John 6:66

Peter’s Confession

6:66 After this many of his disciples quit following him ¹  and did not accompany him ²  any longer.

Ezekiel 33:31

33:31 They come to you in crowds, ³  and they sit in front of you as ⁴  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ⁵  them. For they talk lustfully, ⁶  and their heart is set on ⁷  their own advantage. ⁸ 

Matthew 3:5-7

3:5 Then people from Jerusalem, ⁹  as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him, 3:6 and he was baptizing them ¹⁰  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ¹¹  and Sadducees ¹²  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Matthew 11:7-9

11:7 While they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness ¹³  to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ¹⁴  11:8 What ¹⁵  did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? ¹⁶  Look, those who wear fancy clothes are in the homes of kings! ¹⁷  11:9 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more ¹⁸  than a prophet.

Matthew 13:20-21

13:20 The ¹⁹  seed sown on rocky ground ²⁰  is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; ²¹  when ²²  trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

Matthew 21:26

21:26 But if we say, ‘From people,’ we fear the crowd, for they all consider John to be a prophet.”

Mark 6:20

6:20 because Herod stood in awe of ²³  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²⁴  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ²⁵  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ²⁶  and yet ²⁷  he liked to listen to John. ²⁸ 

Galatians 4:15-16

4:15 Where then is your sense of happiness ²⁹  now? For I testify about you that if it were possible, you would have pulled out your eyes and given them to me! 4:16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? ³⁰ 

¹ tn Grk “many of his disciples went back to what lay behind.”

² tn Grk “were not walking with him.”

³ tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.

⁴ tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.

⁵ tn Heb “do.”

⁶ tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”

⁷ tn Heb “goes after.”

⁸ tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.

⁹ tn Grk “Then Jerusalem.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “they were being baptized by him.” The passive construction has been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

¹¹ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

¹² sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

¹³ tn Or “desert.”

¹⁴ tn There is a debate as to whether one should read this figuratively (“to see someone who is easily blown over?”) or literally (Grk “to see the wilderness vegetation?… No, to see a prophet”). Either view makes good sense, but the following examples suggest the question should be read literally and understood to point to the fact that a prophet drew them to the desert.

¹⁵ tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 9.

¹⁶ sn The reference to fancy clothes makes the point that John was not rich or powerful, in that he did not come from the wealthy classes.

¹⁷ tn Or “palaces.”

¹⁸ tn John the Baptist is “more” because he introduces the one (Jesus) who brings the new era. The term is neuter, but may be understood as masculine in this context (BDAG 806 s.v. περισσότερος b).

¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

²⁰ tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.

²¹ tn Grk “is temporary.”

²² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

²³ tn Grk “was fearing,” “was respecting”; the imperfect tense connotes an ongoing fear or respect for John.

²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁶ tc In place of ἠπόρει (hporei, “he was baffled”) the majority of mss (A C D ˹ 33 Ï lat sy) have ἐποίει (epoiei, “he did”; cf. KJV’s “he did many things.”) The best mss (א B L [W] Θ 2427 co) support the reading followed in the translation. The variation may be no more than a simple case of confusion of letters, since the two readings look very much alike. The verb ποιέω (poiew, “I do”) certainly occurs more frequently than ἀπορέω (aporew, “I am at a loss”), so a scribe would be more likely to write a more familiar word. Further, even though the reading ἐποίει is the harder reading in terms of the sense, it is virtually nonsensical here, rendering it most likely an unintentional corruption.

²⁷ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “and yet” to indicate the concessive nature of the final clause.

²⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁹ tn Or “blessedness.”

³⁰ tn Or “have I become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?” The participle ἀληθεύων (alhqeuwn) can be translated as a causal adverbial participle or as a participle of means (as in the translation).