2:1 Now 1 after some days, when he returned to Capernaum, 2 the news spread 3 that he was at home. 2:2 So many gathered that there was no longer any room, not even by 4 the door, and he preached the word to them. 2:3 Some people 5 came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 6
1 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
2 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
3 tn Grk “it was heard.”
4 tn Some translations (e.g., NIV, NLT) take the preposition πρός (pro"), which indicates proximity, to mean “outside the door.” Others render it as “in front of the door” (TEV, CEV), and still others, “around the door” (NAB). There is some ambiguity inherent in the description here.
5 tn Grk “they”; the referent (some unnamed people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn The redundancy in this verse is characteristic of the author’s rougher style.
7 tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”
8 tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”
9 sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.
10 tn The idiom “sons of light” means essentially “people characterized by light,” that is, “people of God.”
11 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity and to conform with contemporary English style.
12 tn Grk “And Martha.” The connective καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation because it would produce a run-on sentence in English.
13 tn Grk “reclining at the table.”
14 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
15 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
16 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
17 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these