1 Kings 2:26

2:26 The king then told Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your property ¹  in Anathoth. You deserve to die, ²  but today I will not kill you because you did carry the ark of the sovereign Lord before my father David and you suffered with my father through all his difficult times.” ³ 

Matthew 24:9

Persecution of Disciples

24:9 “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations ⁴  because of my name. ⁵ 

John 15:20

15:20 Remember what ⁶  I told you, ‘A slave ⁷  is not greater than his master.’ ⁸  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed ⁹  my word, they will obey ¹⁰  yours too.

John 16:2-3

16:2 They will put you out of ¹¹  the synagogue, ¹²  yet a time ¹³  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ¹⁴  16:3 They ¹⁵  will do these things because they have not known the Father or me. ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 12:1-3

The Lord’s Discipline

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ¹⁷  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, 12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ¹⁸  12:3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

[2:26]  ¹ tn Or “field.”

[2:26]  ² tn Heb “you are a man of death.”

[2:26]  ³ tn Heb “and because you suffered through all which my father suffered.”

[24:9]  ⁴ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “nations” or “Gentiles”).

[24:9]  ⁵ sn See Matt 5:10-12; 1 Cor 1:25-31.

[15:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “Remember the word that I said to you.”

[15:20]  ⁷ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:20]  ⁸ sn A slave is not greater than his master. Jesus now recalled a statement he had made to the disciples before, in John 13:16. As the master has been treated, so will the slaves be treated also. If the world had persecuted Jesus, then it would also persecute the disciples. If the world had kept Jesus’ word, it would likewise keep the word of the disciples. In this statement there is the implication that the disciples would carry on the ministry of Jesus after his departure; they would in their preaching and teaching continue to spread the message which Jesus himself had taught while he was with them. And they would meet with the same response, by and large, that he encountered.

[15:20]  ⁹ tn Or “if they kept.”

[15:20]  ¹⁰ tn Or “they will keep.”

[16:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ¹² sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ¹⁴ 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.

[16:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[16:3]  ¹⁶ sn Ignorance of Jesus and ignorance of the Father are also linked in 8:19; to know Jesus would be to know the Father also, but since the world does not know Jesus, neither does it know his Father. The world’s ignorance of the Father is also mentioned in 8:55, 15:21, and 17:25.

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”

[12:2]  ¹⁸ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.