4:1 Now when Jesus 1 knew that the Pharisees 2 had heard that he 3 was winning 4 and baptizing more disciples than John 4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), 5 4:3 he left Judea and set out once more for Galilee. 6
7:1 After this 7 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. 8 He 9 stayed out of Judea 10 because the Jewish leaders 11 wanted 12 to kill him.
10:40 Jesus 13 went back across the Jordan River 14 again to the place where John 15 had been baptizing at an earlier time, 16 and he stayed there.
1 tc Several early and important witnesses, along with the majority of later ones (Ì66c,75 A B C L Ws Ψ 083 Ë13 33 Ï sa), have κύριος (kurio", “Lord”) here instead of ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsou", “Jesus”). As significant as this external support is, the internal evidence seems to be on the side of ᾿Ιησοῦς. “Jesus” is mentioned two more times in the first two verses of chapter four in a way that is stylistically awkward (so much so that the translation has substituted the pronoun for the first one; see tn note below). This seems to be sufficient reason to motivate scribes to change the wording to κύριος. Further, the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is not without decent support, though admittedly not as strong as that for κύριος (Ì66* א D Θ 086 Ë1 565 1241 al lat bo). On the other hand, this Gospel speaks of Jesus as Lord in the evangelist’s narrative descriptions elsewhere only in 11:2; 20:18, 20; 21:12; and probably 6:23, preferring ᾿Ιησοῦς most of the time. This fact could be used to argue that scribes, acquainted with John’s style, changed κύριος to ᾿Ιησοῦς. But the immediate context generally is weighed more heavily than an author’s style. It is possible that neither word was in the original text and scribes supplied what they thought most appropriate (see TCGNT 176). But without ms evidence to this effect coupled with the harder reading ᾿Ιησοῦς, this conjecture must remain doubtful. All in all, it is best to regard ᾿Ιησοῦς as the original reading here.
2 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.
3 tn Grk “Jesus”; the repetition of the proper name is somewhat redundant in English (see the beginning of the verse) and so the pronoun (“he”) has been substituted here.
4 tn Grk “was making.”
5 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
6 sn The author doesn’t tell why Jesus chose to set out once more for Galilee. Some have suggested that the Pharisees turned their attention to Jesus because John the Baptist had now been thrown into prison. But the text gives no hint of this. In any case, perhaps Jesus simply did not want to provoke a confrontation at this time (knowing that his “hour” had not yet come).
7 sn Again, the transition is indicated by the imprecise temporal indicator After this. Clearly, though, the author has left out much of the events of Jesus’ ministry, because chap. 6 took place near the Passover (6:4). This would have been the Passover between winter/spring of
8 tn Grk “Jesus was traveling around in Galilee.”
9 tn Grk “For he.” Here γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated.
10 tn Grk “he did not want to travel around in Judea.”
11 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase should be restricted to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents.
12 tn Grk “were seeking.”
13 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn The word “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
15 sn John refers to John the Baptist.
16 tn Grk “formerly.”
17 tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”
18 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.
19 tn Grk “in the temple.”
20 tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people generally, for whom the synagogues and the temple courts in Jerusalem were important public gathering places. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish religious leaders” in v. 12.
21 tn Grk “And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.