Daniel 5:11

5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him a spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, he proved to have ¹  insight, discernment, and wisdom like that ²  of the gods. ³  King Nebuchadnezzar your father appointed him chief of the magicians, astrologers, wise men, and diviners. ⁴ 

Daniel 5:14

5:14 I have heard about you, how there is a spirit of the gods in you, and how you have ⁵  insight, discernment, and extraordinary wisdom.

Psalms 36:9

36:9 For you are the one who gives

and sustains life. ⁶ 

Psalms 104:2

104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.

He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,

John 1:9

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ⁷  was coming into the world. ⁸ 

John 8:12

Jesus as the Light of the World

8:12 Then Jesus spoke out again, ⁹  “I am the light of the world. ¹⁰  The one who follows me will never ¹¹  walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 12:45-46

12:45 and the one who sees me sees the one who sent me. ¹²  12:46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness.

John 12:1

Jesus’ Anointing

12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he ¹³  had raised from the dead.

John 6:16

Walking on Water

6:16 Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, ¹⁴ 

James 1:17

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ¹⁵  is from above, coming down ¹⁶  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ¹⁷ 

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ¹⁸  a slave ¹⁹  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ²⁰  Greetings!

James 1:5

1:5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him.

[5:11]  ¹ tn Aram “[there were] discovered to be in him.”

[5:11]  ² tn Aram “wisdom like the wisdom.” This would be redundant in terms of English style.

[5:11]  ³ tc Theodotion lacks the phrase “and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods.”

[5:11]  ⁴ tc The MT includes a redundant reference to “your father the king” at the end of v. 11. None of the attempts to explain this phrase as original are very convincing. The present translation deletes the phrase, following Theodotion and the Syriac.

[5:14]  ⁵ tn Aram “there has been found in you.”

[36:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[8:12]  ⁹ tn Grk “Then again Jesus spoke to them saying.”

[8:12]  ¹⁰ sn The theory proposed by F. J. A. Hort (The New Testament in the Original Greek, vol. 2, Introduction; Appendix, 87-88), that the backdrop of 8:12 is the lighting of the candelabra in the court of women, may offer a plausible setting to the proclamation by Jesus that he is the light of the world. The last time that Jesus spoke in the narrative (assuming 7:53-8:11 is not part of the original text, as the textual evidence suggests) is in 7:38, where he was speaking to a crowd of pilgrims in the temple area. This is where he is found in the present verse, and he may be addressing the crowd again. Jesus’ remark has to be seen in view of both the prologue (John 1:4, 5) and the end of the discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:19-21). The coming of Jesus into the world provokes judgment: A choosing up of sides becomes necessary. The one who comes to the light, that is, who follows Jesus, will not walk in the darkness. The one who refuses to come, will walk in the darkness. In this contrast, there are only two alternatives. So it is with a person’s decision about Jesus. Furthermore, this serves as in implicit indictment of Jesus’ opponents, who still walk in the darkness, because they refuse to come to him. This sets up the contrast in chap. 9 between the man born blind, who receives both physical and spiritual sight, and the Pharisees (John 9:13, 15, 16) who have physical sight but remain in spiritual darkness.

[8:12]  ¹¹ tn The double negative οὐ μή (ou mh) is emphatic in 1st century Hellenistic Greek.

[12:45]  ¹² sn Cf. John 1:18 and 14:9.

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “whom Jesus,” but a repetition of the proper name (Jesus) here would be redundant in the English clause structure, so the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.

[6:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “sea.” The Greek word indicates a rather large body of water, but the English word “sea” normally indicates very large bodies of water, so the word “lake” in English is a closer approximation.

[1:17]  ¹⁵ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ¹⁶ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.