Deuteronomy 28:29

28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; ¹  you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.

Job 5:14

5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, ² 

and grope about ³  in the noontime as if it were night. ⁴ 

Proverbs 4:19

4:19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness; ⁵ 

they do not know what causes them to stumble. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 13:16

13:16 Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. ⁷ 

Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. ⁸ 

Do it before you stumble ⁹  into distress

like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. ¹⁰ 

Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for

into the darkness and gloom of exile. ¹¹ 

Lamentations 4:14

נ (Nun)

4:14 They ¹²  wander blindly ¹³  through the streets,

defiled by the blood they shed, ¹⁴ 

while no one dares ¹⁵ 

to touch their garments.

Amos 8:9

8:9 In that day,” says the sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun set at noon,

and make the earth dark in the middle of the day. ¹⁶ 

John 11:9-10

11:9 Jesus replied, ¹⁷  “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, ¹⁸  because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁹  11:10 But if anyone walks around at night, ²⁰  he stumbles, ²¹  because the light is not in him.”

John 12:35

12:35 Jesus replied, ²²  “The light is with you for a little while longer. ²³  Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. ²⁴  The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

John 12:40

12:40 “He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their heart, ²⁵ 

so that they would not see with their eyes

and understand with their heart, ²⁶ 

and turn to me, ²⁷  and I would heal them.” ²⁸ 

John 12:1

Jesus’ Anointing

12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he ²⁹  had raised from the dead.

John 2:11

2:11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ³⁰  in Cana ³¹  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ³²  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ³³ 

[28:29]  ¹ tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”

[5:14]  ² sn God so confuses the crafty that they are unable to fulfill their plans – it is as if they encounter darkness in broad daylight. This is like the Syrians in 2 Kgs 6:18-23.

[5:14]  ³ tn The verb מָשַׁשׁ (mashash) expresses the idea of groping about in the darkness. This is part of the fulfillment of Deut 28:29, which says, “and you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness.” This image is also in Isa 59:10.

[5:14]  ⁴ sn The verse provides a picture of the frustration and bewilderment in the crafty who cannot accomplish their ends because God thwarts them.

[4:19]  ⁵ sn The simile describes ignorance or spiritual blindness, sinfulness, calamity, despair.

[4:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “in what they stumble.”

[13:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “Give glory/respect to the Lord your God.” For this nuance of the word “glory” (כָּבוֹד, kavod), see BDB 459 s.v. כָּבוֹד 6.b and compare the usage in Mal 1:6 and Josh 7:19.

[13:16]  ⁸ tn The words “of disaster” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to explain the significance of the metaphor to readers who may not be acquainted with the metaphorical use of light and darkness for salvation and joy and distress and sorrow respectively.

[13:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “your feet stumble.”

[13:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you stumble on the mountains at twilight.” The added words are again supplied in the translation to help explain the metaphor to the uninitiated reader.

[13:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and while you hope for light he will turn it into deep darkness and make [it] into gloom.” The meaning of the metaphor is again explained through the addition of the “of” phrases for readers who are unacquainted with the metaphorical use of these terms.

[4:14]  ¹² tn “They” are apparently the people, rather than the prophets and priests mentioned in the preceding verse.

[4:14]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew word עִוְרִים (’ivrim) appears to be an adjective based on the root I עִוֵּר (’ivver, “blind”). The LXX, using a rare perfect optative of ἐγείρω (egeirw), seems to have read a form of II עוּר (’ur, “to rise”), while the Syriac reads “her nobles,” possibly from reading שָׂרִים (sarim). The evidence is unclear.

[4:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “defiled with blood.”

[4:14]  ¹⁵ tn The translation is conjecture. The MT has the preposition ב (bet, “in,” “by,” “with,” “when,” etc.), the negative particle לֹא (lo’), then a finite verb from יָכַל (yakhal, Qal impfect 3rd person masculine plural): “in not they are able.” Normally יָכַל (yakhal) would be followed by an infinitive, identifying what someone is or is not able to do, or by some other modifying clause. לֹא יָכַל (lo’ yakhal) on its own may mean “they do not prevail.” The preposition ב (bet) suggests possible dependence on another verb (cp. Jer 2:11, the only other verse with the sequence ב [bet] plus לֹא [lo’] plus finite verb). The following verb נָגַע (naga’, “touch”) regularly indicates its object with the preposition ב (bet), but the preposition ב (bet) is already used with “their garments.” If both are the object of נָגַע (naga’), the line would read “they touched what they could not, their garments.” As this makes no sense, one should note that any other verb on which the phrase would be dependent is not recoverable. The preposition ב (bet) can also introduce temporal clauses, though there are no examples with לֹא (lo’) plus a finite verb. A temporal understanding could yield “when they could not succeed, they touched [clutched?] their garments” or “while no one is able [to ?] they touch their garments.” In Jer 49:10 the meaning of יָכַל (yakhal) is completed by a finite verb (though it is not governed by the preposition ב [bet]). If so here, then we may understand “while (ב [bet]) no one dares (יָכַל, yakhal) to touch their garments.” This gives the picture of blind people stumbling about while others cannot help because they are afraid to touch them.

[8:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in a day of light.”

[11:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Jesus answered.”

[11:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “he does not trip.”

[11:9]  ¹⁹ sn What is the light of this world? On one level, of course, it refers to the sun, but the reader of John’s Gospel would recall 8:12 and understand Jesus’ symbolic reference to himself as the light of the world. There is only a limited time left (Are there not twelve hours in a day?) until the Light will be withdrawn (until Jesus returns to the Father) and the one who walks around in the dark will trip and fall (compare the departure of Judas by night in 13:30).

[11:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in the night.”

[11:10]  ²¹ tn Or “he trips.”

[12:35]  ²² tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[12:35]  ²³ tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”

[12:35]  ²⁴ sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.

[12:40]  ²⁵ tn Or “closed their mind.”

[12:40]  ²⁶ tn Or “their mind.”

[12:40]  ²⁷ tn One could also translate στραφῶσιν (strafwsin) as “repent” or “change their ways,” but both of these terms would be subject to misinterpretation by the modern English reader. The idea is one of turning back to God, however. The words “to me” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:40]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 6:10.

[12:1]  ²⁹ 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.

[2:11]  ³⁰ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. also 4:54 where the same construction occurs.

[2:11]  ³¹ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:11]  ³² tn Grk “in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed.”

[2:11]  ³³ tn Or “his disciples trusted in him,” or “his disciples put their faith in him.”