covenant' grounds Paul's 'as God is faithful' and the certainty that all God's promises are confirmed (Yes/Amen). The covenant-keeping faithfulness of God is the theological basis for Paul's argument that his word, mirroring God's, is not equivocating Yes-and-No. Good thematic coherence.

Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,


'God is not a man that he should lie... has he said, and will he not do it?' directly supports Paul's contrast between human fickleness and God's reliable Yes to his promises. The denial of divine vacillation undergirds the Yes/Amen argument. Reasonable verbal-thematic contact on God keeping his word.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?


Paul's 'he... anointed us' draws on the anointing tradition in which Samuel anoints David and 'the Spirit of YHWH came mightily upon him.' The conjunction of anointing with the gift of the Spirit (v. 22) maps onto this royal-prophetic anointing pattern. Good thematic coherence between anointing and Spirit-endowment.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.


The holy anointing oil that consecrates priests and the tent supplies the consecration imagery behind 'he... anointed us... and gave us the Spirit.' Anointing as a setting-apart for God's service coheres with Paul's claim that God establishes, anoints, and seals believers. Availability is strong though the application is figural.

You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil. You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony, the table and all its articles, the lamp stand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base. You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. […]


'I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you' offers the OT 'seal' image of God designating and securing his chosen one, behind Paul's 'who also sealed us.' The signet/seal as a mark of ownership and guaranteed status matches Paul's sealing tied to the Spirit-down-payment. Reasonable thematic coherence.

In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says Yahweh, ‘and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.”


'I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh' is the eschatological Spirit-gift that Paul claims as already given 'in our hearts' as a down payment. The lavish outpouring of the Spirit on God's people in the last days underwrites Paul's arrabon language. Good availability and thematic coherence with Spirit-as-pledge.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.


'I will put my Spirit within you' supplies the promise of the indwelling Spirit that Paul says God 'gave... in our hearts.' The new-covenant gift of an internal Spirit, paired with a new heart, coheres precisely with Paul's sealing and down-payment of the Spirit in the heart. Strong thematic coherence.

I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.


'I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts' provides the new-covenant interiorization motif behind Paul's Spirit given 'in our hearts' as guarantee. The heart as the locus of God's confirming work coheres with Paul's establishing/sealing language. Recurrence with Ezekiel 36 strengthens the new-covenant background.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:


The covenant in which God guarantees his promise to Abraham models the down-payment/pledge logic that the promises are sure and confirmed (Yes/Amen). The arrabon as a first installment securing the whole resonates with God's covenant guarantee. Conceptual rather than verbal, hence low.

He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on […]


'He remembers his covenant forever... which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute' restates the reliability of God's promises that Paul affirms as Yes in Christ. The motif of God establishing/confirming his promise to many generations parallels 'establishes us... in Christ.' Faint thematic echo.

He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac, and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant,


The pledge (Heb erabon, the Semitic source of Greek arrabon) Judah leaves with Tamar is the lexical background for Paul's 'down payment of the Spirit.' The shared erabon/arrabon term marks the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing full payment to come. Contact is lexical-etymological, so low confidence and contested.

He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, “Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?” He said, “What pledge will I give you?” She said, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him.


'The Spirit of YHWH shall rest upon him' (the anointed messianic shoot) extends the anointing-with-Spirit pattern that Paul applies to believers in Christ ('anointed us... gave us the Spirit'). The messianic anointing background coheres figurally; verbal contact with Paul is light.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.


'I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips... his line shall endure forever' affirms God's unalterable, faithful word that Paul echoes in 'God is faithful, our word was not Yes and No.' The non-vacillation of the divine promise coheres with Paul's argument. Faint echo.

I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered. Once have I sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His seed will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.


Paul's solemn 'I call God for a witness to my soul' echoes Job's appeal, 'even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,' invoking God as the guarantor of one's truthfulness. The recourse to God-as-witness in self-defense against suspicion is the shared rhetorical move. Reasonable thematic coherence with the heavenly-witness motif.

Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high.


Samuel's 'YHWH is witness against you... that you have found nothing in my hand' is a formal oath calling God to attest the speaker's integrity, paralleling Paul's calling God as witness to his motives. The covenant-lawsuit form of invoking God as witness is well attested and available. Good thematic coherence.

He said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” They said, “He is witness.”


'God is witness between you and me' in the Laban-Jacob covenant supplies the oath-formula of summoning God to witness sincerity of intent, the same form Paul uses. The contact is to the conventional witness-oath rather than to specific wording, hence low and contested.

If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.”


The command to fear God and 'swear by his name' frames the legitimacy of calling God to witness an oath, which Paul does regarding his change of travel plans. The contact is to the sanctioned practice of God-invoking oaths rather than to the verse's wording. Faint echo.

You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.


'YHWH was witness between you' uses the same God-as-witness formula Paul employs to attest the truth of his conduct toward the Corinthians. The prophetic deployment of the witness-oath shows the idiom's availability; verbal contact with Paul is conventional. Low confidence.

Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.


Paul writes 'with many tears' out of 'much affliction and anguish of heart,' grieving over a community he loves. Jeremiah's wish that his head were waters to weep day and night for his people supplies the prophetic prototype of the leader who weeps over those under his charge. Coherence is strong (Paul's self-presentation as a suffering apostle); volume is low since there is no shared diction.

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!


'I wrote to you with many tears' resonates with the lament psalmist who floods his bed with weeping. The motif of tears poured out in anguish of heart is a stock Psalter idiom Paul would have internalized. Faint and diffuse, marked low for lack of verbal anchor.

I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.


'Anguish of heart' (v.4) matches the psalmist's 'the troubles of my heart are enlarged.' The Greek thlipsis/synochē kardias language draws on LXX heart-distress vocabulary. Volume is low; recorded as an available Septuagintal coloring of Paul's affliction language.

The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh bring me out of my distresses.


Paul urges the church to 'forgive him and comfort (parakaleō) him' lest he be overwhelmed. The comfort/paraklēsis vocabulary that saturates 2 Corinthians is rooted in Isaiah 40's 'Comfort, comfort my people,' the LXX charter text for eschatological consolation. Coherence with the letter's comfort theme is high; verbal echo is real but generic, hence medium.

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.


The offender risks being 'swallowed up' (katapinō) by excessive sorrow. The lament psalmist prays not to be swallowed by the flood or have the pit close its mouth over him; the verb katapinō is the LXX term for being engulfed/overwhelmed. Volume is moderate through the shared swallowing imagery applied to a person drowning in grief.

Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.


'Swallowed up' (katepothē) is the repeated verb of Lamentations for the Lord engulfing Zion in sorrow. Paul fears the penitent will be similarly engulfed by grief. The figural link is to overwhelming communal sorrow; low because the LXX term is common and the referent differs.

The Lord has become as an enemy, he has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, he has destroyed his strongholds; He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.


Paul guards against 'Satan' gaining advantage, 'for we are not ignorant of his schemes.' The figure of ha-satan operating against the faithful, testing and seeking advantage before God, is established in the Job prologue (and Job 2:1-7). Availability and coherence are strong: Satan as the adversarial accuser is a Second-Temple development of this OT scene.

Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.” Then Satan […]


Satan's 'schemes' to gain advantage echo the satan standing at God's right hand to accuse Joshua the high priest, only to be rebuked. The accuser seeking legal advantage over God's people informs Paul's worry about being outwitted. Medium: thematically apt accuser imagery without verbal overlap.

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


'We are not ignorant of his schemes (noēmata)' recalls the serpent who was 'more crafty/subtle' than any beast, the archetypal deceiver of God's people. Paul elsewhere (2 Cor 11:3) makes this Eden-craftiness link explicit, raising the recurrence weight here. The scheming-deceiver coherence is strong; verbal volume low.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”


Satan 'incited' David to a course that brought ruin, a parade case of the adversary gaining advantage over a leader. Paul's anxiety not to give Satan an opening fits this pattern. Low confidence: thematic only, one of several OT satan-scenes available.

Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.


'I had no relief for my spirit' (ouk eschēka anesin tō pneumati) echoes the covenant-curse condition of finding 'no rest for the sole of your foot' and an 'anxious/trembling heart.' Paul's restlessness over Titus is colored by this LXX no-rest idiom. Low: diffuse mood-echo, no quotation.

Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.


'A door was opened to me in the Lord' may resonate with Hosea's 'door of hope' (petach tiqvah) opened in the wilderness as a gateway to renewed mission. The image of a divinely opened door of opportunity is faint and contested, as the Roman idiom of an 'open door' for preaching may be independent. Marked low.

I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.


'The sweet aroma (osmē euōdias)' Paul and his ministry spread is the exact LXX sacrificial formula for the burnt offering: 'an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.' Paul casts apostolic ministry as a sacrifice whose fragrance ascends. Volume is high on the set phrase osmē euōdias; medium overall because the phrase recurs across the whole sacrificial system rather than one verse.

but its innards and its legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.


The first 'pleasing aroma' (osmē euōdias) is Noah's offering, which God 'smelled' and was reconciled. Paul's fragrance imagery for a ministry that mediates reconciliation draws on this foundational pleasing-odor scene. Medium: shares the precise LXX formula but is one instance among several aroma texts.

Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike every living thing, as I have done.


The ordination ram offered as 'a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD' supplies priestly-consecration coloring to Paul's self-presentation as a fragrant offering in service of God. The ordination context coheres with Paul's apostolic vocation. Medium on shared formula.

You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to Yahweh; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.


'As a pleasing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples' applies the sacrificial-fragrance formula to God's restored people gathered from the nations. Paul, spreading the aroma 'in every place' among saved and perishing, picks up this universalized, gathering sense of the pleasing odor. Medium.

As a pleasant aroma will I accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.


'In every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations.' Paul's aroma of the knowledge of God spread 'in every place' strikingly combines fragrant offering + worldwide diffusion among the nations, matching Malachi's vision. Coherence with Paul's Gentile mission is high; medium for the inexact wording.

For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.


Personified Wisdom says she gave forth fragrance 'like cinnamon and aromatic balm... like choice myrrh... like the fragrance of incense in the tabernacle,' spreading her aroma. Paul's 'fragrance of the knowledge of him in every place' transposes Wisdom's self-diffusing aroma onto the knowledge of God in Christ. Strong thematic coherence (fragrance = diffused divine knowledge); medium for deuterocanonical, non-verbal link.

As cinnamon and aspalathus, I have given a scent of perfumes; And as choice myrrh, I spread abroad a pleasant odour; As galbanum, and onyx, and stacte, And as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.


'Your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out, therefore the maidens love you' offers the erotic-devotional register of a fragrant, beloved name. Paul's aroma of Christ that draws (or repels) may glance at this beloved-name fragrance. Low: evocative but lacks verbal contact and the sacrificial frame dominates.

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.


Paul spreads 'the knowledge of him in every place,' which resonates with the eschatological promise that 'the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD.' The universal diffusion of divine knowledge is the shared note. Low/medium: thematic, mediated through the aroma metaphor.

They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.


'God always leads us in triumph (thriambeuō)' uses the Roman triumphal-procession image, but its OT analogue is the divine warrior who 'ascended on high, leading captives in your train.' Paul figures himself among those led in God's victory train. Low: the primary background is Greco-Roman, not OT, so this is a faint figural overlay.

You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.


'Who is sufficient for these things?' echoes Moses' protest of inadequacy at his call ('I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech'), the paradigm of human insufficiency for a divine commission answered by God's enabling. Paul's rhetorical question and his later 'our sufficiency is from God' (3:5) make the call-narrative resonance coherent. Medium.

Moses said to Yahweh, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”


'Who is sufficient/who can endure it?' (tis estai hikanos / tis hypoisei) matches the prophetic exclamation before the overwhelming Day of the LORD. Paul's 'who is sufficient (hikanos) for these things?' may pick up this LXX idiom of human inadequacy before God's awesome work. Low: shared rhetorical form, divergent context.

Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?


Paul condemns those 'peddling (kapēleuō) the word of God,' the verb for a huckster/tavern-keeper who adulterates wares. Isaiah's indictment 'your wine is mixed with water' (LXX: tavern-keepers diluting wine) is the prophetic image of corrupting/cheapening what is holy for profit. Coherence with Paul's charge of adulterating God's word is good; low because the link is conceptual, not quoted.

Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.


The contrast 'not on tablets of stone' deliberately evokes the stone tablets God gave Moses, which Exodus 24:12 first announces ('the tables of stone, and the law, and the commandment, which I have written'). Volume is high (verbal 'tablets of stone') and the whole chapter is a sustained reading of the Sinai narrative, satisfying coherence and availability.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”


Paul's 'tablets of stone written... with the Spirit of the living God' inverts Exodus 31:18, where the two tables of testimony were 'tables of stone, written with the finger of God.' The Spirit/finger-of-God substitution is a precise figural play, and the phrase 'tablets of stone' is near-quotation.

He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.


Exodus 32:15-16 stresses that the tables were 'written on both their sides' and that 'the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.' Paul's antithesis of divine writing on stone versus writing by the Spirit on hearts draws on this stone-tablet imagery; slightly lower volume than 31:18 since the verbal anchor is shared across the cluster.

Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables.


Exodus 34:1 ('Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first') supplies the renewed-covenant tablets that frame the very Exodus 34 narrative Paul exposits across the chapter. Coherence with the chapter's overall theme is strong, though the specific stone-tablet phrase is drawn from the whole cluster.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.


'Written... on tablets of human hearts' echoes Jeremiah 31:33, where God promises to 'put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.' Recurrence is strong: Paul names a 'new covenant' (3:6) directly from Jer 31:31, making the heart-inscription allusion here mutually reinforcing and high-confidence.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:


'Hearts of flesh' as the surface of inscription, contrasted with stone, directly takes up Ezekiel 36:26: 'I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.' The stone/flesh-heart antithesis is verbally exact and thematically central, scoring high on volume and coherence.

I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.


Ezekiel 11:19 ('I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh') is the parallel oracle to 36:26 and joined to the gift of a 'new spirit,' which coheres with Paul's 'Spirit of the living God' writing on hearts of flesh. Recurrence across Ezekiel strengthens the allusion.

I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;


Jeremiah 17:1 says Judah's sin is 'graven... upon the table of their heart' with a pen of iron — the inverse image of God's good writing on hearts. Paul may echo this 'table of the heart' idiom; volume is modest and the valence is reversed, so it is faint and contested.

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars;


Proverbs 3:3 urges writing mercy and truth 'upon the table of thine heart,' a sapiential idiom for internalized teaching that Paul's heart-tablet language may draw on. The verbal overlap ('table of the heart') is real but the source is more plausibly the prophetic new-covenant texts, so this is a contested secondary echo.

Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.


Proverbs 7:3 ('write them upon the table of thine heart') repeats the same sapiential heart-tablet idiom and reinforces its availability in Paul's scriptural vocabulary. Faint and contested for the same reason as 3:3; listed for recurrence of the idiom.

Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart.


Deuteronomy 5:22 recalls the Decalogue 'written... in two tables of stone' delivered at Horeb, part of the broad stone-tablet tradition behind Paul's antithesis. Lower volume than the Exodus passages, so a faint corroborating echo.

Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.


'Servants of a new covenant' (3:6) is a direct appropriation of Jeremiah 31:31, the only OT text to name a 'new covenant.' Volume and distinctiveness are very high, and it anchors the heart-writing allusions of 3:3 and the whole chapter's covenant theology.

Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:


The new-covenant promise that the law would be inward 'Spirit not letter' depends on Jeremiah 31:33 ('I will write it in their hearts'). Recurrence with 3:3 and 3:6's covenant language makes this a coherent, high-confidence allusion to the same oracle.


Paul's 'Spirit gives life' against the death-dealing 'letter' draws on Ezekiel 36:27, 'I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes' — the Spirit internalizing the law. This pairs with Jer 31 to ground the letter/Spirit antithesis and scores high on coherence.

I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.


'The Spirit gives life' echoes the valley-of-bones promise, Ezekiel 37:14: 'I shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live.' The life-giving function of the Spirit is verbally and thematically tight, and Ezekiel's spirit-life motif coheres with Paul's new-covenant argument.

I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it, says Yahweh.


Ezekiel 37:5-6 ('I will cause breath/spirit to enter into you, and ye shall live') reinforces the Spirit-vivifies-the-dead imagery behind 'the Spirit gives life.' Recurrence within Ezekiel 37 strengthens the allusion cluster; slightly lower volume than v.14.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.


The life-giving Spirit/breath that animates dead matter may echo Genesis 2:7, where God breathes the breath of life and man becomes a living soul. Plausible figural backdrop to 'the Spirit gives life,' but volume is low and the Ezekiel new-covenant texts are the nearer source, so contested.

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.


Deuteronomy 30:6 ('the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart... that thou mayest live') anticipates the inward, life-giving renewal Paul ascribes to the Spirit over against the letter. A faint coherence-driven echo to the heart-circumcision tradition behind new-covenant interiority.

Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.


'The children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face' is a close paraphrase of Exodus 34:29-30, where Moses' face shone and Aaron and Israel 'were afraid to come nigh him.' This is the interpretive center of the whole pericope; volume and coherence are maximal.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.


Exodus 34:35 ('the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone') supplies the shining-face datum Paul reads as a fading glory. Recurrence across 34:29-35 and verbal overlap ('face of Moses... shone/glory') make this a strong allusion.

The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.


'The service of death, written engraved on stones' identifies the Mosaic ministry with the stone tablets of the renewed covenant in Exodus 34:1. The 'engraved on stones' phrase links the glory of Moses' face specifically to the inscribed Decalogue, a figural reading of the Exodus 34 tablets.


'Written engraved on stones' recalls the tables 'written with the finger of God' (Exodus 31:18), the same tablets Paul names a 'ministry of death.' Reinforces the stone-tablet motif from 3:3; medium because the stone-tablet phrasing is shared across the Sinai cluster.

He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.


Deuteronomy 9:10 describes 'two tables of stone written with the finger of God' bearing the commandments — the engraved-on-stone law Paul calls the ministry of death/condemnation. A faint corroborating echo of the stone-engraving tradition.

Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with the finger of God On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.


'Moses, who put a veil on his face' directly cites Exodus 34:33: 'till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.' The veil is the load-bearing image of Paul's argument; verbal volume and coherence are maximal.

When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.


Exodus 34:35 ('Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him') gives the repeated veiling Paul reinterprets as concealing the glory's end. Recurrence with 34:33 strengthens the allusion; Paul's 'reading of the old covenant' makes the Sinai veil a hermeneutical figure.


The Israelites' inability to gaze (v.13, 'wouldn't look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away') recalls their fear before Moses' shining face in Exodus 34:30. Coherent continuation of the shining-face motif into the veil pericope.

When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.


'Their minds were hardened' and a veil 'on their heart' resonate with Isaiah 6:10's hardening of heart so the people cannot perceive — a stock prophetic hardening motif Paul applies to Israel's reading of Moses. Faint and contested, since the immediate frame is the Exodus veil.

Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”


Deuteronomy 29:4 ('the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see... unto this day') parallels Paul's 'until this very day... a veil remains' and 'minds were hardened.' The 'unto this day' obduracy idiom is a plausible faint source; contested against the Exodus veil frame.

But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.


'Whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away' rewrites Exodus 34:34: 'when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off.' Paul transposes Moses' going-in-to-the-Lord into the believer's turning to the Lord; near-quotation with high volume and coherence.

But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.


'With unveiled face' (3:18) inverts Exodus 34:35, where Israel saw Moses re-veil his shining face; now all believers behold with face unveiled. The veil/unveiled antithesis depends directly on the Exodus 34 veiling scene.


'Beholding/seeing the glory of the Lord... transformed into the same image from glory to glory' figurally generalizes Moses' transformation in Exodus 34:29, where his face shone from speaking with the LORD. Paul makes the Sinai theophany the pattern of Christian transfiguration; strong coherence with the chapter.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.


'Transformed into the same image' draws on the creation of humanity 'in the image of God' (Genesis 1:26-27); the glory once on Moses' face is being restored as the divine image in believers. A figural creation/new-creation reading; medium because 'image' could be primarily Christological.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.


Psalm 8:5 ('crowned him with glory and honour') articulates humanity's glory, which Paul sees restored as believers go 'from glory to glory.' A faint thematic echo of the glory-of-the-image tradition; contested and low volume.

For you have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.


'Seeing the glory of the Lord' uses the Exodus theophanic formula 'the glory of the LORD' (e.g., Exodus 16:7; 24:16-17; 40:34-35), the glory that settled on Sinai and the tabernacle. A faint availability echo of the wilderness glory tradition behind Paul's Sinai exposition.

and in the morning, then you shall see Yahweh’s glory; because he hears your murmurings against Yahweh. Who are we, that you murmur against us?”


'As in a mirror' beholding glory and being transformed into the image may echo Wisdom 7:26, where Wisdom is 'the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness.' A Second-Temple availability echo linking mirror, image, and divine glory; faint and contested.

For she is an effulgence from everlasting light, And an unspotted mirror of the working of God, And an image of his goodness.


Paul's 'craftiness' (panourgia) echoes the LXX description of the serpent as panourgos in Genesis 3:1, a link he makes explicit at 2 Cor 11:3. Coherence is decent (Paul's recurring serpent/deception polemic) but volume here is faint, so the verbal contact is best treated as a thematic echo.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”


'Handling the word of God deceitfully' versus 'manifestation of the truth' replays the wisdom contrast between deceitful counsels and honest speech. The link is generic to the sapiential tradition rather than to a single verse, hence low volume.

The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.


The 'god of this world has blinded the minds' so they cannot see the light recasts Isaiah's hardening commission, where eyes are made blind 'lest they see.' High recurrence in Paul (Rom 11:8) and strong coherence with the veiling theme of ch. 3 support a deliberate allusion.


Deuteronomy's lament that the LORD had 'not given a heart to know, eyes to see' supplies the unbelief-as-imposed-blindness motif Paul fuses with Isaiah. Paul cites this very verse in Rom 11:8, raising its availability and coherence here.


The Servant's task to 'open blind eyes' frames Paul's gospel as the light that should dawn; 42:19's 'blind servant' sharpens the irony of unbelieving blindness. Volume is moderate but coherence with the Isaianic light/blindness cluster Paul is mining is strong.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.


Calling Christ 'the image of God' reads the creation of humanity in God's image figurally, with Christ as the true eikon. The pairing of image (4:4) and the creation of light (4:6) keys the whole pericope to Genesis 1, making this a deliberate new-creation typology.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”


Wisdom as 'image of his goodness' and radiance of glory is the Second-Temple lexicon for Christ as 'image of God' and 'glory of Christ.' Availability and coherence are high; volume rests on shared eikon/glory vocabulary rather than a quotation.


'God who said, Light will shine out of darkness' rewords the creation fiat, presenting conversion as a new act of creation in the heart. The volume is high (clear verbal evocation of the fiat lux) and coherent with the Genesis 1 image motif of 4:4.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.


'The light of the knowledge of the glory of God' closely tracks Habakkuk's promise that the earth will be filled with 'the knowledge of the glory of the LORD.' The triple chain knowledge-glory-LORD is distinctive enough to register as more than coincidence.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.


Light shining on those in darkness echoes Isaiah's people who 'walked in darkness' seeing a great light, reinforcing the gospel-as-dawn imagery. Coherent with the Isaianic light theme already in play, though the verbal contact is general.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.


'The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' continues ch. 3's contrast with the glory on Moses' face, transferring the shining-face motif to Christ. Recurrence from the immediately prior argument makes the Exodus glory narrative the controlling subtext.


'Precious sons of Zion' reckoned as 'earthen pots, the work of the potter' supplies the exact pairing of priceless worth held in cheap clay vessels that Paul exploits. The treasure/earthen-vessel antithesis gives this strong coherence and notable volume.

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!


The 'clay vessel' housing divine power evokes the human creature formed from dust and animated by God's breath, so the frailty is constitutive of creaturehood. Figural rather than verbal, but it grounds Paul's 'not from ourselves' in the dust-origin of humanity.

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.


'We are the clay, you our potter' establishes the creature-as-vessel theme that Paul presses to magnify God's power over human weakness. Availability and coherence are strong within Paul's potter/clay usage (Rom 9:21).

But now, Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.


Those who 'dwell in houses of clay' and are easily crushed parallel the fragility of the clay vessel motif. Volume is faint and the contact is conceptual, so it functions only as a supporting echo.

How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!


Gideon's torches hidden in clay jars, broken to flash God's deliverance, joins the light of 4:6 to the clay vessels of 4:7: divine power shines precisely when the fragile jar is shattered. The shared jar+light+power configuration gives this a striking coherence.

He divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.


'Struck down, yet not destroyed' closely matches the psalmist's 'the LORD has chastened me severely, but has not given me over to death.' The structure of severe affliction stopped just short of destruction is the same, supplying good volume for the climactic clause.

Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.


'Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the LORD upholds his hand' mirrors the not-forsaken/not-destroyed paradox of the righteous sufferer. Coherent with Paul's hardship-catalog theology of divine sustenance.

Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.


'Pursued, yet not forsaken' echoes the covenant assurance that God 'will not leave you nor forsake you.' The phrase is widespread, so volume is low and the link is a general scriptural commonplace.

Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them; for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”


'Always delivered to death for Jesus' sake' anticipates the very verse ('we are killed all day long') Paul quotes at Rom 8:36, casting apostolic suffering as the lot of the faithful slain for God. Recurrence in Paul lends the echo weight.

Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.


Carrying 'the putting to death of Jesus' so that 'life may be revealed' loosely figures the Servant whose death yields life and offspring. The contact is thematic and contested, with no verbal tether, hence figural and low.

Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.


'I believed, and therefore I spoke' is an explicit citation (introduced by 'according to that which is written') of the LXX of Psalm 115:1 (MT 116:10). The marked quotation formula and verbatim wording make this an unambiguous quotation.

I believed, therefore I said, “I was greatly afflicted.”


'He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also' draws on the OT hope that 'your dead shall live,' the Scriptural seedbed of bodily resurrection. The link is conceptual and shared with Daniel 12:2, so low volume.

Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.


The 'eternal weight of glory' puns on the Hebrew kabod, which means both 'weight' and 'glory,' the very glory Moses asked to see. Paul's running engagement with the Exodus glory theme (chs. 3-4) makes the wordplay plausible, though no verse is quoted.


'The things which are seen are temporal, but the unseen are eternal' echoes Isaiah's contrast that the heavens and earth 'will vanish away' while God's salvation 'shall be forever.' The transient-visible versus everlasting antithesis aligns well, giving moderate coherence.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.


The 'inward man renewed day by day' against the decaying outward man faintly echoes the renewal of youth 'like the eagle's.' The contact is thematic and weak, so it serves only as a low-confidence supporting echo.

who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.


The 'earthly house of our tent' (skenos) plays on the tabernacle/tent (skene) of the wilderness, a man-made dwelling contrasted with the 'house not made with hands.' Volume and coherence are moderate: Paul deliberately sets the impermanent, hand-built tent over against an eternal heavenly dwelling, echoing Israel's portable sanctuary. The earthly-vs-eternal sanctuary contrast is thematically apt.

“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make them. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure. Five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and the other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. You shall make […]


Hezekiah laments 'my dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent,' the body/life imaged as a collapsible tent that is struck down. Paul's 'earthly house of our tent is dissolved' shares the precise tent-as-mortal-life metaphor and the language of dissolution. Volume is modest but the conceptual match (tent = perishable bodily life) is striking.

My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me.


Wisdom: 'a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthly tent (geodes skenos) burdens the thoughtful mind.' Paul's 'we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened' (barynomenoi) reproduces both the rare word skenos and the burden motif. High volume and verbal coherence make this the strongest Second-Temple echo in the pericope; availability is secure (Wisdom widely read).

For a corruptible body weighs down the soul, And the earthy frame lies heavy on a mind that is full of cares.


The dread of being 'found naked' and the desire to be 'clothed' evokes Adam and Eve's discovery of nakedness and their covering after the fall. Paul does not want to be 'unclothed' but further clothed, reversing the shame of Eden's nakedness with a heavenly garment. Coherence with Paul's new-creation theme (5:17) supports the figural reading.

Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.


The 'down payment of the Spirit' as God's pledge guaranteeing future life draws on the prophetic promise that God will put his Spirit within his people. Ezekiel's gift-of-the-Spirit as eschatological assurance coheres with Paul's arrabon, the Spirit given now as surety of the resurrection body. Recurrence: Paul uses the same Spirit-guarantee logic at 1:22.

I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.


Joel's promise that God will 'pour out my Spirit on all flesh' stands behind the eschatological gift of the Spirit Paul names as down payment. The link is thematic (the Spirit as the marker of the last days) rather than verbal, so volume is low and the connection is contested against Ezekiel's more personal Spirit-indwelling promise.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.


'We walk by faith, not by sight' restates the Habakkuk principle that the righteous live by faith/faithfulness, a text Paul cites programmatically elsewhere (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11). The verbal echo is loose but the theological content—life ordered by trust rather than visible evidence—coheres tightly with Habakkuk's contrast between the proud who rely on sight and the faithful who wait.

Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.


God speaks with Moses 'mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech,' and Moses 'beholds the form of the LORD'—the privileged sight Paul defers until the believer is 'at home with the Lord.' The faith-now / sight-later structure faintly recalls the Moses-vs-ordinary-prophet distinction. Low volume; contested as a general topos of seeing God rather than a targeted allusion.

With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”


Qoheleth's conclusion that 'God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil' is closely paralleled by 'each one may receive the things in the body... whether good or bad.' The good/evil pairing and universal accounting are strongly coherent; high volume of shared content makes the judgment-of-deeds echo secure.

For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.


'You repay everyone according to what they have done' supplies the recompense logic of the judgment seat where each receives according to deeds. Recurrence is notable: this 'render according to works' formula recurs across the OT (Prov 24:12; Jer 17:10) and Paul invokes it at Rom 2:6, supporting its presence here.

Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.


'Will he not repay everyone according to their deeds?'—God who weighs the heart renders to each by works, matching the judgment-seat recompense. The proverb's emphasis that God sees and requites secret action coheres with Paul's 'revealed before the judgment seat.' Part of a recurrent OT recompense cluster behind 5:10.

If you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this”; doesn’t he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, doesn’t he know it? Shall he not render to every man according to his work?


'I the LORD search the heart... to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.' The heart-searching judge who recompenses deeds undergirds Paul's appearance before Christ's judgment seat. Coherent with the recompense motif and reinforced by recurrence across the OT requital tradition.

I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.


'Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord' echoes the wisdom maxim that 'the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.' Paul grounds his persuasion of others in this reverent fear, coherent with the judgment-seat context just prior. The phrase is a recognizable wisdom formula, supporting a deliberate allusion.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.


'The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom' is a near-doublet of Prov 1:7 and equally available behind Paul's 'fear of the Lord.' Lower confidence because it adds little beyond the 1:7 echo; flagged for recurrence of the fear-of-the-LORD wisdom topos.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.


The Spirit of 'the fear of the LORD' rests on the messianic shoot, whose 'delight is in the fear of the LORD.' Paul's 'fear of the Lord,' now possibly Christological (fear of/before Christ as judge), faintly recalls this messianic endowment. Volume is low and the link contested against the plainer wisdom-saying source.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears;


'Do not remember the former things... behold, I am doing a new thing' stands directly behind 'the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.' The pairing of forgotten old / heralded new with the demonstrative 'behold' gives high verbal volume and coherence; the new-creation announcement is unmistakably Isaianic second-exodus language.

“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.


'I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered' supplies both the new-creation (kaine ktisis) vocabulary and the 'former things not remembered' formula echoed in 5:17. High coherence: Paul reads being 'in Christ' as participation in Isaiah's promised new creation; strong availability and thematic fit.

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.


'The new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me'—the enduring new creation reinforces the new-creation motif of 5:17. Recurrence within Isaiah's new-creation cluster (43; 65; 66) strengthens the case that Paul draws on this stream, though 65:17 is the closer verbal match.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your seed and your name shall remain.


'New creation' (kaine ktisis) figurally recalls the original creation account: being in Christ inaugurates a fresh creative act of God. The link is conceptual and faint, mediated through Isaiah's new-creation language rather than direct verbal contact, so it is marked low and contested.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


The herald announcing peace stands behind Paul's role as 'ambassador' through whom God makes his appeal of reconciliation. The envoy/herald-of-peace motif coheres with the ministry of reconciliation, but the verbal contact is faint, so the echo is marked low.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”


'He made him to be sin' draws on the Day of Atonement, where Israel's sins are laid on the offering and borne away. The cultic 'made to be sin/sin offering' (LXX often renders the sin offering simply as 'sin,' hamartia) underlies Paul's paradox. Coherence with the atoning-exchange logic of 5:21 supports the sacrificial allusion.

Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.


The sin offering (hattat / LXX hamartia) is the technical sacrifice 'for sin'; the LXX's use of the same word for both 'sin' and 'sin offering' lets Paul say God made the sinless Christ 'to be sin.' The double sense undergirds the substitutionary exchange, giving medium volume through the shared Greek term.

He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before Yahweh. It is a sin offering.


'The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all'—the Servant bearing the sin of others is the template for 'he made him to be sin on our behalf.' High coherence with Paul's vicarious exchange and the wider Servant theology of 2 Corinthians; volume of the substitutionary motif is strong.

All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


The Servant's life is made 'an offering for sin' (asham / LXX 'sin'), precisely the sacrificial-exchange logic of 'made him to be sin... so that we might become the righteousness of God.' The sin-offering wording and the resulting vindication of 'the many' give high volume and coherence.

Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.


'The righteous one, my servant, shall make many to be accounted righteous' directly anticipates 'so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.' The righteousness-conferred-on-the-many through the Servant's sin-bearing is a tight thematic and lexical match, the climactic Servant echo behind 5:21.

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.


The Servant 'bore the sin of many' and was 'numbered with the transgressors,' supporting the one-for-all sin-bearing exchange of 5:21 (and 'one died for all,' 5:14). Recurrence across Isaiah 53 (vv. 6, 10, 11, 12) strengthens the overall Servant-song dependence of the pericope.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


Verbatim LXX citation introduced by 'he says': 'In an acceptable time I listened to you, in a day of salvation I helped you.' Volume is maximal (explicit formula-marked quotation), recurrence high (Isaiah's Servant Songs pervade Paul's ministry self-understanding), coherence strong as Paul reapplies the eschatological 'day of salvation' to the now of gospel proclamation.

Thus says Yahweh, “In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage:


The immediate Servant-Song context that Paul draws on includes the Servant as light/salvation to the nations; faint contextual echo since Paul's apostolic role mirrors the Servant's commissioning. Volume low (not quoted), but availability and coherence with v.2's quotation support a contextual reading.

yes, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”


The hardship catalog of the suffering-yet-delivered righteous one ('many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all') stands behind Paul's peristasis. Coherence is strong with the righteous-sufferer topos; recurrence high in Paul, though volume is diffuse rather than a marked citation.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.


'As dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed' closely tracks 'I shall not die, but live... The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.' Volume moderate (no formula, but distinctive paired antithesis of chastening-yet-not-killed), coherence high with paschal deliverance language Paul applies to apostolic survival.

I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works. Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.


The motif of endurance and the enlarged heart (anticipating v.11) under affliction has loose verbal contact with the psalmist running the way of commandments 'when you enlarge my heart.' Faint; volume low and the connection is thematic, included for maximal coverage.

I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.


The Servant's vindication amid beatings and dishonor ('I gave my back to those who strike... he who vindicates me is near') coheres with Paul's 'by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report.' Volume low and diffuse, but availability strong given the chapter's Isaiah-49 anchor.

I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord Yahweh will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed. He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.


'As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things' echoes the proverbial paradox 'One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.' Volume low, contested as a possible sapiential commonplace rather than a deliberate citation.

There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.


'Our heart is enlarged' / 'be open wide' uses the idiom of the enlarged (widened) heart found in 'I will run the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart.' Volume low and the metaphor is common, but the shared verb of heart-widening gives a faint, plausible contact.


Paul's plea against the heart being 'restricted' / led astray by their own affections faintly recalls Deuteronomy's warnings to guard the heart from being deceived. Very faint; included only for maximal coverage and bridges to the holiness summons of vv.14-18.

Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;


'Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers' draws on the law against plowing with an ox and a donkey yoked together as the figural ground of the metaphor heterozygountes. Volume strong (the rare yoking image), coherence high with separation theology, availability secure in Torah.

You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.


The holiness-code ban on mixing kinds (breeding cattle of two kinds, mixed seed, mixed garments) underlies the 'unequally yoked' prohibition Paul applies to believers and unbelievers. Coherence high with the Levitical separation logic that governs the whole catena; the LXX heterozyga term in Lev 19:19 verbally anchors the allusion.

“‘You shall keep my statutes. “‘You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals. “‘You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; “‘neither shall there come upon you a garment made of two kinds of material.


The antithesis of righteousness vs. lawlessness and light vs. darkness loosely recalls Isaiah's woes on those who 'call darkness light and light darkness.' Volume low; the light/darkness dualism is widespread (cf. Qumran), so this is a contested availability echo.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope; Who say, “Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!


'I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people' fuses Lev 26:12 ('I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people') as the lead text of the catena. Volume maximal (formula-marked 'as God said'), coherence high with the temple-of-the-living-God claim, availability secure.

I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.


The conflated citation also draws Ezekiel's new-covenant promise 'My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people'; the 'dwelling/tabernacle among them' language is closer to Ezekiel than Leviticus. A genuine second link of the catena, high volume and coherence within the temple theme.

My tent also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.


The adjacent verse promising cleansing from idols ('they shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols') resonates with Paul's 'what agreement has a temple of God with idols?' Volume low, but coherent contextual support for the Ezekiel 37 source.

neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.


'Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, touch no unclean thing' quotes 'Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves.' Volume maximal (formula-marked), coherence high with the exodus/return-from-exile separation summons; availability secure.

Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her! Cleanse yourselves, you who bear the vessels of Yahweh.


'I will receive you' (eisdexomai) matches Ezekiel's promise to gather and receive the people out from the peoples ('I will bring you out... and I will receive you'), supplying the welcome-clause not present in Isaiah 52:11. Volume moderate via the distinctive verb; a real catena link.

and I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out;


The parallel 'I will receive you' in Ezek 20:41 ('I will accept you as a pleasing aroma when I bring you out') reinforces the source of Paul's reception-promise tied to separation from defilement. Coherence high with the holiness/return motif.

As a pleasant aroma will I accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations.


'At that time I will bring you in... I will gather you' offers another gathering/reception promise that may stand behind the welcome clause. Volume low and overlaps with the Ezekiel material; contested but plausible for maximal coverage.

At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.


'Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans' is a parallel exodus-summons in Deutero-Isaiah reinforcing the 'come out and be separate' imperative. Faint and overlapping with 52:11; included as a low-confidence availability echo.

Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans. With a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say, Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob.


'I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters' adapts the Davidic-covenant promise 'I will be his father, and he shall be my son,' pluralized and expanded to the community. Volume high (formula-marked 'says the Lord Almighty'), coherence high as the covenant-sonship climax of the catena.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;


The plural 'sons and daughters' ('Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth') supplies the gendered expansion absent from 2 Sam 7:14. Volume moderate via the distinctive 'sons and daughters' pairing; a genuine conflated link coherent with the gathering theme of v.17.

I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—


'I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn' provides the fatherhood-to-the-people motif within the new-covenant chapter Paul elsewhere prizes. Volume moderate, coherence high with the new-covenant framing of 2 Corinthians 3 and this catena.

They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.


'In the place where it was said... 'You are not my people,' it shall be said... 'Sons of the living God'' links the sonship promise to the 'living God' temple language of v.16 and the not-my-people/my-people reversal. Volume moderate, coherence strong; Paul cites this elsewhere (Rom 9:26), raising availability and recurrence.

Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’


Paul's call to 'perfect holiness' (cleansing from defilement) draws on the Holiness Code's central formula 'be holy, for I am holy,' which grounds Israel's purity in God's holiness. Coherence is strong with Paul's preceding temple-of-God argument (6:16-18), and the cleansing-for-holiness logic matches Leviticus directly. Volume is moderate since Paul does not quote, but the conceptual fusion of cleansing and consecration is distinctly Levitical.

For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth. For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.


Isaiah's prophetic summons 'wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds' supplies the ethical-cleansing register Paul uses against 'defilement of flesh and spirit.' The echo moves the cultic language of purity into moral self-purification, exactly Isaiah's prophetic move. Recurrence of Isaiah elsewhere in the chapter (49:13 below) strengthens the case for availability and authorial intent.

Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.


Ezekiel's promise 'I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses' is the closest OT antecedent for cleansing from 'all defilement,' especially since 36:26-27 supplies the new-covenant Spirit Paul invokes throughout 2 Cor 3-7. The pairing of cleansing with the Spirit ('defilement of flesh and spirit') coheres tightly with Ezekiel's water-and-Spirit sequence. Volume is moderate; the link rests on shared cleansing-plus-Spirit logic rather than verbal quotation.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.


The temple-ascent question 'who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart' parallels Paul's pairing of bodily and spiritual cleansing as prerequisite for holiness before God. Given the preceding temple imagery (6:16), the figural fit is real but the volume is faint and the language general. Marked low and contested because purity-of-heart language is widespread.

Who may ascend to Yahweh’s hill? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.


Paul completes holiness 'in the fear of God,' the wisdom tradition's foundational posture ('the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge'). The phrase is idiomatic across the OT, so volume is low and recurrence diffuse, but the wisdom resonance is genuine and coheres with Paul's ethical exhortation. Contested because 'fear of God' is a stock biblical idiom rather than a specific citation.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.


Paul's threefold self-vindication 'we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one' echoes Samuel's farewell defense before Israel ('whom have I wronged? whom have I oppressed? from whose hand have I taken a bribe?'). Both are leaders asserting integrity against a congregation amid suspicion, a strong coherence of setting. Volume is moderate: the rhetorical form of a serial disavowal of exploitation is the shared feature rather than exact wording.

Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes therewith? I will restore it to you.” They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man’s hand.”


Paul's title for God, 'he who comforts the lowly/downcast,' closely renders Isaiah 49:13 ('the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted'), part of the Servant-Songs comfort tradition Paul mines throughout 2 Corinthians. The verbal link of God-comforting-the-afflicted is high in volume, and Isaiah's recurrence across the letter (and within this chapter) satisfies availability and recurrence. Coherence is strong: Paul casts his own affliction-and-comfort in Isaian terms.

Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break out into singing, mountains: for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.


The programmatic 'comfort, comfort my people, says your God' underlies the whole consolation vocabulary of 2 Cor 1-7 and resurfaces here in 'God comforted us.' Recurrence is strong because Paul's repeated paraklesis language draws on Deutero-Isaiah's comfort oracle. Volume here is moderate, since 49:13 is the nearer verbal parallel and 40:1 supplies the broader thematic frame.

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.


'As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you' is part of the same Isaian comfort cluster as 49:13 and may stand behind Paul's God-who-comforts language. Volume is faint and it overlaps heavily with the stronger 49:13 link, so it is marked low and contested. Listed for completeness of the Isaian consolation field.

As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.”


God 'who comforts the lowly' resonates with the psalmic motif of God raising the poor from the dust and lifting the needy to sit with princes. The reversal-of-the-lowly theme coheres with Paul's self-description as cast down then comforted, but the volume is low and the link is conceptual rather than verbal. Contested as a general lowliness-exaltation topos.

He raises up the poor out of the dust. Lifts up the needy from the ash heap; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.


'He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety' parallels Paul's 'God who comforts the lowly' alongside the Corinthians' 'mourning' (7:7). The shared lowly-and-mourning pairing is suggestive, but Job is rarely echoed by Paul and the volume is faint. Marked low and contested.

so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.


Paul's contrast of 'godly grief that produces repentance' against 'worldly grief that produces death' draws on the prophetic repentance tradition where genuine turning is inward ('return to me with all your heart... rend your hearts and not your garments'). Joel's heart-repentance leading to life coheres with Paul's salvation-bringing sorrow. Volume is moderate and conceptual, resting on the prophetic repentance schema rather than wording.

“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.


The paradigm of godly sorrow yielding repentance unto salvation evokes David's penitential psalm, where 'a broken and contrite heart' is the sacrifice God accepts and the path to restored salvation (51:12, 17). Coherence with Paul's salvific, non-regretted sorrow is strong; volume is moderate since Paul alludes to the penitential pattern rather than quoting. The contrite-heart-unto-restoration logic is the shared structure.

Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin […]


'There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death' parallels Paul's 'the sorrow of the world produces death,' the wisdom antithesis of two ways ending in life or death. The death-as-terminus motif coheres, but the volume is faint and the link conceptual. Marked low and contested as a general two-ways topos.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.


The Corinthians received Titus 'with fear and trembling,' a phrase whose OT home includes 'serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.' Paul uses fear-and-trembling elsewhere as a posture of reverent obedience, so the idiom likely carries a Septuagintal coloring here. Volume is low and the phrase is a stock biblical collocation, so it is marked low and contested.

Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.


Paul's appeal that the Macedonians gave generously out of deep poverty rests on the Deuteronomic open-hand command: do not harden your heart against the poor brother but give freely. The 'fellowship in service to the saints' (v.4) reflects the same covenantal obligation to relieve a needy member of God's people. Coherence with the whole collection theme is high, though the verbal link is thematic rather than lexical.

If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your […]


The paradox that the Macedonians' deep poverty 'abounded to the riches of their liberality' (v.2) echoes the wisdom maxim that one who scatters yet increases and the liberal soul is made rich. The generosity-brings-abundance reversal is a recurring sapiential theme Paul draws on through the chapter; volume is modest, coherence strong.

There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.


The Macedonians giving 'of their own accord' and begging to share in the collection (vv.3-4) recalls the willing-hearted offering for the tabernacle, where everyone whose heart stirred him brought a freewill gift. The collection-for-the-sanctuary typology underlies Paul's framing of the Jerusalem fund as a sacred offering. Faint and contested as a deliberate echo.

‘Take from among you an offering to Yahweh. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, Yahweh’s offering: gold, silver, brass,


The summons to a willing readiness in giving 'according to what you have' (vv.11-12) resonates with the blessing on the bountiful eye that gives bread to the poor. The wisdom tradition that values the disposition of the giver over the amount stands behind Paul's stress on willingness; the link is thematic and faint.

He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.


The Christological reversal in v.9, 'though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,' may evoke the Servant who, despised and stripped of form, is poured out and yet by his abasement enriches the many. The pattern of voluntary self-impoverishment for others' gain coheres with Isaiah's Servant, but the conceptual frame of pre-existent riches is Pauline rather than verbal Isaianic; contested.

For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and […]


Verse 15 explicitly quotes ('as it is written') the manna narrative: 'He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.' Paul lifts the LXX wording of the equalizing of the manna to ground his principle of economic equality among the assemblies. Volume, explicit citation formula, and coherence with the equality theme are all maximal.

When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.


The principle of 'equality' so that one's abundance supplies another's lack (vv.13-14) resonates with the Jubilee/sabbatical ethic of sustaining the impoverished brother without profit. The leveling vision behind Paul's mutual-supply argument is at home in the Holiness Code's economy of need; faint and thematic.

“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.


Verse 21, 'Having regard for honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men,' closely follows LXX Proverbs 3:4, 'provide for good things in the sight of the Lord and of men.' Paul applies the maxim of seeking favor and good repute before God and humans to his transparent handling of the collection. The lexical overlap (good/honorable things; sight of Lord and men) gives high volume and coherence.

So you will find favor, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.


The care to be above blame in administering the gift (v.20), guarding the apostles' reputation, draws on the wisdom concern for the faithful steward who avoids reproach. The administrative-integrity motif is sapiential but the link to any single proverb is diffuse; faint.

A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers.


Paul calls the collection a 'generous gift' using eulogia (blessing/bounty), the same Septuagintal idiom by which Jacob presses his 'blessing' (gift) on Esau. The lexical overlap is suggestive rather than demonstrable, since eulogia-as-present is a stock LXX usage available to Paul. Coherence is moderate: Paul frames almsgiving as a transferable blessing, exactly the Genesis nuance.

Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” He urged him, and he took it.


Paul's contrast between a gift given 'as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness (pleonexia)' anticipates the wisdom antithesis between the open hand that grows richer and the withholding that brings want. Volume is faint here because the proverbial sowing language proper surfaces in 9:6, but the generosity/covetousness polarity is already in view. Marked contested as a generic sapiential register.

There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.


Paul's maxim that sparing sowing yields sparing reaping while bountiful sowing yields bountiful reaping closely tracks the wisdom paradox 'one gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.' Coherence is strong since both texts treat almsgiving under an agricultural-recompense logic, and the bountiful-eye blessing of 22:9 reinforces availability. Volume is high at the conceptual level even though Paul does not quote verbatim.

There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself. People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.


The sowing-and-reaping figure plus the 'bountiful eye' that is blessed for giving bread to the poor (22:8-9) supplies both halves of Paul's argument here and into v.7. The LXX expansion of 22:8 ('God blesses a cheerful man and a giver') is the most probable direct source of 'God loves a cheerful giver,' giving high recurrence and coherence across vv.6-7. Availability is secure since Paul cites Proverbs elsewhere.

He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

He that sows wickedness shall reap troubles; and shall fully receive the punishment of his deeds. God loves a cheerful and liberal man; but a man shall fully prove the folly of his works. He that has pity on the poor shall himself be maintained; for he has given of his own bread to the poor. He that gives liberally secures victory an honour; but he takes away the life of them that posses them.


The clause 'God loves a cheerful giver' has no Hebrew counterpart but matches the Septuagintal plus to Proverbs 22:8b, 'God blesses a cheerful man and a giver,' nearly word for word in vocabulary (hilaron, didonta/doten). The verbal volume is high enough that most commentators treat this as Paul's source rather than free composition. The shift from 'blesses' to 'loves' is the only material variation.

He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

He that sows wickedness shall reap troubles; and shall fully receive the punishment of his deeds. God loves a cheerful and liberal man; but a man shall fully prove the folly of his works.


Paul's prohibition of giving 'grudgingly or under compulsion' echoes the Deuteronomic command to give to the poor 'and your heart shall not be grudging when you give,' with the promise that the LORD will bless you for it. Coherence is strong because both texts attach divine favor to ungrudging almsgiving. Volume is moderate; the shared idea of the un-grudging heart is distinctive enough to exceed a commonplace.

You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to.


Ben Sira's instruction to glorify the Lord with a generous gift, give 'with a cheerful eye/face,' and not to be sparing because the Lord repays is a strikingly close Second-Temple parallel to Paul's cheerful, ungrudging giver. Availability and coherence are high; recurrence is supported by Sirach's wider almsgiving theology. Marked medium since Paul's nearer verbal source remains Proverbs 22:8 LXX.

Glorify the Lord with a good eye, And stint not the first fruits of your hands. In every gift show a cheerful countenance, And dedicate your tithe with gladness. Give to the Most High according as he has given; And as your hand has found, give with a good eye. For the Lord recompenses, And he will recompense you sevenfold.


The prophetic summons to 'sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love' supplies the moralized sowing/reaping pattern Paul deploys, where the harvest is a moral-spiritual yield, not mere produce. Coherence is strong with v.10's 'fruits of your righteousness,' and recurrence within the chapter strengthens the case. Volume is moderate because Hosea's specific righteousness/mercy pairing surfaces more explicitly at v.10.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.


Eliphaz's observation that 'those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same' is the negative form of Paul's reciprocity principle. The connection is thematic rather than verbal, and the moral valence is inverted (Job warns of bad harvests), so volume and coherence are limited. Included as a maximal flag for the broader OT sowing-reaping topos.

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.


Ben Sira's 'do not sow in the furrows of injustice, lest you reap them sevenfold' offers a Second-Temple instance of the sowing-reaping recompense Paul assumes. Availability is good but the volume is faint and the link conceptual, since Sirach frames the negative (injustice) while Paul frames generosity positively. Marked contested as background topos rather than source.

My son, sow not upon the furrows of unrighteousness, And you shall not reap them sevenfold.


Paul introduces with the formula 'as it is written' and cites Psalm 112:9 (LXX 111:9) verbatim: 'He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.' The verbal volume is maximal and the citation explicit, the clearest OT quotation in the chapter. Coherence is strong: the psalm's generous, God-fearing man models the Corinthians' almsgiving, and 'his righteousness' bridges to v.10's harvest of righteousness.

He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.


Paul's description of God as the one 'who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food' draws directly on Isaiah's image of rain that gives 'seed to the sower and bread to the eater,' the only OT verse pairing both phrases. Volume is high through the doubled, distinctive word-pair, and coherence is strong since Isaiah's seed/word fruitfulness underlies Paul's promise that God will multiply the seed. Availability is secure given Paul's heavy use of Isaiah 40-66.

For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;


The promise to 'increase the fruits of your righteousness' reprises Hosea's 'sow righteousness, reap steadfast love,' where righteousness is precisely the crop. Coherence is strong because Paul fuses the agricultural supply of v.10 with a moral harvest, exactly Hosea's move. Volume is moderate; the phrase 'fruit/harvest of righteousness' is a shared idiom rather than a quotation.


Paul's 'fruits of your righteousness' resonates with the wisdom maxim 'the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,' part of the same sapiential harvest imagery. The link is idiomatic and faint relative to Hosea 10:12, so volume is low and the source contested. Flagged for completeness within the righteousness-as-fruit cluster.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.


God's supplying 'bread for food' (v.10) coheres with the creation psalm's praise of the LORD who brings forth 'food from the earth' and 'bread to strengthen the heart of man.' The thematic overlap of divine provision of bread is real but generic, so volume is faint and the connection contested. Isaiah 55:10 remains the stronger candidate.

He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.


Paul's assurance that the cheerful giver is 'enriched in everything to all liberality' echoes the Deuteronomic promise that the LORD 'will bless you in all your work' because you give to the poor. Coherence with the chapter's almsgiving theology is good, but the verbal contact is slight, so volume is low. Marked contested as a continuation of the v.7 Deuteronomy stratum.


The sapiential principle that 'the liberal soul shall be made fat, and he who waters will himself be watered' parallels Paul's promise that giving leads to being 'enriched in everything.' The reciprocal-blessing logic matches, but the link is conceptual and contested rather than verbal. Included as a maximal flag in the generosity-enrichment cluster.

The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.


Paul's repeated 'thanksgivings to God' and the people's glorifying God for the gift resonate with Isaiah's vision of the redeemed bringing praise and being called 'oaks of righteousness... that he may be glorified.' The link is thematic (almsgiving issuing in doxology) rather than verbal, so volume is faint. Flagged because Isaiah supplies the broader glory-and-righteousness horizon of the chapter.

to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.


Ben Sira's counsel that giving to the Lord is repaid sevenfold and met with a glad face stands behind Paul's claim that the saints' service overflows in 'many givings of thanks to God.' The almsgiving-thanksgiving circuit is a shared Second-Temple pattern, but the contact is conceptual, hence low volume and contested. Reinforces the Sirach stratum already noted at v.7.

Give to the Most High according as he has given; And as your hand has found, give with a good eye. For the Lord recompenses, And he will recompense you sevenfold.


Tobit's almsgiving instruction, that giving lays up a good treasure and delivers, supplies a Second-Temple almsgiving theology congruent with Paul's account of the collection as a God-glorifying ministry. The connection is to the wider piety rather than any phrase, so volume is faint and the source contested. Included to map the deuterocanonical background of the collection ethic.

Give alms from your possessions. When you give alms, don’t let your eye be envious. Don’t turn away your face from any poor man, and the face of God won’t be turned away from you. As your possessions are, give alms of it according to your abundance. If you have little, don’t be afraid to give alms according to that little; for you lay up a good treasure for yourself against the day of necessity; because alms-giving delivers from death, and doesn’t allow […]


Paul's climactic 'thanks be to God for his indescribable gift' may extend the eulogia/gift register of the chapter, but no specific OT text underlies the doxology; the divine gift transcends OT precedent by design. The link to Genesis 33:11 is offered only as the chapter-spanning gift idiom. Very low volume; clearly contested.

Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” He urged him, and he took it.


Paul appeals 'by the humility and gentleness of Christ.' Zechariah's messianic king comes 'humble (meek) and riding on a donkey,' the OT locus most read by early Christians as Christ's defining meekness. The conceptual match (the gentle, lowly Messiah whose authority is non-coercive) gives coherence, but Paul cites no words, so the echo is faint.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.


The Servant 'will not cry out or lift up his voice... a bruised reed he will not break' models the gentleness Paul invokes for Christ. Coherence with Pauline servant-Christology is high, but volume is low and the language is not reproduced, so this is a faint figural backdrop to Christ's 'gentleness.'

He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.


'A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust' supplies the precise military metaphor Paul redeploys: weapons 'mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds.' The shared verb-idea (a wise/divine power demolishing the fortress of the proud) gives strong volume and coherence with Paul's contrast of fleshly vs. God-empowered warfare.

A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of its confidence.