40:21 Do you not know?
Do you not hear?
Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?
Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?
40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; 1
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. 2
He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, 3
and spreads it out 4 like a pitched tent. 5
41:20 I will do this so 6 people 7 will observe and recognize,
so they will pay attention and understand
that the Lord’s power 8 has accomplished this,
and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.” 9
45:6 I do this 10 so people 11 will recognize from east to west
that there is no God but me;
I am the Lord, I have no peer.
46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! 12
Think about it, you rebels! 13
46:9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! 14
Truly I am God, I have no peer; 15
I am God, and there is none like me,
1 tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
2 tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).
4 tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.
5 tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”
6 tn The words “I will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text has here simply, “in order that.”
7 tn Heb “they”; NAB, NRSV “that all may see”; CEV, NLT “Everyone will see.”
8 tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
9 tn Or “created it” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “has made it happen.”
10 tn The words “I do this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “they” (so KJV, ASV); TEV, CEV “everyone”; NLT “all the world.”
12 tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.
13 tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”
14 tn Heb “remember the former things, from antiquity”; KJV, ASV “the former things of old.”
15 tn Heb “and there is no other” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
16 tn Grk “these things.”
17 tn Grk “are written.”
18 tc ‡ A difficult textual variant is present at this point in the Greek text. Some
19 tn Or “Jesus is the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
20 sn John 20:31. A major question concerning this verse, the purpose statement of the Gospel of John, is whether the author is writing primarily for an audience of unbelievers, with purely evangelistic emphasis, or whether he envisions an audience of believers, whom he wants to strengthen in their faith. Several points are important in this discussion: (1) in the immediate context (20:30), the other signs spoken of by the author were performed in the presence of disciples; (2) in the case of the first of the signs, at Cana, the author makes a point of the effect the miracle had on the disciples (2:11); (3) if the primary thrust of the Gospel is toward unbelievers, it is difficult to see why so much material in chaps. 13-17 (the last meal and Farewell Discourse, concluding with Jesus’ prayer for the disciples), which deals almost exclusively with the disciples, is included; (4) the disciples themselves were repeatedly said to have believed in Jesus throughout the Gospel, beginning with 2:11, yet they still needed to believe after the resurrection (if Thomas’ experience in 20:27-28 is any indication); and (5) the Gospel appears to be written with the assumption that the readers are familiar with the basic story (or perhaps with one or more of the synoptic gospel accounts, although this is less clear). Thus no account of the birth of Jesus is given at all, and although he is identified as being from Nazareth, the words of the Pharisees and chief priests to Nicodemus (7:52) are almost certainly to be taken as ironic, assuming the reader knows where Jesus was really from. Likewise, when Mary is identified in 11:2 as the one who anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, it is apparently assumed that the readers are familiar with the story, since the incident involved is not mentioned in the Fourth Gospel until 12:3. These observations must be set over against the clear statement of purpose in the present verse, 20:31, which seems to have significant evangelistic emphasis. In addition to this there is the repeated emphasis on witness throughout the Fourth Gospel (cf. the witness of John the Baptist in 1:7, 8, 15, 32, and 34, along with 5:33; the Samaritan woman in 4:39; Jesus’ own witness, along with that of the Father who sent him, in 8:14, 18, and 18:37; the disciples themselves in 15:27; and finally the testimony of the author himself in 19:35 and 21:24). In light of all this evidence it seems best to say that the author wrote with a dual purpose: (1) to witness to unbelievers concerning Jesus, in order that they come to believe in him and have eternal life; and (2) to strengthen the faith of believers, by deepening and expanding their understanding of who Jesus is.