ר (Resh)
4:20 Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king 4 –
was caught in their traps, 5
of whom we thought, 6
“Under his protection 7 we will survive among the nations.”
18:12 Then the squad of soldiers 8 with their commanding officer 9 and the officers of the Jewish leaders 10 arrested 11 Jesus and tied him up. 12
1 tn Or “keep.”
2 tn Or “waiting for.”
3 tn Grk “unto eternal life.”
4 tn Heb “the anointed one of the
5 tn Heb “was captured in their pits.”
6 tn Heb “of whom we had said.”
7 tn Heb “under his shadow.” The term צֵל (tsel, “shadow”) is used figuratively here to refer the source of protection from military enemies. In the same way that the shade of a tree gives physical relief and protection from the heat of the sun (e.g., Judg 9:15; Job 40:22; Ps 80:11; Song 2:3; Ezek 17:23; 31:6, 12, 17; Hos 4:13; 14:8; Jon 4:5, 6), a faithful and powerful king can provide “shade” (= protection) from enemies and military attack (Num 14:19; Ps 91:1; Isa 30:2, 3; 49:2; 51:16; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20).
8 tn Grk “a cohort” (but since this was a unit of 600 soldiers, a smaller detachment is almost certainly intended).
9 tn Grk “their chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militaris, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.
10 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 refers to the Jewish leaders, who were named as “chief priests and Pharisees” in John 18:3.
11 tn Or “seized.”
12 tn Or “bound him.”
13 tn Or “you killed.”
14 tn Grk “at the hands of lawless men.” At this point the term ἄνομος (anomo") refers to non-Jews who live outside the Jewish (Mosaic) law, rather than people who broke any or all laws including secular laws. Specifically it is a reference to the Roman soldiers who carried out Jesus’ crucifixion.