For what reason did they fail? Because they pursued righteousness not by faith, but as if it could be obtained by performing works and human effort. They stumbled over the stumbling stone that God placed in their path—Christ Himself.
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
NMVFor what reason? Because [they sought it] not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
OJBWhy so? Because it was not on the mekor (basis) of emunah but on the mekor (basis) of ma'asim (works). They have stumbled over the EVEN NEGEF (Stone of Stumbling),
TCENTWhy? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stone of stumbling,
T4TThe reason [RHQ] that they did not succeed is that they did not trust that God would provide a way to save them. Instead, they were trying to do certain things in order that God would accept them. Because they did not expect the Messiah to die, the Israelites felt disgusted about Jesus’ death, which is like the stone [MET] on which people stumble.