Discovery BoxJohn 12:14-19
Context12:14 Jesus found a young donkey 1 and sat on it, just as it is written, 12:15 “Do not be afraid, people of Zion; 2 look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt!” 3 12:16 (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, 4 but when Jesus was glorified, 5 then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened 6 to him.) 7
12:17 So the crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify about it. 8 12:18 Because they had heard that Jesus 9 had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him. 12:19 Thus the Pharisees 10 said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him!”
[12:14] 1 sn The author does not repeat the detailed accounts of the finding of the donkey recorded in the synoptic gospels. He does, however, see the event as a fulfillment of scripture, which he indicates by quoting Zech 9:9.
[12:15] 2 tn Grk “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion” (the phrase “daughter of Zion” is an idiom for the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “people of Zion”). The idiom “daughter of Zion” has been translated as “people of Zion” because the original idiom, while firmly embedded in the Christian tradition, is not understandable to most modern English readers.
[12:15] 3 sn A quotation from Zech 9:9.
[12:16] 4 tn Or “did not understand these things at first”; Grk “formerly.”
[12:16] 5 sn When Jesus was glorified, that is, glorified through his resurrection, exaltation, and return to the Father. Jesus’ glorification is consistently portrayed this way in the Gospel of John.
[12:16] 6 tn Grk “and that they had done these things,” though the referent is probably indefinite and not referring to the disciples; as such, the best rendering is as a passive (see ExSyn 402-3; R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:458).
[12:16] 7 sn The comment His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened (a parenthetical note by the author) informs the reader that Jesus’ disciples did not at first associate the prophecy from Zechariah with the events as they happened. This came with the later (postresurrection) insight which the Holy Spirit would provide after Jesus’ resurrection and return to the Father. Note the similarity with John 2:22, which follows another allusion to a prophecy in Zechariah (14:21).
[12:17] 8 tn The word “it” is not included in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.
[12:18] 9 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
