Isaiah 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ¹  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ² 

Zechariah 2:8-11

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ³  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ⁴  of his ⁵  eye. 2:9 “I am about to punish them ⁶  in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

2:10 “Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! ⁷  For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst,” says the Lord. 2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, ⁸  and they will also be my ⁹  people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you.

John 3:16

3:16 For this is the way ¹⁰  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ¹¹  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ¹²  but have eternal life. ¹³ 

John 6:38

6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

John 8:42

8:42 Jesus replied, ¹⁴  “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. ¹⁵  I ¹⁶  have not come on my own initiative, ¹⁷  but he ¹⁸  sent me.

John 10:36

10:36 do you say about the one whom the Father set apart ¹⁹  and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

John 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁰  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ²¹  by the door, ²²  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

John 4:9-10

4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew ²³  – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water ²⁴  to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common ²⁵  with Samaritans.) ²⁶ 

4:10 Jesus answered ²⁷  her, “If you had known ²⁸  the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water ²⁹  to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ³⁰ 

John 4:14

4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, ³¹  but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain ³²  of water springing up ³³  to eternal life.”

[48:16]  ¹ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

[48:16]  ² sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

[2:8]  ³ tn Heb “After glory has he sent me” (similar KJV, NASB). What is clearly in view is the role of Zechariah who, by faithful proclamation of the message, will glorify the Lord.

[2:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “gate” (בָּבָה, bavah) of the eye, that is, pupil. The rendering of this term by KJV as “apple” has created a well-known idiom in the English language, “the apple of his eye” (so ASV, NIV). The pupil is one of the most vulnerable and valuable parts of the body, so for Judah to be considered the “pupil” of the Lord’s eye is to raise her value to an incalculable price (cf. NLT “my most precious possession”).

[2:8]  ⁵ tc A scribal emendation (tiqqun sopherim) has apparently altered an original “my eye” to “his eye” in order to allow the prophet to be the speaker throughout vv. 8-9. This alleviates the problem of the Lord saying, in effect, that he has sent himself on the mission to the nations.

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”

[2:10]  ⁷ sn This individualizing of Zion as a daughter draws attention to the corporate nature of the covenant community and also to the tenderness with which the Lord regards his chosen people.

[2:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ⁹ tc The LXX and Syriac have the 3rd person masculine singular suffix in both places (“his people” and “he will settle”; cf. NAB, TEV) in order to avoid the Lord’s speaking of himself in the third person. Such resort is unnecessary, however, in light of the common shifting of person in Hebrew narrative (cf. 3:2).

[3:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ¹¹ tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[3:16]  ¹² tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ¹³ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.

[8:42]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:42]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I came from God and have arrived.”

[8:42]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “For I.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[8:42]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “from myself.”

[8:42]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “that one” (referring to God).

[10:36]  ¹⁹ tn Or “dedicated.”

[10:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ²¹ sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).

[10:1]  ²² tn Or “entrance.”

[4:9]  ²³ tn Or “a Judean.” Here BDAG 478 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαίος 2.a states, “Judean (with respect to birth, nationality, or cult).” The same term occurs in the plural later in this verse. In one sense “Judean” would work very well in the translation here, since the contrast is between residents of the two geographical regions. However, since in the context of this chapter the discussion soon becomes a religious rather than a territorial one (cf. vv. 19-26), the translation “Jew” has been retained here and in v. 22.

[4:9]  ²⁴ tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:9]  ²⁵ tn D. Daube (“Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: the Meaning of συγχράομαι [Jn 4:7ff],” JBL 69 [1950]: 137-47) suggests this meaning.

[4:9]  ²⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to her.”

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “if you knew.”

[4:10]  ²⁹ tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:10]  ³⁰ tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.

[4:14]  ³¹ tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.

[4:14]  ³² tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.

[4:14]  ³³ tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).