Genesis 18:19

18:19 I have chosen him ¹  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ²  the way of the Lord by doing ³  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ⁴  to Abraham what he promised ⁵  him.”

Genesis 18:2

18:2 Abraham ⁶  looked up ⁷  and saw ⁸  three men standing across ⁹  from him. When he saw them ¹⁰  he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low ¹¹  to the ground. ¹² 

Genesis 20:3

20:3 But God appeared ¹³  to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead ¹⁴  because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” ¹⁵ 

Psalms 1:6

1:6 Certainly ¹⁶  the Lord guards the way of the godly, ¹⁷ 

but the way of the wicked ends in destruction. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 139:1-3

Psalm 139 ¹⁹ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139:1 O Lord, you examine me ²⁰  and know.

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;

even from far away you understand my motives.

139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; ²¹ 

you are aware of everything I do. ²² 

John 21:17

21:17 Jesus ²³  said ²⁴  a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed ²⁵  that Jesus ²⁶  asked ²⁷  him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, ²⁸  “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus ²⁹  replied, ³⁰  “Feed my sheep.

John 21:2

21:2 Simon Peter, Thomas ³¹  (called Didymus), ³²  Nathanael ³³  (who was from Cana ³⁴  in Galilee), the sons ³⁵  of Zebedee, ³⁶  and two other disciples ³⁷  of his were together.

John 2:19

2:19 Jesus replied, ³⁸  “Destroy ³⁹  this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.”

[18:19]  ¹ tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the Lord.

[18:19]  ² tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).

[18:19]  ³ tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the Lord.

[18:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.

[18:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “spoke to.”

[18:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”

[18:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader’s attention on Abraham’s deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant.

[18:2]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew preposition עַל (’al) indicates the three men were nearby, but not close by, for Abraham had to run to meet them.

[18:2]  ¹⁰ tn The pronoun “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.

[18:2]  ¹¹ tn The form וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayyishtakhu, “and bowed low”) is from the verb הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (hishtakhavah, “to worship, bow low to the ground”). It is probably from a root חָוָה (khavah), though some derive it from שָׁחָה (shakhah).

[18:2]  ¹² sn The reader knows this is a theophany. The three visitors are probably the Lord and two angels (see Gen 19:1). It is not certain how soon Abraham recognized the true identity of the visitors. His actions suggest he suspected this was something out of the ordinary, though it is possible that his lavish treatment of the visitors was done quite unwittingly. Bowing down to the ground would be reserved for obeisance of kings or worship of the Lord. Whether he was aware of it or not, Abraham’s action was most appropriate.

[20:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “came.”

[20:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.

[20:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn The translation understands כי as asseverative. Another option is to translate “for,” understanding v. 6 as a theological explanation for vv. 3-5, which contrasts the respective destinies of the godly and the wicked.

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” To “know a way” means, in its most basic sense, “to recognize/acknowledge a pathway, route, or prescribed way of life” (see Josh 3:4; Job 21:14; Ps 67:2; Isa 42:16; Jer 5:4-5). Here it could refer to the Lord recognizing the behavior of the godly and, by metonymy, rewarding their godliness with security and prosperity (resulting in the translation, “the Lord rewards the behavior of the godly”). The present translation takes the verb in the sense of “mark out” (cf. Job 23:10), which metonymically could mean “watch over, protect, guard.” In this case the “way of the godly” is not their behavior, but their course of life or destiny; a translation reflecting this would be “the Lord protects the lives of the godly” or “the Lord watches over the destiny of the godly” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The Hebrew active participle יוֹדֵעַ (yodea’, “knows”) has here a characteristic durative force.

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “but the way of the wicked perishes.” The “way of the wicked” may refer to their course of life (Ps 146:9; Prov 4:19; Jer 12:1) or their sinful behavior (Prov 12:26; 15:9). The Hebrew imperfect verbal form probably describes here what typically happens, though one could take the form as indicating what will happen (“will perish”).

[139:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.

[139:1]  ²⁰ tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.

[139:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).

[139:3]  ²² tn Heb “all my ways.”

[21:17]  ²³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “said to him.” The words “to him” are clear from the context and slightly redundant in English.

[21:17]  ²⁵ tn Or “was sad.”

[21:17]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:17]  ²⁷ tn Grk “said to.”

[21:17]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and said to him.” The words “to him” are clear from the context and slightly redundant in English.

[21:17]  ²⁹ tc ‡ Most witnesses, especially later ones (A Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï), read ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (Jo Ihsou", “Jesus”) here, while B C have ᾿Ιησοῦς without the article and א D W ˹ 33 565 al lat lack both. Because of the rapid verbal exchange in this pericope, “Jesus” is virtually required for clarity, providing a temptation to scribes to add the name. Further, the name normally occurs with the article. Although it is possible that B C accidentally omitted the article with the name, it is just as likely that they added the simple name to the text for clarity’s sake, while other witnesses added the article as well. The omission of ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς thus seems most likely to be authentic. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating some doubts as to their authenticity.

[21:17]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[21:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “and Thomas.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.

[21:2]  ³² sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.

[21:2]  ³³ tn Grk “and Nathanael.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.

[21:2]  ³⁴ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[21:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and the sons.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.

[21:2]  ³⁶ sn The sons of Zebedee were James and John.

[21:2]  ³⁷ sn The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned together in John 6:7-8 and 12:22.

[2:19]  ³⁸ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[2:19]  ³⁹ tn The imperative here is really more than a simple conditional imperative (= “if you destroy”); its semantic force here is more like the ironical imperative found in the prophets (Amos 4:4, Isa 8:9) = “Go ahead and do this and see what happens.”