Matthew 9:30

9:30 And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about this.”

Psalms 146:8

146:8 The Lord gives sight to the blind.

The Lord lifts up all who are bent over. ¹ 

The Lord loves the godly.

Isaiah 29:18

29:18 At that time ²  the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,

and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. ³ 

Isaiah 35:4-6

35:4 Tell those who panic, ⁴ 

“Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” ⁵ 

35:5 Then blind eyes will open,

deaf ears will hear.

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ⁶  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ⁷ 

Isaiah 42:6-7

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ⁸ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ⁹  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ¹⁰ 

and a light ¹¹  to the nations, ¹² 

42:7 to open blind eyes, ¹³ 

to release prisoners ¹⁴  from dungeons,

those who live in darkness from prisons.

Luke 4:18

4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed ¹⁵  me to proclaim good news ¹⁶  to the poor. ¹⁷ 

He has sent me ¹⁸  to proclaim release ¹⁹  to the captives

and the regaining of sight ²⁰  to the blind,

to set free ²¹  those who are oppressed, ²² 

Luke 7:21-22

7:21 At that very time ²³  Jesus ²⁴  cured many people of diseases, sicknesses, ²⁵  and evil spirits, and granted ²⁶  sight to many who were blind. 7:22 So ²⁷  he answered them, ²⁸  “Go tell ²⁹  John what you have seen and heard: ³⁰  The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the ³¹  deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them.

John 2:23

Jesus at the Passover Feast

2:23 Now while Jesus ³²  was in Jerusalem ³³  at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ³⁴ 

John 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ³⁵  at night ³⁶  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ³⁷  that you do unless God is with him.”

John 5:36

5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds ³⁸  that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds ³⁹  I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.

John 10:25

10:25 Jesus replied, ⁴⁰  “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds ⁴¹  I do in my Father’s name testify about me.

John 10:38

10:38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, ⁴²  so that you may come to know ⁴³  and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

John 14:11-12

14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, ⁴⁴  believe because of the miraculous deeds ⁴⁵  themselves. 14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴⁶  the person who believes in me will perform ⁴⁷  the miraculous deeds ⁴⁸  that I am doing, ⁴⁹  and will perform ⁵⁰  greater deeds ⁵¹  than these, because I am going to the Father.

Acts 2:22

2:22 “Men of Israel, ⁵²  listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, ⁵³  wonders, and miraculous signs ⁵⁴  that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know –

Acts 4:9-10

4:9 if ⁵⁵  we are being examined ⁵⁶  today for a good deed ⁵⁷  done to a sick man – by what means this man was healed ⁵⁸  – 4:10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ ⁵⁹  the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.

[146:8]  ¹ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[29:18]  ² tn Or “In that day” (KJV).

[29:18]  ³ tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”

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

[35:4]  ⁵ tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.

[35:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ⁷ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[42:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.

[42:6]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.

[42:6]  ¹² tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.

[42:7]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[4:18]  ¹⁵ sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.

[4:18]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”

[4:18]  ¹⁷ sn The poor is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. It is like 1:52 in force and also will be echoed in 6:20 (also 1 Pet 2:11-25). Jesus is commissioned to do this.

[4:18]  ¹⁸ tc The majority of mss, especially the later Byzantines, include the phrase “to heal the brokenhearted” at this point (A Θ Ψ 0102 ˹ Ï). The phrase is lacking in several weighty mss (א B D L W Ξ Ë¹³ 33 579 700 892* pc lat sy^s co), including representatives from both the Alexandrian and Western texttypes. From the standpoint of external evidence, the omission of the phrase is more likely original. When internal evidence is considered, the shorter reading becomes almost certain. Scribes would be much more prone to add the phrase here to align the text with Isa 61:1, the source of the quotation, than to remove it from the original.

[4:18]  ¹⁹ sn The release in view here is comprehensive, both at a physical level and a spiritual one, as the entire ministry of Jesus makes clear (Luke 1:77-79; 7:47; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43).

[4:18]  ²⁰ sn Again, as with the previous phrase, regaining of sight may well mean more than simply miraculously restoring physical sight, which itself pictures a deeper reality (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).

[4:18]  ²¹ sn The essence of Jesus’ messianic work is expressed in the phrase to set free. This line from Isa 58 says that Jesus will do what the nation had failed to do. It makes the proclamation messianic, not merely prophetic, because Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the message – he brings the deliverance. The word translated set free is the same Greek word (ἄφεσις, afesi") translated release earlier in the verse.

[4:18]  ²² sn Again, as with the previous phrases, oppressed may well mean more than simply political or economic oppression, but a deeper reality of oppression by sin (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).

[7:21]  ²³ tn Grk “In that hour.”

[7:21]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and sicknesses,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[7:21]  ²⁶ tn Or “and bestowed (sight) on.”

[7:22]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the relationship to Jesus’ miraculous cures in the preceding sentence.

[7:22]  ²⁸ tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “he answered them.”

[7:22]  ²⁹ sn The same verb has been translated “inform” in 7:18.

[7:22]  ³⁰ sn What you have seen and heard. The following activities all paraphrase various OT descriptions of the time of promised salvation: Isa 35:5-6; 26:19; 29:18-19; 61:1. Jesus is answering not by acknowledging a title, but by pointing to the nature of his works, thus indicating the nature of the time.

[7:22]  ³¹ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[2:23]  ³² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ³³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:23]  ³⁴ sn Because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.

[3:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ³⁷ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[5:36]  ³⁸ tn Or “works.”

[5:36]  ³⁹ tn Grk “complete, which I am now doing”; the referent of the relative pronoun has been specified by repeating “deeds” from the previous clause.

[10:25]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “answered them.”

[10:25]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the works.”

[10:38]  ⁴² tn Or “works.”

[10:38]  ⁴³ tn Or “so that you may learn.”

[14:11]  ⁴⁴ tn The phrase “but if you do not believe me” contains an ellipsis; the Greek text reads Grk “but if not.” The ellipsis has been filled out (“but if [you do] not [believe me]…”) for the benefit of the modern English reader.

[14:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “because of the works.”

[14:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “greater works.”

[2:22]  ⁵² tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage, although it can also be argued that Peter’s remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.

[2:22]  ⁵³ tn Or “miraculous deeds.”

[2:22]  ⁵⁴ tn Again, the context indicates the miraculous nature of these signs, and this is specified in the translation.

[4:9]  ⁵⁵ tn This clause is a first class condition. It assumes for the sake of argument that this is what they were being questioned about.

[4:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “questioned.” The Greek term ἀνακρίνω (anakrinw) points to an examination similar to a legal one.

[4:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “for an act of kindness.”

[4:9]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “delivered” (σέσωται [seswtai], from σώζω [swzw]). See 4:12.

[4:10]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”