12:34 Then the crowd responded, 1 “We have heard from the law that the Christ 2 will remain forever. 3 How 4 can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
“There is no one righteous, not even one,
3:11 there is no one who understands,
there is no one who seeks God.
3:12 All have turned away,
together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” 7
3:13 “Their throats are open graves, 8
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.” 9
3:14 “Their mouths are 10 full of cursing and bitterness.” 11
3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 12
3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 13
3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under 14 the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
1 tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”
2 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
3 tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).
4 tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.
5 tn The words “this happened” are not in the Greek text but are supplied to complete an ellipsis.
6 sn A quotation from Ps 35:19 and Ps 69:4. As a technical term law (νόμος, nomos) is usually restricted to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT), but here it must have a broader reference, since the quotation is from Ps 35:19 or Ps 69:4. The latter is the more likely source for the quoted words, since it is cited elsewhere in John’s Gospel (2:17 and 19:29, in both instances in contexts associated with Jesus’ suffering and death).
7 sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.
8 tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”
9 sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.
10 tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
11 sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.
12 sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.
13 sn A quotation from Ps 36:1.
14 tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”