1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, 7 “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 8 1:48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, 9 “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, 10 I saw you.” 1:49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king 11 of Israel!” 12
1 sn Nathanael is traditionally identified with Bartholomew (although John never describes him as such). He appears here after Philip, while in all lists of the twelve except in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew follows Philip. Also, the Aramaic Bar-tolmai means “son of Tolmai,” the surname; the man almost certainly had another name.
2 tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
3 tn Grk “And Nathanael.”
4 tn Grk “said to him.”
5 sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.
6 tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”
7 tn Grk “said about him.”
8 tn Or “treachery.”
9 tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “replied.”
10 sn Many have speculated about what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. Meditating on the Messiah who was to come? A good possibility, since the fig tree was used as shade for teaching or studying by the later rabbis (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:11). Also, the fig tree was symbolic for messianic peace and plenty (Mic 4:4, Zech 3:10.)
11 tn Although βασιλεύς (basileus) lacks the article it is definite due to contextual and syntactical considerations. See ExSyn 263.
12 sn Nathanael’s confession – You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel – is best understood as a confession of Jesus’ messiahship. It has strong allusions to Ps 2:6-7, a well-known messianic psalm. What Nathanael’s exact understanding was at this point is hard to determine, but “son of God” was a designation for the Davidic king in the OT, and Nathanael parallels it with King of Israel here.
13 tn Grk And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
14 tn Or “received.”
15 tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
16 tn Or “truly.”
17 tn Or have come to know.”
18 tn Grk “These”; the referent (the Jews in the synagogue at Berea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Or “more willing to learn.” L&N 27.48 and BDAG 404 s.v. εὐγενής 2 both use the term “open-minded” here. The point is that they were more receptive to Paul’s message.
20 sn Thessalonica was a city in Macedonia (modern Salonica).
21 tn Or “willingly,” “readily”; Grk “with all eagerness.”
22 tn Grk “who received.” Here the relative pronoun (“who”) has been translated as a pronoun (“they”) preceded by a semicolon, which is less awkward in contemporary English than a relative clause at this point.
23 tn This verb (BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω 1) refers to careful examination.
24 tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase in this verse.
25 tn Grk “not a few”; this use of negation could be misleading to the modern English reader, however, and so has been translated as “quite a few” (which is the actual meaning of the expression).
26 tn Or “respected.”