Genesis 4:25-26

4:25 And Adam had marital relations ¹  with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given ²  me another child ³  in place of Abel because Cain killed him.” 4:26 And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people ⁴  began to worship ⁵  the Lord.

Psalms 127:3

127:3 Yes, ⁶  sons ⁷  are a gift from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward.

John 8:44

8:44 You people ⁸  are from ⁹  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ¹⁰  He ¹¹  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ¹²  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ¹³  he speaks according to his own nature, ¹⁴  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ¹⁵ 

John 8:1

8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ¹⁶ 

John 3:10

3:10 Jesus answered, ¹⁷  “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things? ¹⁸ 

John 3:12

3:12 If I have told you people ¹⁹  about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ²⁰ 

John 3:15

3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” ²¹ 

[4:25]  ¹ tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:25]  ² sn The name Seth probably means something like “placed”; “appointed”; “set”; “granted,” assuming it is actually related to the verb that is used in the sentiment. At any rate, the name שֵׁת (shet) and the verb שָׁת (shat, “to place, to appoint, to set, to grant”) form a wordplay (paronomasia).

[4:25]  ³ tn Heb “offspring.”

[4:26]  ⁴ tn The word “people” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation. The construction uses a passive verb without an expressed subject. “To call was begun” can be interpreted to mean that people began to call.

[4:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “call in the name.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 12:8; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116.

[127:3]  ⁶ tn or “look.”

[127:3]  ⁷ tn Some prefer to translate this term with the gender neutral “children,” but “sons” are plainly in view here, as the following verses make clear. Daughters are certainly wonderful additions to a family, but in ancient Israelite culture sons were the “arrows” that gave a man security in his old age, for they could defend the family interests at the city gate, where the legal and economic issues of the community were settled.

[8:44]  ⁸ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.

[8:44]  ⁹ tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).

[8:44]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”

[8:44]  ¹¹ tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).

[8:44]  ¹² tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).

[8:44]  ¹³ tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”

[8:44]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”

[8:44]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”

[8:1]  ¹⁶ sn The Mount of Olives is a hill running north to south about 1.8 mi (3 km) long, lying east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. It was named for the large number of olive trees that grew on it.

[3:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to him.”

[3:10]  ¹⁸ sn Jesus’ question “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?” implies that Nicodemus had enough information at his disposal from the OT scriptures to have understood Jesus’ statements about the necessity of being born from above by the regenerating work of the Spirit. Isa 44:3-5 and Ezek 37:9-10 are passages Nicodemus might have known which would have given him insight into Jesus’ words. Another significant passage which contains many of these concepts is Prov 30:4-5.

[3:12]  ¹⁹ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than Nicodemus alone).

[3:12]  ²⁰ sn Obviously earthly things and heavenly things are in contrast, but what is the contrast? What are earthly things which Jesus has just spoken to Nicodemus? And through him to others – this is not the first instance of the plural pronoun, see v. 7, you must all. Since Nicodemus began with a plural (we know, v. 2) Jesus continues it, and through Nicodemus addresses a broader audience. It makes most sense to take this as a reference to the things Jesus has just said (and the things he is about to say, vv. 13-15). If this is the case (and it seems the most natural explanation) then earthly things are not necessarily strictly physical things, but are so called because they take place on earth, in contrast to things like v. 16, which take place in heaven. Some have added the suggestion that the things are called earthly because physical analogies (birth, wind, water) are used to describe them. This is possible, but it seems more probable that Jesus calls these things earthly because they happen on earth (even though they are spiritual things). In the context, taking earthly things as referring to the words Jesus has just spoken fits with the fact that Nicodemus did not believe. And he would not after hearing heavenly things either, unless he first believed in the earthly things – which included the necessity of a regenerating work from above, by the Holy Spirit.

[3:15]  ²¹ tn This is the first use of the term ζωὴν αἰώνιον (zwhn aiwnion) in the Gospel, although ζωή (zwh) in chap. 1 is to be understood in the same way without the qualifying αἰώνιος (aiwnios).