2 Samuel 15:23

15:23 All the land was weeping loudly ¹  as all these people were leaving. ²  As the king was crossing over the Kidron Valley, all the people were leaving ³  on the road that leads to the desert.

2 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Now Absalom used to get up early and stand beside the road that led to the city gate. Whenever anyone came by who had a complaint to bring to the king for arbitration, Absalom would call out to him, “What city are you from?” The person would answer, “I, your servant, ⁴  am from one of the tribes of Israel.”

2 Samuel 23:6

23:6 But evil people are like thorns –

all of them are tossed away,

for they cannot be held in the hand.

John 18:1

Betrayal and Arrest

18:1 When he had said these things, ⁵  Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. ⁶  There was an orchard ⁷  there, and he and his disciples went into it.

[15:23]  ¹ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[15:23]  ² tn Heb “crossing over.”

[15:23]  ³ tn Heb “crossing near the face of.”

[15:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “your servant.” So also in vv. 8, 15, 21.

[18:1]  ⁵ sn When he had said these things appears to be a natural transition at the end of the Farewell Discourse (the farewell speech of Jesus to his disciples in John 13:31-17:26, including the final prayer in 17:1-26). The author states that Jesus went out with his disciples, a probable reference to their leaving the upper room where the meal and discourse described in chaps. 13-17 took place (although some have seen this only as a reference to their leaving the city, with the understanding that some of the Farewell Discourse, including the concluding prayer, was given en route, cf. 14:31). They crossed the Kidron Valley and came to a garden, or olive orchard, identified in Matt 26:36 and Mark 14:32 as Gethsemane. The name is not given in Luke’s or John’s Gospel, but the garden must have been located somewhere on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives.

[18:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “the wadi of the Kidron,” or “the ravine of the Kidron” (a wadi is a stream that flows only during the rainy season and is dry during the dry season).

[18:1]  ⁷ tn Or “a garden.”