Proverbs 10:7

10:7 The memory ¹  of the righteous is a blessing,

but the reputation ²  of the wicked will rot. ³ 

Luke 10:20

10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that ⁴  the spirits submit to you, but rejoice ⁵  that your names stand written ⁶  in heaven.”

John 8:6-8

8:6 (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against ⁷  him.) ⁸  Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. ⁹  8:7 When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight ¹⁰  and replied, ¹¹  “Whoever among you is guiltless ¹²  may be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8:8 Then ¹³  he bent over again and wrote on the ground.

Revelation 20:15

20:15 If ¹⁴  anyone’s name ¹⁵  was not found written in the book of life, that person ¹⁶  was thrown into the lake of fire.

¹ sn “Memory” (זֵכֶר, zekher) and “name” are often paired as synonyms. “Memory” in this sense has to do with reputation, fame. One’s reputation will be good or bad by righteousness or wickedness respectively.

² tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).

³ tn The editors of BHS suggest a reading “will be cursed” to make a better parallelism, but the reading of the MT is more striking as a metaphor.

⁴ tn Grk “do not rejoice in this, that.” This is awkward in contemporary English and has been simplified to “do not rejoice that.”

⁵ tn The verb here is a present imperative, so the call is to an attitude of rejoicing.

⁶ tn The verb here, a perfect tense, stresses a present reality of that which was a completed action, that is, their names were etched in the heavenly stone, as it were.

⁷ tn Grk “so that they could accuse.”

⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author of 7:53–8:11.

⁹ tn Or possibly “Jesus bent down and wrote an accusation on the ground with his finger.” The Greek verb καταγράφω (katagrafw) may indicate only the action of writing on the ground by Jesus, but in the overall context (Jesus’ response to the accusation against the woman) it can also be interpreted as implying that what Jesus wrote was a counteraccusation against the accusers (although there is no clue as to the actual content of what he wrote, some scribes added “the sins of each one of them” either here or at the end of v. 8 [U 264 700 al]).

¹⁰ tn Or “he straightened up.”

¹¹ tn Grk “and said to them.”

¹² tn Or “sinless.”

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁵ tn The word “name” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the pronoun has been intensified by translating as “that person.”