Ezekiel 33:8-9

33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ¹  and you do not warn ²  the wicked about his behavior, ³  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁴  33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, ⁵  and he refuses to change, ⁶  he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

Ezekiel 18:20

18:20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer ⁷  for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer ⁸  for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness. ⁹ 

Ezekiel 18:24

18:24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 14:32

14:32 The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, ¹¹ 

but the righteous have refuge ¹²  even in the threat of death. ¹³ 

John 8:21-24

Where Jesus Came From and Where He is Going

8:21 Then Jesus ¹⁴  said to them again, ¹⁵  “I am going away, and you will look for me ¹⁶  but will die in your sin. ¹⁷  Where I am going you cannot come.” 8:22 So the Jewish leaders ¹⁸  began to say, ¹⁹  “Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” 8:23 Jesus replied, ²⁰  “You people ²¹  are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world. 8:24 Thus I told you ²²  that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, ²³  you will die in your sins.”

[33:8]  ¹ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8]  ² tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8]  ³ tn Heb “way.”

[33:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[33:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”

[33:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”

[18:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

[18:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

[18:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “the righteousness of the righteous one will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked one will be upon him.”

[18:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of them he will die.”

[14:32]  ¹¹ tn The prepositional phrase must be “in his time of trouble” (i.e., when catastrophe comes). Cf. CEV “In times of trouble the wicked are destroyed.” A wicked person has nothing to fall back on in such times.

[14:32]  ¹² sn The righteous have hope in a just retribution – they have a place of safety even in death.

[14:32]  ¹³ tc The LXX reads this as “in his integrity,” as if it were בְּתוּמּוֹ (bÿtumo) instead of “in his death” (בְּמוֹתוֹ, bÿmoto). The LXX is followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB “in his honesty,” NRSV “in their integrity,” and TEV “by their integrity”).

[8:21]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:21]  ¹⁵ tn The expression οὖν πάλιν (oun palin) indicates some sort of break in the sequence of events, but it is not clear how long. The author does not mention the interval between 8:12-20 and this next recorded dialogue. The feast of Tabernacles is past, and the next reference to time is 10:22, where the feast of the Dedication is mentioned. The interval is two months, and these discussions could have taken place at any time within that interval, as long as one assumes something of a loose chronological framework. However, if the material in the Fourth Gospel is arranged theologically or thematically, such an assumption would not apply.

[8:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “you will seek me.”

[8:21]  ¹⁷ tn The expression ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε (en th Jamartia Jumwn apoqaneisqe) is similar to an expression found in the LXX at Ezek 3:18, 20 and Prov 24:9. Note the singular of ἁμαρτία (the plural occurs later in v. 24). To die with one’s sin unrepented and unatoned would be the ultimate disaster to befall a person. Jesus’ warning is stern but to the point.

[8:22]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. It was the Pharisees who had begun this line of questioning in John 8:13, and there has been no clear change since then in the identity of Jesus’ opponents.

[8:22]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verb has been translated with ingressive force (“began to say”) because the comments that follow were occasioned by Jesus’ remarks in the preceding verse about his upcoming departure.

[8:23]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And he said to them.”

[8:23]  ²¹ tn The word “people” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[8:24]  ²² tn Grk “thus I said to you.”

[8:24]  ²³ tn Grk “unless you believe that I am.” In this context there is an implied predicate nominative (“he”) following the “I am” phrase. What Jesus’ hearers had to acknowledge is that he was who he claimed to be, i.e., the Messiah (cf. 20:31). This view is also reflected in English translations like NIV (“if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”), NLT (“unless you believe that I am who I say I am”), and CEV (“if you don’t have faith in me for who I am”). For a different view that takes this “I am” and the one in 8:28 as nonpredicated (i.e., absolute), see R. E. Brown, John (AB), 1:533-38. Such a view refers sees the nonpredicated “I am” as a reference to the divine Name revealed in Exod 3:14, and is reflected in English translations like NAB (“if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins”) and TEV (“you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’”).