5:4 What more can I do for my vineyard
beyond what I have already done?
When I waited for it to produce edible grapes,
why did it produce sour ones instead?
5:5 Now I will inform you
what I am about to do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, 1
I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. 2
13:6 Then 5 Jesus 6 told this parable: “A man had a fig tree 7 planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 13:7 So 8 he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For 9 three years 10 now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it 11 I find none. Cut 12 it down! Why 13 should it continue to deplete 14 the soil?’ 13:8 But the worker 15 answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer 16 on it. 13:9 Then if 17 it bears fruit next year, 18 very well, 19 but if 20 not, you can cut it down.’”
3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, 34 unless a person is born of water and spirit, 35 he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
1 tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”
2 tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).
3 sn Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. The imagery of an “ax already laid at the root of the trees” is vivid, connoting sudden and catastrophic judgment for the unrepentant and unfruitful. The image of “fire” serves to further heighten the intensity of the judgment referred to. It is John’s way of summoning all people to return to God with all their heart and avoid his unquenchable wrath soon to be poured out. John’s language and imagery is probably ultimately drawn from the OT where Israel is referred to as a fruitless vine (Hos 10:1-2; Jer 2:21-22) and the image of an “ax” is used to indicate God’s judgment (Ps 74:5-6; Jer 46:22).
4 tn Grk “is”; the present tense (ἐκκόπτεται, ekkoptetai) has futuristic force here.
5 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
6 tn Grk “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the man’s response as a result of the lack of figs in the preceding clause.
9 tn Grk “Behold, for.”
10 sn The elapsed time could be six years total since planting, since often a fig was given three years before one even started to look for fruit. The point in any case is that enough time had been given to expect fruit.
11 tn The phrase “each time I inspect it” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied to indicate the customary nature of the man’s search for fruit.
12 tc ‡ Several witnesses (Ì75 A L Θ Ψ 070 Ë13 33 579 892 al lat co) have “therefore” (οὖν, oun) here. This conjunction has the effect of strengthening the logical connection with the preceding statement but also of reducing the rhetorical power and urgency of the imperative. In light of the slightly greater internal probability of adding a conjunction to an otherwise asyndetic sentence, as well as significant external support for the omission (א B D W Ë1 Ï), the shorter reading appears to be more likely as the original wording here. NA27 puts the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.
13 tn Grk “Why indeed.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
14 sn Such fig trees would deplete the soil, robbing it of nutrients needed by other trees and plants.
15 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the worker who tended the vineyard) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Grk “toss manure [on it].” This is a reference to manure used as fertilizer.
17 tn This is a third class condition in the Greek text. The conjunction καί (kai, a component of κάν [kan]) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
18 tn Grk “the coming [season].”
19 tn The phrase “very well” is supplied in the translation to complete the elided idea, but its absence is telling.
20 tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text, showing which of the options is assumed.
21 tn Or “He cuts off.”
22 tn Or “does not yield.”
23 tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
24 tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.
25 tn Or “that yields.”
26 tn Or “reside.”
27 sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).
28 tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
29 tn Or “He cuts off.”
30 tn Or “does not yield.”
31 tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
32 tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.
33 tn Or “that yields.”
34 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
35 tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).