Isaiah 46:10

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

Isaiah 48:3

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ² 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ³ 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

Isaiah 48:5

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

Amos 3:7

3:7 Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Zechariah 1:6

1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ⁴  Then they paid attention ⁵  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

John 16:4

16:4 But I have told you these things ⁶  so that when their time ⁷  comes, you will remember that I told you about them. ⁸ 

“I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you. ⁹ 

¹ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

² tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

³ tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”

⁴ tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (’etkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (’avotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.

⁵ tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”

⁶ tn The first half of v. 4 resumes the statement of 16:1, ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν (tauta lelalhka Jumin), in a somewhat more positive fashion, omitting the reference to the disciples being caused to stumble.

⁷ tn Grk “their hour.”

⁸ tn The words “about them” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

⁹ sn This verse serves as a transition between the preceding discussion of the persecutions the disciples will face in the world after the departure of Jesus, and the following discussion concerning the departure of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit-Paraclete. Jesus had not told the disciples these things from the beginning because he was with them.