John 4:34

4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.

John 6:38

6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

John 8:50

8:50 I am not trying to get praise for myself. There is one who demands it, and he also judges.

John 17:4

17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

John 18:11

18:11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath! Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” 10 

Psalms 40:7-8

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. 11 

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, 12  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” 13 

Matthew 26:39

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, 14  “My Father, if possible, 15  let this cup 16  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Romans 15:3

15:3 For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 17 

Hosea 10:7-10

10:7 Samaria and its king will be carried off 18 

like a twig 19  on the surface of the waters.

10:8 The high places of the “House 20  of Wickedness” 21  will be destroyed;

it is the place where Israel sins.

Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars.

Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Failure to Learn from the Sin and Judgment of Gibeah

10:9 O Israel, you have sinned since the time 22  of Gibeah,

and there you have remained.

Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah?

10:10 When I please, 23  I will discipline them; 24 

I will gather nations together to attack them, 25 

to bind them in chains 26  for their two sins. 27 


sn The one who sent me refers to the Father.

tn Or “to accomplish.”

tn The substantival ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as an English infinitive clause.

tn Grk “I am not seeking.”

tn Grk “my glory.”

tn Grk “who seeks.”

tn Or “will be the judge.”

tn Or “by finishing” or “by accomplishing.” Jesus now states that he has glorified the Father on earth by finishing (τελειώσας [teleiwsas] is best understood as an adverbial participle of means) the work which the Father had given him to do.

tn Grk “the work that you gave to me so that I may do it.”

10 tn Grk “The cup that the Father has given me to drink, shall I not drink it?” The order of the clauses has been rearranged to reflect contemporary English style.

11 tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

12 tn Or “your will.”

13 tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

14 tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

15 tn Grk “if it is possible.”

16 sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

17 sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

18 tn The term נִדְמֶה (nidmeh, Niphal participle feminine singular) is derived from II דָמָה (damah; so BDB 198 s.v. דָמָה; HALOT 225 s.v. III דמה): “be cut off, cease to exist, be destroyed.” The Niphal form נִדְמֶה (“will be destroyed”) is paralleled by the Niphal וְנִשְׁמְדוּ (vÿnishmÿdu, “will be destroyed”) in 10:8. Several English versions nuance the literal wording for the sake of the idiom: “will float away like a twig on the surface of the waters” (NIV), “Like a twig in a stream…will be swept away” (CEV), “will be carried off like a chip of wood on an ocean wave” (NLT).

19 tn The noun II קֶצֶף (qetsef) is a hapax legomenon (a term that occurs only once). Historically, it has been understood in two different ways: (1) “foam” (Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus) and (2) “snapped-off twig” (LXX, Theodotion, Syriac Peshitta). Both interpretations make sense in the light of the simile. The latter has more support because of the related verb קָצַץ (qatsats, “to cut off, chop off”) used in reference to wood (BDB 893 s.v. קָצַץ; HALOT 1125 s.v. קצץ) and the related feminine noun קְצָפָה (qÿtsafah, “stump; splinter” of fig-tree; BDB 893 s.v. קְצָפָה; HALOT 1125 s.v. קְצָפָה). English versions differ along these lines: (1) “foam” (KJV, NAB, NJPS) and (2) “chip” (NRSV, TEV, NCV, NLT), “stick” (NASB), “twig” (NIV, CEV).

20 tn Alternately, “Aven” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) for the city name “Beth Aven.” The term “Beth” (house) does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is implied (e.g., Hos 4:15). It is supplied in the translation for clarity.

21 tc The MT reads בָּמוֹת אָוֶן (bamotaven, “high places of Aven”); however, several Hebrew mss read בָּמוֹת בֵּית אָוֶן (bamot betaven, “high places of Beth Aven”). In Hos 4:15 the name בֵּית אָוֶן (“Beth Aven”; Heb “house of wickedness”) is a wordplay on “Bethel” (Heb “house of God”). It is possible that בָּמוֹת בֵּית אָוֶן (“high places of Beth Aven”) was original: בֵּית (bet, “house”) dropped out as an unintentional scribal error by haplography due to presence of the consonants בת in the preceding word במות (bamot, “high places”).

22 tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

23 tn Heb “in my desire”; ASV, NASB “When it is my desire”; NCV “When I am ready.”

24 tc The MT reads וְאֶסֳּרֵם (vÿessorem, vav conjunction + Niphal imperfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from אָסַר, ’asar, “to bind”). The LXX reads παιδεῦσαι αὐτούς (paideusai autous, “to discipline them”) which reflects a Vorlage of אִיסַּרֶם (’issarem, Qal imperfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from יָסַר, yasar, “to discipline”; BDB 416 s.v. יָסַר 3). The textual variant was caused by orthographic confusion between ו (vav) and י (yod) with metathesis of the two letters.

25 tn Heb “Nations will be gathered together against them.”

26 tn The verb אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”) often refers to conquered peoples being bound as prisoners (BDB 63 s.v. אָסַר). Here it is used figuratively to describe the Israelites being taken into exile. Cf. NIV “to put them in bonds.”

27 tc The Kethib is לִשְׁתֵּי עֵינֹתָם (lishteenotam, “for their two eyes”), while the Qere reads לִשְׁתֵּי עוֹנֹתָם (lishteonotam, “for their two sins”). The phrase “two sins” could refer to (1) the sinful episode at Gibeah and the subsequent war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other tribes (Judges 19-21), or (2) the entire Gibeah incident (Judges 19-21) and Israel’s subsequent failure to repent up to the time of Hosea: “the time of Gibeah” (first sin) and “there you have remained” (second sin).