45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord
and will boast in him. 1
48:2 Indeed, they live in the holy city; 2
they trust in 3 the God of Israel,
whose name is the Lord who commands armies.
3:11 Her 4 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 5
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 6 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 7
Disaster will not overtake 8 us!”
Then 10 they said to Jesus, 11 “We were not born as a result of immorality! 12 We have only one Father, God himself.”
1 tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”
2 tn Heb “they call themselves [or “are called”] from the holy city.” The precise meaning of the statement is uncertain. The Niphal of קָרָא (qara’) is combined with the preposition מִן (min) only here. When the Qal of קָרָא is used with מִן, the preposition often indicates the place from which one is summoned (see 46:11). So one could translate, “from the holy city they are summoned,” meaning that they reside there.
3 tn Heb “lean on” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “rely on.”
4 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
5 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
6 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
7 tn Heb “Is not the
8 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
9 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.
10 tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א B L W 070 it sys,p co) lack the conjunction here, while the earliest witnesses along with many others read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì66,75 C D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë13 33 Ï). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the combined testimony of two early papyri for the conjunction is impressive, 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 52). 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.
11 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.
12 sn We were not born as a result of immorality! is ironic, because Jesus’ opponents implied that it was not themselves but Jesus who had been born as a result of immoral behavior. This shows they did not know Jesus’ true origin and were not aware of the supernatural events surrounding his birth. The author does not even bother to refute the opponents’ suggestion but lets it stand, assuming his readers will know the true story.