John 1:8-9

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify ¹  about the light. 1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ²  was coming into the world. ³ 

John 8:12

Jesus as the Light of the World

8:12 Then Jesus spoke out again, ⁴  “I am the light of the world. ⁵  The one who follows me will never ⁶  walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 9:5

9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁷ 

John 12:35

12:35 Jesus replied, ⁸  “The light is with you for a little while longer. ⁹  Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. ¹⁰  The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

John 12:46

12:46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness.

Psalms 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹¹ 

The Lord bestows favor ¹²  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ¹³ 

Isaiah 35:4-5

35:4 Tell those who panic, ¹⁴ 

“Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” ¹⁵ 

35:5 Then blind eyes will open,

deaf ears will hear.

Isaiah 42:6-7

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ¹⁶ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ¹⁷  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ¹⁸ 

and a light ¹⁹  to the nations, ²⁰ 

42:7 to open blind eyes, ²¹ 

to release prisoners ²²  from dungeons,

those who live in darkness from prisons.

Isaiah 42:16

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ²³ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ²⁴ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ²⁵ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

Psalms 49:6

49:6 They trust ²⁶  in their wealth

and boast ²⁷  in their great riches.

Psalms 60:1-3

Psalm 60 ²⁸ 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ²⁹  a prayer ³⁰  of David written to instruct others. ³¹  It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down ³²  12,000 Edomites ³³  in the Valley of Salt. ³⁴ 

60:1 O God, you have rejected us. ³⁵ 

You suddenly turned on us in your anger. ³⁶ 

Please restore us! ³⁷ 

60:2 You made the earth quake; you split it open. ³⁸ 

Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall. ³⁹ 

60:3 You have made your people experience hard times; ⁴⁰ 

you have made us drink intoxicating wine. ⁴¹ 

Malachi 4:2

4:2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ⁴²  will rise with healing wings, ⁴³  and you will skip about ⁴⁴  like calves released from the stall.

Matthew 4:16

4:16 the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,

and on those who sit in the region and shadow of death a light has dawned.” ⁴⁵ 

Luke 1:78-79

1:78 Because of ⁴⁶  our God’s tender mercy ⁴⁷ 

the dawn ⁴⁸  will break ⁴⁹  upon us from on high

1:79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, ⁵⁰ 

to guide our feet into the way ⁵¹  of peace.”

Luke 2:32

2:32 a light, ⁵² 

for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory ⁵³  to your people Israel.”

Acts 26:23

26:23 that ⁵⁴  the Christ ⁵⁵  was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people ⁵⁶  and to the Gentiles.” ⁵⁷ 

Ephesians 5:14

5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says: ⁵⁸ 

“Awake, ⁵⁹  O sleeper! ⁶⁰ 

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!” ⁶¹ 

Ephesians 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ⁶²  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Ephesians 1:5-7

1:5 He did this by predestining ⁶³  us to adoption as his ⁶⁴  sons ⁶⁵  through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure ⁶⁶  of his will – 1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ⁶⁷  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ⁶⁸  1:7 In him ⁶⁹  we have redemption through his blood, ⁷⁰  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Revelation 22:16

22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!” ⁷¹ 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:9]  ² tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ³ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[8:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “Then again Jesus spoke to them saying.”

[8:12]  ⁵ sn The theory proposed by F. J. A. Hort (The New Testament in the Original Greek, vol. 2, Introduction; Appendix, 87-88), that the backdrop of 8:12 is the lighting of the candelabra in the court of women, may offer a plausible setting to the proclamation by Jesus that he is the light of the world. The last time that Jesus spoke in the narrative (assuming 7:53-8:11 is not part of the original text, as the textual evidence suggests) is in 7:38, where he was speaking to a crowd of pilgrims in the temple area. This is where he is found in the present verse, and he may be addressing the crowd again. Jesus’ remark has to be seen in view of both the prologue (John 1:4, 5) and the end of the discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:19-21). The coming of Jesus into the world provokes judgment: A choosing up of sides becomes necessary. The one who comes to the light, that is, who follows Jesus, will not walk in the darkness. The one who refuses to come, will walk in the darkness. In this contrast, there are only two alternatives. So it is with a person’s decision about Jesus. Furthermore, this serves as in implicit indictment of Jesus’ opponents, who still walk in the darkness, because they refuse to come to him. This sets up the contrast in chap. 9 between the man born blind, who receives both physical and spiritual sight, and the Pharisees (John 9:13, 15, 16) who have physical sight but remain in spiritual darkness.

[8:12]  ⁶ tn The double negative οὐ μή (ou mh) is emphatic in 1st century Hellenistic Greek.

[9:5]  ⁷ sn Jesus’ statement I am the light of the world connects the present account with 8:12. Here (seen more clearly than at 8:12) it is obvious what the author sees as the significance of Jesus’ statement. “Light” is not a metaphysical definition of the person of Jesus but a description of his effect on the world, forcing everyone in the world to ‘choose up sides’ for or against him (cf. 3:19-21).

[12:35]  ⁸ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[12:35]  ⁹ tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”

[12:35]  ¹⁰ sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.

[84:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ¹² tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[35:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.

[35:4]  ¹⁵ tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.

[42:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.

[42:6]  ¹⁷ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).

[42:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (’am, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.

[42:6]  ¹⁹ sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.

[42:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.

[42:7]  ²¹ sn This does not refer to literal physical healing of the blind. As the next two lines suggest, this refers metonymically to freeing captives from their dark prisons where their eyes have grown unaccustomed to light.

[42:7]  ²² sn This does not refer to hardened, dangerous criminals, who would have been executed for their crimes in ancient Near Eastern society. This verse refers to political prisoners or victims of social injustice.

[42:16]  ²³ tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”

[42:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”

[42:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”

[49:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the ones who trust.” The substantival participle stands in apposition to “those who deceive me” (v. 5).

[49:6]  ²⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form emphasizes their characteristic behavior.

[60:1]  ²⁸ sn Psalm 60. The psalmist grieves over Israel’s humiliation, but in response to God’s assuring word, he asks for divine help in battle and expresses his confidence in victory.

[60:1]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew expression means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title.

[60:1]  ³⁰ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-59, is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[60:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “to teach.”

[60:1]  ³² tn In Josh 8:21 and Judg 20:48 the two verbs “turn back” and “strike down” are also juxtaposed. There they refer to a military counter-attack.

[60:1]  ³³ tn Heb “12,000 of Edom.” Perhaps one should read אֲרַם (’aram, “Aram”) here rather than אֱדוֹם (’edom, “Edom”).

[60:1]  ³⁴ sn The heading apparently refers to the military campaign recorded in 2 Sam 10 and 1 Chr 19.

[60:1]  ³⁵ sn You have rejected us. See Pss 43:2; 44:9, 23.

[60:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “you broke out upon us, you were angry.”

[60:1]  ³⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[60:2]  ³⁸ tn The verb פָּצַם (patsam, “split open”) occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “crack,” and an Aramaic cognate is used in Tg. Jer 22:14 with the meaning “break open, frame.” See BDB 822 s.v. and Jastrow 1205 s.v. פְּצַם.

[60:2]  ³⁹ sn It is ready to fall. The earth is compared to a wall that has been broken by the force of the earthquake (note the preceding line) and is ready to collapse.

[60:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “you have caused your people to see [what is] hard.”

[60:3]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “wine of staggering,” that is, intoxicating wine that makes one stagger in drunkenness. Intoxicating wine is here an image of divine judgment that makes its victims stagger like drunkards. See Isa 51:17-23.

[4:2]  ⁴² tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”

[4:2]  ⁴³ sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).

[4:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”

[4:16]  ⁴⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 9:1.

[1:78]  ⁴⁶ tn For reasons of style, a new sentence has been started in the translation at this point. God’s mercy is ultimately seen in the deliverance John points to, so v. 78a is placed with the reference to Jesus as the light of dawning day.

[1:78]  ⁴⁷ sn God’s loyal love (steadfast love) is again the topic, reflected in the phrase tender mercy; see Luke 1:72.

[1:78]  ⁴⁸ sn The Greek term translated dawn (ἀνατολή, anatolh) can be a reference to the morning star or to the sun. The Messiah is pictured as a saving light that shows the way. The Greek term was also used to translate the Hebrew word for “branch” or “sprout,” so some see a double entendre here with messianic overtones (see Isa 11:1-10; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12).

[1:78]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “shall visit us.”

[1:79]  ⁵⁰ sn On the phrases who sit in darkness…and…death see Isa 9:1-2; 42:7; 49:9-10.

[1:79]  ⁵¹ tn Or “the path.”

[2:32]  ⁵² tn The syntax of this verse is disputed. Most read “light” and “glory” in parallelism, so Jesus is a light for revelation to the Gentiles and is glory to the people for Israel. Others see “light” (1:78-79) as a summary, while “revelation” and “glory” are parallel, so Jesus is light for all, but is revelation for the Gentiles and glory for Israel. Both readings make good sense and either could be correct, but Luke 1:78-79 and Acts 26:22-23 slightly favor this second option.

[2:32]  ⁵³ sn In other words, Jesus is a special cause for praise and honor (“glory”) for the nation.

[26:23]  ⁵⁴ tn BDAG 277-78 s.v. εἰ 2 has “marker of an indirect question as content, that…Sim. also (Procop. Soph., Ep. 123 χάριν ἔχειν εἰ = that) μαρτυρόμενος…εἰ παθητὸς ὁ Χριστός testifying…that the Christ was to suffer…Ac 26:23.”

[26:23]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[26:23]  ⁵⁶ tn That is, to the Jewish people. Grk “the people”; the word “our” has been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[26:23]  ⁵⁷ sn Note how the context of Paul’s gospel message about Jesus, resurrection, and light both to Jews and to the Gentiles is rooted in the prophetic message of the OT scriptures. Paul was guilty of following God’s call and preaching the scriptural hope.

[5:14]  ⁵⁸ sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[5:14]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “Rise up.”

[5:14]  ⁶⁰ tn The articular nominative participle ὁ καθεύδων (Jo kaqeudwn) is probably functioning as a nominative for vocative. Thus, it has been translated as “O sleeper.”

[5:14]  ⁶¹ sn A composite quotation, possibly from Isa 26:19, 51:17, 52:1, and 60:1.

[5:1]  ⁶² tn Or “become.”

[1:5]  ⁶³ tn Grk “by predestining.” Verse 5 begins with an aorist participle dependent on the main verb in v. 4 (“chose”).

[1:5]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “to himself” after “through Jesus Christ.”

[1:5]  ⁶⁵ tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB, ESV), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as…sons.”

[1:5]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “good pleasure.”

[1:6]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:7]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ⁷⁰ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

[22:16]  ⁷¹ tn On this expression BDAG 892 s.v. πρωϊνός states, “early, belonging to the morning ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ πρ. the morning star, Venus Rv 2:28; 22:16.”