1 Kings 10:1

Solomon Entertains a Queen

10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, ¹  she came to challenge ²  him with difficult questions. ³ 

John 6:6

6:6 (Now Jesus ⁴  said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.) ⁵ 

John 16:12

16:12 “I have many more things to say to you, ⁶  but you cannot bear ⁷  them now.

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ⁸  the synagogue, ⁹  yet a time ¹⁰  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ¹¹ 

John 3:16

3:16 For this is the way ¹²  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ¹³  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ¹⁴  but have eternal life. ¹⁵ 

[10:1]  ¹ tn Heb “the report about Solomon.” The Hebrew text also has, “to the name of the Lord,” which fits very awkwardly in the sentence. If retained, perhaps it should be translated, “because of the reputation of the Lord.” The phrase, which is omitted in the parallel passage in 2 Chr 9:1, may be an addition based on the queen’s declaration of praise to the Lord in v. 9.

[10:1]  ² tn Or “test.”

[10:1]  ³ tn Or “riddles.”

[6:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[16:12]  ⁶ sn In what sense does Jesus have many more things to say to the disciples? Does this imply the continuation of revelation after his departure? This is probably the case, especially in light of v. 13 and following, which describe the work of the Holy Spirit in guiding the disciples into all truth. Thus Jesus was saying that he would continue to speak (to the twelve, at least) after his return to the Father. He would do this through the Holy Spirit whom he was going to send. It is possible that an audience broader than the twelve is addressed, and in the Johannine tradition there is evidence that later other Christians (or perhaps, professed Christians) claimed to be recipients of revelation through the Spirit-Paraclete (1 John 4:1-6).

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Or (perhaps) “you cannot accept.”

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ⁹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ¹¹ sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[3:16]  ¹² tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ¹³ tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[3:16]  ¹⁴ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ¹⁵ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.