9:11 When Jehu rejoined 1 his master’s servants, they 2 asked him, “Is everything all right? 3 Why did this madman visit you?” He replied, “Ah, it’s not important. You know what kind of man he is and the kinds of things he says.” 4
9:7 The time of judgment 11 is about to arrive! 12
The time of retribution 13 is imminent! 14
Let Israel know! 15
The prophet is considered a fool 16 –
the inspired man 17 is viewed as a madman 18 –
because of the multitude of your sins
and your intense 19 animosity.
8:52 Then 21 the Judeans 22 responded, 23 “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! 24 Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet 25 you say, ‘If anyone obeys 26 my teaching, 27 he will never experience 28 death.’ 29
26:24 As Paul 31 was saying these things in his defense, Festus 32 exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, 33 Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
26:2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, 34 I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,
1 tn Heb “went out to.”
2 tc The MT has the singular, “he said,” but many witnesses correctly read the plural.
3 tn Heb “Is there peace?”
4 tn Heb “He said, ‘You, you know the man and his thoughts.’” Jehu tries to deflect their question by reminding them that the man is an eccentric individual who says strange things. His reply suggests that the man said nothing of importance. The translation seeks to bring out the tone and intent of Jehu’s reply.
5 tn Heb “in place of Jehoiada the priest.” The word “the priest” is unnecessary to the English sentence.
6 tc Heb “The
7 sn The Hebrew term translated lunatic applies to anyone who exhibits irrational behavior. It was used for example of David who drooled and scratched on the city gate to convince Achish not to arrest him as a politically dangerous threat (1 Sam 21:14). It was often used contemptuously of the prophets by those who wanted to play down the significance of their words (2 Kgs 9:11; Hos 9:7 and here).
8 tn The verb here is a good example of what IBHS 431 §26.2f calls the estimative-declarative reflexive where a person presents himself in a certain light. For examples of this usage see 2 Sam 13:5; Prov 13:7.
9 tn See the translator’s note on 20:2 for this word which only occurs here and in 20:2-3.
10 tn This word only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. All the lexicons are agreed as seeing it referring to a collar placed around the neck. The basis for this definition are the cognate languages (see, e.g., HALOT 958-59 s.v. צִינֹק for the most complete discussion).
11 tn Heb “the days of the visitation”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “the days of punishment.”
12 tn Heb “has come” (בָּאוּ, ba’u). The two perfect tense (suffix-conjugation) verbs בָּאוּ (Qal perfect 3rd person common plural from בּוֹא, bo’, “to come”) repeated in this verse are both examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect”: the perfect, which connotes completed or factual action, is used in reference to future events to emphasize the certainty of the announced event taking place.
13 tn Heb “the days of the retribution”; NIV “of reckoning”; NRSV “of recompense.”
14 tn Heb “has come”; NIV “are at hand”; NLT “is almost here.”
15 tc The Aleppo Codex and Leningrad Codex (the MT
16 tn Or “is distraught”; cf. CEV, NLT “are crazy.”
17 tn Heb “the man of the Spirit”; NAB, NRSV “spirit.”
18 tn Or “is driven to despair.” The term מְשֻׁגָּע (mÿshugga’, Pual participle masculine singular from שָׁגַע, shaga’, “to be mad”) may be understood in two senses: (1) It could be a predicate adjective which is a figure of speech: “to be maddened,” to be driven to despair (Deut 28:34); or (2) it could be a substantive: “a madman,” referring to prophets who attempted to enter into a prophetic state through whipping themselves into a frenzy (1 Sam 21:16; 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26; see BDB 993 s.v. שָׁגַע). The prophetic context of 9:7 favors the latter option (which is followed by most English versions). Apparently, the general populace viewed these mantics with suspicion and questioned the legitimacy of their claim to be true prophets (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26).
19 tn Heb “great.”
20 tc Western witnesses D W it, instead of reading οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ aujtou, here translated “family”), have περὶ αὐτοῦ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ λοιποί (peri autou Joi grammatei" kai Joi loipoi, “[when] the scribes and others [heard] about him”). But this reading is obviously motivated, for it removes the embarrassing statement about Jesus’ family’s opinion of him as “out of his mind” and transfers this view to the Lord’s opponents. The fact that virtually all other witnesses have οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ here, coupled with the strong internal evidence for the shorter reading, shows this Western reading to be secondary.
21 tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (Ì66 א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì75 D L Ψ 070 Ë1,13 33 Ï lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (Ì75) has the conjunction, the combination of Ì66 א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 41). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA27 has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.
22 tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31).
23 tn Grk “said to him.”
24 tn Grk “you have a demon.”
25 tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.
26 tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”
27 tn Grk “my word.”
28 tn Grk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
29 tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.
30 tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.
31 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32 sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.
33 tn On the term translated “lost your mind” see BDAG 610 s.v. μαίνομαι, which has “you’re out of your mind, you’re raving, said to one whose enthusiasm seems to have outrun better judgment 26:24.”
34 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
35 tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).