Luke 12:47

12:47 That ¹  servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or do what his master asked ²  will receive a severe beating.

John 13:17

13:17 If you understand ³  these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 15:22-24

15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. ⁴  But they no longer have any excuse for their sin. 15:23 The one who hates me hates my Father too. 15:24 If I had not performed ⁵  among them the miraculous deeds ⁶  that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. ⁷  But now they have seen the deeds ⁸  and have hated both me and my Father. ⁹ 

John 15:2

15:2 He takes away ¹⁰  every branch that does not bear ¹¹  fruit in me. He ¹²  prunes ¹³  every branch that bears ¹⁴  fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

John 2:10

2:10 and said to him, “Everyone ¹⁵  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ¹⁶  wine when the guests ¹⁷  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!”

James 4:17

4:17 So whoever knows what is good to do ¹⁸  and does not do it is guilty of sin. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “or do according to his will”; the referent (the master) has been specified in the translation for clarity. This example deals with the slave who knew what the command was and yet failed to complete it.

³ tn Grk “If you know.”

⁴ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

⁵ tn Or “If I had not done.”

⁶ tn Grk “the works.”

⁷ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

⁸ tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

⁹ tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.

¹⁰ tn Or “He cuts off.”

¹¹ tn Or “does not yield.”

¹² tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

¹³ tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.

¹⁴ tn Or “that yields.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “every man” (in a generic sense).

¹⁶ tn Or “poorer.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “when they”; the referent (the guests) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁸ tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “to him it is sin.”