Genesis 46:30

46:30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” ¹ 

Luke 2:28-30

2:28 Simeon ²  took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, ³ 

2:29 “Now, according to your word, ⁴  Sovereign Lord, ⁵  permit ⁶  your servant ⁷  to depart ⁸  in peace.

2:30 For my eyes have seen your salvation ⁹ 

John 16:21-22

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ¹⁰  because her time ¹¹  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ¹²  has been born into the world. ¹³  16:22 So also you have sorrow ¹⁴  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “after my seeing your face that you are still alive.”

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Simeon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “and said.” The finite verb in Greek has been replaced with a participle in English to improve the smoothness of the translation.

³ sn The phrase according to your word again emphasizes that God will perform his promise.

⁴ tn The Greek word translated here by “Sovereign Lord” is δεσπότης (despoth").

⁵ sn This short prophetic declaration is sometimes called the Nunc dimittis, which comes from the opening phrase of the saying in Latin, “now dismiss,” a fairly literal translation of the Greek verb ἀπολύεις (apolueis, “now release”) in this verse.

⁶ tn Here the Greek word δοῦλος (doulos, “slave”) has been translated “servant” since it acts almost as an honorific term for one specially chosen and appointed to carry out the Lord’s tasks.

⁷ tn Grk “now release your servant.”

⁴ sn To see Jesus, the Messiah, is to see God’s salvation.

⁵ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

⁶ tn Grk “her hour.”

⁷ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

⁸ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.

⁶ tn Or “distress.”

⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.