John 5:44

5:44 How can you believe, if you accept praise ¹  from one another and don’t seek the praise ²  that comes from the only God? ³ 

John 6:44

6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, ⁴  and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 10:38

10:38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, ⁵  so that you may come to know ⁶  and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

Isaiah 44:18-20

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ⁷ 

44:19 No one thinks to himself,

nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:

‘I burned half of it in the fire –

yes, I baked bread over the coals;

I roasted meat and ate it.

With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?

Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ⁸ 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁹ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 44:2

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ¹¹  whom I have chosen!

Isaiah 2:14

2:14 for all the tall mountains,

for all the high hills, ¹² 

¹ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

² tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

³ tc Several early and important witnesses (Ì^66,75 B W a b sa) lack θεοῦ (qeou, “God”) here, thus reading “the only one,” while most of the rest of the tradition, including some important mss, has the name ({א A D L Θ Ψ 33 Ï}). Internally, it could be argued that the name of God was not used here, in keeping with the NT practice of suppressing the name of God at times for rhetorical effect, drawing the reader inexorably to the conclusion that the one being spoken of is God himself. On the other hand, never is ὁ μόνος (Jo mono") used absolutely in the NT (i.e., without a noun or substantive with it), and always the subject of the adjunct is God (cf. Matt 24:36; John 17:3; 1 Tim 6:16). What then is to explain the shorter reading? In uncial script, with θεοῦ written as a nomen sacrum, envisioning accidental omission of the name by way of homoioteleuton requires little imagination, largely because of the succession of words ending in -ου: toumonouqMuou. It is thus preferable to retain the word in the text.

⁴ tn Or “attracts him,” or “pulls him.” The word is used of pulling or dragging, often by force. It is even used once of magnetic attraction (A. Oepke, TDNT 2:503).

⁵ tn Or “works.”

⁶ tn Or “so that you may learn.”

⁷ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

⁸ tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

⁹ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

¹¹ sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.

¹² sn The high mountains and hills symbolize the apparent security of proud men, as do the high tower and fortified wall of v. 15.