SEV Biblia, Chapter 10:18
Mas digo: ¿No han oído? Cierto por toda la tierra ha salido la fama de ellos, y hasta los extremos de la redondez de la tierra las palabras de ellos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Romans 10:18
Verse 18. But I say, have they not heard?] But to return to the objection: You say they have not all BELIEVED; I ask: Have they not all HEARD? Have not the means of salvation been placed within the reach of every Jew in Palestine, and within the reach of all those who sojourn in the different Gentile countries where we have preached the Gospel, as well to the Jews as to the Gentiles themselves? Yes: for we may say of the preaching of the Gospel what the psalmist has said (Psa. xix. 4) of the heavenly bodies: Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. As the celestial luminaries have given testimony of the eternal power and Godhead of the Deity to the habitable world, the Gospel of Christ has borne testimony to his eternal goodness and mercy to all the land of Palestine, and to the whole Roman empire. There is not a part of the promised land in which these glad tidings have not been preached; and there is scarcely a place in the Roman empire in which the doctrine of Christ crucified has not been heard: if, therefore, the Jews have not believed, the fault is entirely their own; as God has amply furnished them with the means of faith and of salvation. In Psa. xix. 4, the psalmist has wq kauuam, their line, which the Septuagint, and the apostle who quotes from them, render fqoggov, sound; and hence some have thought that the word in the Psalm was originally lwq kolam, voice. But that wq kau is used for word or speech is sufficiently evident from Isa. xxviii. 10, line upon line, precept upon precept, &c., where wq is analogous to word or direction. It is very remarkable that these words of David, quoted by St. Paul, are mentioned in Sohar. Genes. fol. 9, where it is said: ylm wnya ajym [db[ Abdey mashicha innun millin. "These words are the servants of the Messiah, and measure out both the things above and the things beneath." To this notion of them the apostle may refer in his use of them in this place, and to a Jew the application would be legitimate.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 18. But I say, have they not heard ? etc..] rmwa ynaw , but I say, is a phrase frequently used by the Jewish doctors in disputation, either in forming or answering objections. The Ethiopic version confines these words to Israel, and reads, have not Israel heard? whereas they are to be understood both of Jews and Gentiles; the question refers to each, and the answer is, yes, verily : which the Arabic renders just the reverse, no, or not at all, notwithstanding their sound went into all the earth; and so makes this an aggravation of their stupidity, and obstinate rejection of the Gospel, that they would not hear it, though its sound reached every place; but the answer is in the affirmative, they did hear. The Jews heard the Gospel in the times of Isaiah, and other prophets, though they disbelieved the report of it; they heard it from John the Baptist, and were pleased with his ministry for a while; yea, they heard Christ himself preach it, who spake as never man did, with power and authority, as the Scribes did not, and wondered at his gracious words; they heard the apostles of Christ, who for some time were limited in their ministry to them only, and after their commission was enlarged, were ordered to preach first to them; so that they could not say they had not heard it, and they were left entirely inexcusable. The Gentiles also had heard it; the apostles were bid to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; and at a proper opportunity, they did as the Lord commanded them, and the Gentiles heard the Gospel with joy and pleasure; multitudes were converted everywhere, and churches raised through their ministry, according to the will of God; thus their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world ; the passage referred to is ( Psalm 19:4), which some here, as there, understand literally of the works of nature, the heavens, the firmament, the sun, moon and stars, proclaiming every where the being of God, his perfections, especially his wisdom, power, and goodness; so that the Gentiles were not without hearing of God, even whilst they were destitute of a divine revelation; which was a sort of a prelude of the after extensive spread of the Gospel among them: a voice, or sound, is ascribed to the inanimate creatures; and which is so loud, that it reaches to the end of the earth. There are three voices, the Jews say which go from one end of the world to the other; and one of them is hmj lglg lwq , the voice of the orb of the sun: others understand these words of the law, of which many encomiums are given in the psalm from whence this passage is taken; and though it was delivered peculiarly to the people of the Jews, yet the fame of it reached the nations of the world, as Moses suggests it would, ( Deuteronomy 4:6); and the Jews say f199 that when the law was given to Israel, wpws d[w lw[h Pwsm lwh wlwq , its voice went from one end of the world to the other.
Or as it is better expressed by Philo f200 , and almost in the words of this text, the fame of the laws which Moses left, is gone throughout all the world, unto the ends of the earth.
But certain it is, that the apostle is speaking neither of the light of nature, nor the law of Moses, but of the preaching of the Gospel; and what the Psalmist, literally understood, says of the heavens, that the apostle in an allegorical and mystical sense, or by an argument from the lesser to the greater, or by way of allusion, applies to the apostles and ministers of the Gospel, the luminaries of the world, and stars of heaven; whose ministry, by this time, had reached the then known parts of the habitable world; as it was to do, before the destruction of Jerusalem, according to Christ's prediction, ( Matthew 24:14), and as the Apostle Paul testifies it had, ( Colossians 1:6), and in which he himself had a very considerable share, having preached the Gospel from Jerusalem, round about unto Illyricum.
There is some little difference between the passage in the Psalms, and as cited or referred to by the apostle, who instead of their line, reads their sound; which have made some suspect a corruption of the present Hebrew text, or a various reading; and that the Septuagint, followed by the apostle, used a copy which had not, wq , their line, but lwq , their voice, and which was the true reading; but then how came the Chaldee paraphrase to render it by, tm , extension, and Aquila by kanwn , a canon, or rule? and besides, the Masora observes, that this word is no where else read, which is not true of lwq , for that often occurs; to which may be added, had this been the reading, the Septuagint would have rendered it most probably, as they do elsewhere, by voice, and not sound: but for the reconciliation of this let it be observed, that the Hebrew word signifies a rule, or plummet, or such a line as builders use in their work, as a direction to them, hence Kimchi explains it by nyynb , their building; and so it may signify any rule, or direction, whether given by writing, and so Aben Ezra interprets it by btkm , writing, or by word of mouth; besides, the carpenter's line, when stretched out, and remitted upon the timber, makes a sound, and hence the word might be used for one: all this agrees with the ministry of the apostles, who were builders; and as they worked by a line and rule themselves, so they gave out rules and directions to others, both by writing and preaching, both which reached far and near; this the apostle seems to allude to, in ( Corinthians 10:13-16), where he speaks of the measure, line, and rule of their ministry, which reached to Corinth and further, without going into another man's line: moreover, that great Oriental critic, and our countryman, Mr. Pocock f203 , has shown from the use of the word hwq , in the Arabic language, that the word in the Psalms may signify a loud cry, or noise, as well as a line, or rule; so that the psalmist and the apostle may be easily reconciled.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 18-21 - Did not the Jews know that the Gentiles were to be called in? The might have known it from Moses and Isaiah. Isaiah speaks plainly of the grace and favour of God, as going before in the receiving of the Gentiles. Was not this our own case? Did not God begin in love, an make himself known to us when we did not ask after him? The patience of God towards provoking sinners is wonderful. The time of God's patienc is called a day, light as day, and fit for work and business; but limited as a day, and there is a night at the end of it. God's patienc makes man's disobedience worse, and renders that the more sinful. We may wonder at the mercy of God, that his goodness is not overcome by man's badness; we may wonder at the wickedness of man, that his badnes is not overcome by God's goodness. And it is a matter of joy to thin that God has sent the message of grace to so many millions, by the wid spread of his gospel __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
αλλα 235 CONJ λεγω 3004 5719 V-PAI-1S μη 3361 PRT-N ουκ 3756 PRT-N ηκουσαν 191 5656 V-AAI-3P μενουνγε 3304 PRT εις 1519 PREP πασαν 3956 A-ASF την 3588 T-ASF γην 1093 N-ASF εξηλθεν 1831 5627 V-2AAI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM φθογγος 5353 N-NSM αυτων 846 P-GPM και 2532 CONJ εις 1519 PREP τα 3588 T-APN περατα 4009 N-APN της 3588 T-GSF οικουμενης 3625 N-GSF τα 3588 T-NPN ρηματα 4487 N-NPN αυτων 846 P-GPM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
18. Did they not hear? (mh ouk hkousan). A negative answer is implied by the interrogative particle. "Surely it is not true that they did not hear." Sound (fqoggov). Only here and 1 Cor. xiv. 7, on which see note. Paul uses the Septuagint translation of Psalm xix. 4, where the Hebrew line or plummet-line (others musical chord) is rendered sound. The voice of the gospel message is like that of the starry sky proclaiming God's glory to all the earth. The Septuagint sound seems to be a free rendering in order to secure parallelism with words.Of the world (thv oikoumenhv). See on Luke ii. 1; John i. 9.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
10:18 {Did they not hear?} (m ouk ekousan?). Rather, "Did they fail to hear?" (expecting the negative answer me, while ouk blends with the verb). See on 1Co 9:5 for this construction. {Yea, verily} (menounge). Triple particle (men, oun, ge) as in #9:20. {Sound} (fqoggos). Vibration of a musical string. See on 1Co 14:7. Only two N.T. examples. {The world} (tes oikoumenes). The inhabited earth as in #Lu 2:1.
