5:31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.
12:37 Although Jesus 5 had performed 6 so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him, 12:38 so that the word 7 of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled. He said, 8 “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord 9 been revealed?” 10 12:39 For this reason they could not believe, 11 because again Isaiah said,
12:40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart, 12
so that they would not see with their eyes
and understand with their heart, 13
and turn to me, 14 and I would heal them.” 15
11:20 Then Jesus began to criticize openly the cities 25 in which he had done many of his miracles, because they did not repent. 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! 26 Woe to you, Bethsaida! If 27 the miracles 28 done in you had been done in Tyre 29 and Sidon, 30 they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 11:22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! 11:23 And you, Capernaum, 31 will you be exalted to heaven? 32 No, you will be thrown down to Hades! 33 For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. 11:24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom 34 on the day of judgment than for you!”
1 tn Grk “answered them.”
2 tn Or “the works.”
3 tn Grk “Jesus answered them.”
4 tn Or “good works.”
5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Or “done.”
7 tn Or “message.”
8 tn Grk “who said.”
9 tn “The arm of the Lord” is an idiom for “God’s great power” (as exemplified through Jesus’ miraculous signs). This response of unbelief is interpreted by the author as a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Isaiah (Isa 53:1). The phrase ὁ βραχίων κυρίου (Jo braciwn kuriou) is a figurative reference to God’s activity and power which has been revealed in the sign-miracles which Jesus has performed (compare the previous verse).
10 sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.
11 sn The author explicitly states here that Jesus’ Jewish opponents could not believe, and quotes Isa 6:10 to show that God had in fact blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. This OT passage was used elsewhere in the NT to explain Jewish unbelief: Paul’s final words in Acts (28:26-27) are a quotation of this same passage, which he uses to explain why the Jewish people have not accepted the gospel he has preached. A similar passage (Isa 29:10) is quoted in a similar context in Rom 11:8.
12 tn Or “closed their mind.”
13 tn Or “their mind.”
14 tn One could also translate στραφῶσιν (strafwsin) as “repent” or “change their ways,” but both of these terms would be subject to misinterpretation by the modern English reader. The idea is one of turning back to God, however. The words “to me” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
15 sn A quotation from Isa 6:10.
16 tn The mutual interrelationship of the Father and the Son (ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν, egw en tw patri kai Jo pathr en emoi estin) is something that Jesus expected even his opponents to recognize (cf. John 10:38). The question Jesus asks of Philip (οὐ πιστεύεις, ou pisteuei") expects the answer “yes.” Note that the following statement is addressed to all the disciples, however, because the plural pronoun (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is used. Jesus says that his teaching (the words he spoke to them all) did not originate from himself, but the Father, who permanently remains (μένων, menwn) in relationship with Jesus, performs his works. One would have expected “speaks his words” here rather than “performs his works”; many of the church fathers (e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom) identified the two by saying that Jesus’ words were works. But there is an implicit contrast in the next verse between words and works, and v. 12 seems to demand that the works are real works, not just words. It is probably best to see the two terms as related but not identical; there is a progression in the idea here. Both Jesus’ words (recall the Samaritans’ response in John 4:42) and Jesus’ works are revelatory of who he is, but as the next verse indicates, works have greater confirmatory power than words.
17 tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”
18 tn Or “does.”
19 tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”
20 tn Or “If I had not done.”
21 tn Grk “the works.”
22 tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).
23 tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.
24 tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.
25 tn The Greek word here is πόλις (polis) which can be translated “city” or “town.” “Cities” was chosen here to emphasize the size of the places Jesus’ mentions in the following verses.
26 sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after
27 tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.
28 tn Or “powerful deeds.”
29 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
30 sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”
31 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
32 tn The interrogative particle introducing this question expects a negative reply.
33 sn In the OT, Hades was known as Sheol. It is the place where the unrighteous will reside (Luke 10:15; 16:23; Rev 20:13-14).
34 sn The allusion to Sodom, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious, and will result in more severe punishment, than the worst sins of the old era. The phrase region of Sodom is in emphatic position in the Greek text.