Isaiah 11:1

An Ideal King Establishes a Kingdom of Peace

11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ¹  root stock,

a bud will sprout ²  from his roots.

Jeremiah 23:5

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ³  that a new time will certainly come ⁴ 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ⁵  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ⁶ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ⁷ 

Ezekiel 17:22-24

17:22 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘I will take a sprig ⁸  from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. ⁹ 

I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs;

I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

17:23 I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,

and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar.

Every bird will live under it;

Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

17:24 All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.

I make the high tree low; I raise up the low tree.

I make the green tree wither, and I make the dry tree sprout.

I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!’”

Zechariah 6:12

6:12 Then say to him, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Look – here is the man whose name is Branch, ¹⁰  who will sprout up from his place and build the temple of the Lord.

Mark 6:3

6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son ¹¹  of Mary ¹²  and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

Luke 2:7

2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth ¹³  and laid him in a manger, ¹⁴  because there was no place for them in the inn. ¹⁵ 

Luke 2:39-40

2:39 So ¹⁶  when Joseph and Mary ¹⁷  had performed ¹⁸  everything according to the law of the Lord, ¹⁹  they returned to Galilee, to their own town ²⁰  of Nazareth. ²¹  2:40 And the child grew and became strong, ²²  filled with wisdom, ²³  and the favor ²⁴  of God ²⁵  was upon him.

Luke 2:51-52

2:51 Then ²⁶  he went down with them and came to Nazareth, ²⁷  and was obedient ²⁸  to them. But ²⁹  his mother kept all these things ³⁰  in her heart. ³¹ 

2:52 And Jesus increased ³²  in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Luke 9:58

9:58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky ³³  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ³⁴ 

Romans 8:3

8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because ³⁵  it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Philippians 2:6-7

2:6 ³⁶ who though he existed in the form of God ³⁷ 

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ³⁸ 

by looking like other men, ³⁹ 

and by sharing in human nature. ⁴⁰ 

[11:1]  ¹ sn The text mentions David’s father Jesse, instead of the great king himself. Perhaps this is done for rhetorical reasons to suggest that a new David, not just another disappointing Davidic descendant, will arise. Other prophets call the coming ideal Davidic king “David” or picture him as the second coming of David, as it were. See Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hos 3:5; and Mic 5:2 (as well as the note there).

[11:1]  ² tc The Hebrew text has יִפְרֶה (yifreh, “will bear fruit,” from פָּרָה, parah), but the ancient versions, as well as the parallelism suggest that יִפְרַח (yifrakh, “will sprout”, from פָּרַח, parakh) is the better reading here. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:276, n. 2.

[23:5]  ³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ⁷ sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).

[17:22]  ⁸ sn The language is analogous to messianic imagery in Isa 11:1; Zech 3:8; 6:4 although the technical terminology is not the same.

[17:22]  ⁹ tc The LXX lacks “and plant it.”

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tn The epithet “Branch” (צֶמַח, tsemakh) derives from the verb used here (יִצְמָח, yitsmakh, “will sprout up”) to describe the rise of the Messiah, already referred to in this manner in Zech 3:8 (cf. Isa 11:1; 53:2; Jer 33:15). In the immediate context this refers to Zerubbabel, but the ultimate referent is Jesus (cf. John 19:5).

[6:3]  ¹¹ tc Evidently because of the possible offensiveness of designating Jesus a carpenter, several mss ([Ì^45vid] ˹³ 33^vid [565 579] 700 [2542] pc it vg^mss) harmonize the words “carpenter, the son” to the parallel passage in Matt 13:55, “the son of the carpenter.” Almost all the rest of the mss read “the carpenter, the son.” Since the explicit designation of Jesus as a carpenter is the more difficult reading, and is much better attested, it is most likely correct.

[6:3]  ¹² sn The reference to Jesus as the carpenter is probably derogatory, indicating that they knew Jesus only as a common laborer like themselves. The reference to him as the son of Mary (even though Jesus’ father was probably dead by this point) appears to be somewhat derogatory, for a man was not regarded as his mother’s son in Jewish usage unless an insult was intended (cf. Judg 11:1-2; John 6:42; 8:41; 9:29).

[2:7]  ¹³ sn The strips of cloth (traditionally, “swaddling cloths”) were strips of linen that would be wrapped around the arms and legs of an infant to keep the limbs protected.

[2:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “a feeding trough.”

[2:7]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek word κατάλυμα is flexible, and usage in the LXX and NT refers to a variety of places for lodging (see BDAG 521 s.v.). Most likely Joseph and Mary sought lodging in the public accommodations in the city of Bethlehem (see J. Nolland, Luke [WBC], 1:105), which would have been crude shelters for people and animals. However, it has been suggested by various scholars that Joseph and Mary were staying with relatives in Bethlehem (e.g., C. S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 194; B. Witherington, “Birth of Jesus,” DJG, 69-70); if that were so the term would refer to the guest room in the relatives’ house, which would have been filled beyond capacity with all the other relatives who had to journey to Bethlehem for the census.

[2:39]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion of the topic.

[2:39]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “when they”; the referents (Joseph and Mary) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:39]  ¹⁸ tn Or “completed.”

[2:39]  ¹⁹ sn On the phrase the law of the Lord see Luke 2:22-23.

[2:39]  ²⁰ tn Or “city.”

[2:39]  ²¹ map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[2:40]  ²² tc Most mss (A Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï) read πνεύματι (pneumati, “in spirit”) after “became strong,” but this looks like an assimilation to Luke 1:80. The better witnesses (א B D L N W pc lat co) lack the word.

[2:40]  ²³ sn With the description grew and became strong, filled with wisdom Luke emphasizes the humanity of Jesus and his growth toward maturity.

[2:40]  ²⁴ tn Or “grace.”

[2:40]  ²⁵ sn On the phrase the favor of God see Luke 1:66.

[2:51]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[2:51]  ²⁷ map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[2:51]  ²⁸ tn Or “was submitting.”

[2:51]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.

[2:51]  ³⁰ tn Or “all these words.”

[2:51]  ³¹ sn On the phrase his mother kept all these things in her heart compare Luke 2:19.

[2:52]  ³² tn Or “kept increasing.” The imperfect tense suggests something of a progressive force to the verb.

[9:58]  ³³ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[9:58]  ³⁴ sn Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).

[8:3]  ³⁵ tn Grk “in that.”

[2:6]  ³⁶ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[2:6]  ³⁷ sn The Greek term translated form indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God.

[2:7]  ³⁸ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ³⁹ tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “and by being found in form as a man.” The versification of vv. 7 and 8 (so also NRSV) is according to the versification in the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some translations, however, break the verses in front of this phrase (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.