18:28 Indeed, 4 you are my lamp, Lord. 5
My God 6 illuminates the darkness around me. 7
97:11 The godly bask in the light;
the morally upright experience joy. 8
50:10 Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys 9 his servant?
Whoever walks in deep darkness, 10
without light,
should trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?
Why does no one respond when I call? 11
Is my hand too weak 12 to deliver 13 you?
Do I lack the power to rescue you?
Look, with a mere shout 14 I can dry up the sea;
I can turn streams into a desert,
so the fish rot away and die
from lack of water. 15
2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;
he will settle cases for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares, 16
and their spears into pruning hooks. 17
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
2:17 Proud men will be humiliated,
arrogant men will be brought low; 18
the Lord alone will be exalted 19
in that day.
1 tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”
2 tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”
3 sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.
4 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.
5 tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp,
6 tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “
7 tn Heb “my darkness.”
8 tn Heb “Light is planted for the godly, and for the upright of heart joy.” The translation assumes an emendation of זָרַע (zara’, “planted”) to זָרַח (zara’, “shines”) which collocates more naturally with “light.” “Light” here symbolizes the joy (note the following line) that accompanies deliverance and the outpouring of divine favor.
9 tn Heb “[who] listens to the voice of his servant?” The interrogative is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
10 tn The plural indicates degree. Darkness may refer to exile and/or moral evil.
11 sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.
12 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).
13 tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).
14 tn Heb “with my rebuke.”
15 tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”
16 sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.
17 sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:93; M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle. Breaking weapons and fashioning agricultural implements indicates a transition from fear and stress to peace and security.
18 tn Heb “and the pride of men will be brought down, and the arrogance of men will be brought low.” As in v. 11, the repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.
19 tn Or “elevated”; NCV “praised”; CEV “honored.”
20 tn Grk “and.” Verse 6 is a continuation of the same sentence begun in v. 5. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
21 tn Grk “who did not keep their own domain.”
22 sn There is an interesting play on words used in this verse. Because the angels did not keep their proper place, Jesus has kept them chained up in another place. The same verb keep is used in v. 1 to describe believers’ status before God and Christ.
23 sn In 2 Pet 2:4 a less common word for chains is used.
24 tn The word ζόφος (zofos, “utter, deepest darkness”) is used only five times in the NT: two in 2 Peter, two in Jude, and one in Hebrews. Jude 6 parallels 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 13 parallels 2 Pet 2:17.
25 tn The words “locked up” are not in Greek, but is expressed in English as a resumptive point after the double prepositional phrase (“in eternal chains in utter darkness”).
26 tn Grk “wild waves of the sea.”
27 tn Grk “foaming, causing to foam.” The verb form is intensive and causative. BDAG 360 s.v. ἐπαφρίζω suggests the meaning “to cause to splash up like froth, cause to foam,” or, in this context, “waves casting up their own shameless deeds like (dirty) foam.”
28 tn Grk “shames, shameful things.” It is uncertain whether shameful deeds or shameful words are in view. Either way, the picture has taken a decided turn: Though waterless clouds and fruitless trees may promise good things, but deliver nothing, wild sea-waves are portents of filth spewed forth from the belly of the sea.
29 sn The imagery of a star seems to fit the nautical theme that Jude is developing. Stars were of course the guides to sailors at night, just as teachers are responsible to lead the flock through a benighted world. But false teachers, as wayward stars, are not fixed and hence offer unreliable, even disastrous guidance. They are thus both the dangerous reefs on which the ships could be destroyed and the false guides, leading them into these rocks. There is a special irony that these lights will be snuffed out, reserved for the darkest depths of eternal darkness.
30 tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness for eternity.” See note on the word “utter” in v. 6.