1 Corinthians 3:9

3:9 We are coworkers belonging to God. ¹  You are God’s field, God’s building.

Luke 17:7-8

17:7 “Would any one of you say ²  to your slave ³  who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? ⁴  17:8 Won’t ⁵  the master ⁶  instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready ⁷  to serve me while ⁸  I eat and drink. Then ⁹  you may eat and drink’?

John 4:35-38

4:35 Don’t you say, ¹⁰  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ¹¹  and see that the fields are already white ¹²  for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay ¹³  and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 4:37 For in this instance the saying is true, ¹⁴  ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

John 4:2

4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), ¹⁵ 

John 2:6

2:6 Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, ¹⁶  each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Although 1 Cor 3:9 is frequently understood to mean, “we are coworkers with God,” such a view assumes that the genitive θεοῦ (qeou) is associative because of its relationship to συνεργοί (sunergoi). However, not only is a genitive of association not required by the syntax (cf. ExSyn 130), but the context is decidedly against it: Paul and Apollos are insignificant compared to the God whom they serve (vv. 5-8).

² tn Grk “Who among you, having a slave… would say to him.”

³ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:2.

⁴ tn Grk “and recline at table,” as 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away. See BDAG 70 s.v. ἀναπίπτω 1.

³ tn The question includes a Greek particle, οὐχί (ouci), that expects a positive reply. The slave is expected to prepare a meal before eating himself.

⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Grk “and gird yourself” (with an apron or towel, in preparation for service).

⁶ tn BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 2.b, “to denote contemporaneousness as long as, while… w. subjunctive… Lk 17:8.”

⁷ tn Grk “after these things.”

⁴ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.

⁵ tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.

⁶ tn That is, “ripe.”

⁵ tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.

⁶ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after ἀληθινός (alhqino") has not been translated.

⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

⁸ tn Grk “for the purification of the Jews.”

⁹ tn Grk “holding two or three metretes” (about 75 to 115 liters). Each of the pots held 2 or 3 μετρηταί (metrhtai). A μετρητῆς (metrhths) was about 9 gallons (40 liters); thus each jar held 18-27 gallons (80-120 liters) and the total volume of liquid involved was 108-162 gallons (480-720 liters).