John 7:4

7:4 For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself ¹  does anything in secret. ²  If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”

Isaiah 45:19

45:19 I have not spoken in secret,

in some hidden place. ³ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ⁴ 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ⁵ 

Isaiah 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ⁶  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ⁷ 

Matthew 24:26

24:26 So then, if someone ⁸  says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ ⁹  do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him.

Acts 26:26

26:26 For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely ¹⁰  to him, ¹¹  because I cannot believe ¹²  that any of these things has escaped his notice, ¹³  for this was not done in a corner. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Or “seeks to be well known.”

² sn No one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret means, in effect: “if you’re going to perform signs to authenticate yourself as Messiah, you should do them at Jerusalem.” (Jerusalem is where mainstream Jewish apocalyptic tradition held that Messiah would appear.)

³ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

⁴ tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

⁵ tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”

⁶ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

⁷ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

⁸ tn Grk “they say.” The third person plural is used here as an indefinite and translated “someone” (ExSyn 402).

⁹ tn Or “in the desert.”

¹⁰ tn BDAG 782 s.v. παρρησιάζομαι 1 states, “speak freely, openly, fearlessly…likew. in the ptc. w. a verb of saying foll.…παρρησιασάμενοι εἶπαν 13:46. – 26:26.” This could refer to boldness in speaking here.

¹¹ tn Grk “to whom I am speaking freely.” The relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the personal pronoun (“him”) to simplify the translation.

¹² tn Grk “I cannot convince myself.” BDAG 792 s.v. πείθω 3.a states, “οὐ πείθομαι w. acc. and inf. I cannot believe Ac 26:26” (see also BDAG 586 s.v. λανθάνω).

¹³ tn BDAG 586 s.v. λανθάνω states, “λανθάνειν αὐτὸν τούτων οὐ πείθομαι οὐθέν I cannot bring myself to believe that any of these things has escaped his notice Ac 26:26.”

¹⁴ tn This term refers to a hidden corner (BDAG 209 s.v. γωνία). Paul’s point is that these events to which he refers were not done in a secret, hidden place, tucked away outside of view. They were done in public for all the world to see.