Acts 9:16

9:16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ¹ 

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ²  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ³  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ⁴  of God through many persecutions.” ⁵ 

Acts 21:4

21:4 After we located ⁶  the disciples, we stayed there ⁷  seven days. They repeatedly told ⁸  Paul through the Spirit ⁹  not to set foot ¹⁰  in Jerusalem. ¹¹ 

Acts 21:11

21:11 He came ¹²  to us, took ¹³  Paul’s belt, ¹⁴  tied ¹⁵  his own hands and feet with it, ¹⁶  and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over ¹⁷  to the Gentiles.’”

John 16:33

16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, ¹⁸  but take courage ¹⁹  – I have conquered the world.” ²⁰ 

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ²¹ 

John 3:3

3:3 Jesus replied, ²²  “I tell you the solemn truth, ²³  unless a person is born from above, ²⁴  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ 

John 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ²⁶  at night ²⁷  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ²⁸  that you do unless God is with him.”

John 2:12

Cleansing the Temple

2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum ²⁹  with his mother and brothers ³⁰  and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days.

[9:16]  ¹ tn Or “because of my name.” BDAG 1031 s.v. ὑπέρ 2 lists Acts 9:16 as an example of ὑπέρ (Juper) used to indicate “the moving cause or reason, because of, for the sake of, for.”

[14:22]  ² tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

[14:22]  ³ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

[14:22]  ⁴ sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ⁵ tn Or “sufferings.”

[21:4]  ⁶ tn BDAG 78 s.v. ἀνευρίσκω has “look/search for (w. finding presupposed) τινά…τοὺς μαθητάς Ac 21:4.” The English verb “locate,” when used in reference to persons, has the implication of both looking for and finding someone. The participle ἀνευρόντες (aneuronte") has been taken temporally.

[21:4]  ⁷ tn BDAG 154 s.v. αὐτοῦ states, “deictic adv. designating a position relatively near or far…there…Ac 21:4.”

[21:4]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verb ἔλεγον (elegon) has been taken iteratively.

[21:4]  ⁹ sn Although they told this to Paul through the Spirit, it appears Paul had a choice here (see v. 14). Therefore this amounted to a warning: There was risk in going to Jerusalem, so he was urged not to go.

[21:4]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 367 s.v. ἐπιβαίνω places Ac 21:4 under 1, “go up/upon, mount, board…πλοίῳ…Ac 27:2…Abs. go on board, embark…21:1 D, 2. – So perh. also ἐ. εἰς ᾿Ιεροσόλυμα embark for Jerusalem (i.e. to the seaport of Caesarea) vs. 4.” BDAG notes, however, “But this pass. may also belong to 2. to move to an area and be there, set foot in.” Because the message from the disciples to Paul through the Holy Spirit has the character of a warning, the latter meaning has been adopted for this translation.

[21:4]  ¹¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:11]  ¹² tn Grk “And coming.” 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. The participle ἐλθών (elqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “and taking.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. The participle ἄρας (aras) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ¹⁴ sn The belt was a band or sash used to keep money as well as to gird up the tunic (BDAG 431 s.v. ζώνη).

[21:11]  ¹⁵ tn The participle δήσας (dhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ¹⁶ tn The words “with it” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[21:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and will deliver him over into the hands of” (a Semitic idiom).

[16:33]  ¹⁸ tn The one Greek term θλῖψις (qliyis) has been translated by an English hendiadys (two terms that combine for one meaning) “trouble and suffering.” For modern English readers “tribulation” is no longer clearly understandable.

[16:33]  ¹⁹ tn Or “but be courageous.”

[16:33]  ²⁰ tn Or “I am victorious over the world,” or “I have overcome the world.”

[16:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”

[3:3]  ²² tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ²³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ²⁴ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  ²⁵ sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[3:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ²⁸ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[2:12]  ²⁹ sn Verse 12 is merely a transitional note in the narrative (although Capernaum does not lie on the direct route to Jerusalem from Cana). Nothing is mentioned in John’s Gospel at this point about anything Jesus said or did there (although later his teaching is mentioned, see 6:59). From the synoptics it is clear that Capernaum was a center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and might even be called “his own town” (Matt 9:1). The royal official whose son Jesus healed (John 4:46-54) was from Capernaum. He may have heard Jesus speak there, or picked up the story about the miracle at Cana from one of Jesus’ disciples.

[2:12]  ³⁰ sn With respect to Jesus’ brothers, the so-called Helvidian view is to be preferred (named after Helvidius, a 4th-century theologian). This view holds that the most natural way to understand the phrase is as a reference to children of Joseph and Mary after the birth of Jesus. Other views are that of Epiphanius (they were children of Joseph by a former marriage) or Jerome (they were cousins). The tradition of Mary’s perpetual virginity appeared in the 2nd century and is difficult to explain (as J. H. Bernard, St. John [ICC], 1:85, points out) if some of her other children were prominent members of the early church (e.g., James of Jerusalem). But this is outweighed by the natural sense of the words.