Isaiah 51:12-13

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you. ¹ 

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass? ² 

51:13 Why do you forget ³  the Lord, who made you,

who stretched out the sky ⁴ 

and founded the earth?

Why do you constantly tremble all day long ⁵ 

at the anger of the oppressor,

when he makes plans to destroy?

Where is the anger of the oppressor? ⁶ 

Proverbs 29:25

29:25 The fear of people ⁷  becomes ⁸  a snare, ⁹ 

but whoever trusts in the Lord will be set on high. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 26:69-75

Peter’s Denials

26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A ¹¹  slave girl ¹²  came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 26:70 But he denied it in front of them all: ¹³  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 26:71 When ¹⁴  he went out to the gateway, another slave girl ¹⁵  saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” 26:72 He denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!” 26:73 After ¹⁶  a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too – even your accent ¹⁷  gives you away!” 26:74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed. ¹⁸  26:75 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. ¹⁹ 

Galatians 2:12-13

2:12 Until ²⁰  certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this ²¹  and separated himself ²²  because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. ²³  2:13 And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them ²⁴  by their hypocrisy.

[51:12]  ¹ tc The plural suffix should probably be emended to the second masculine singular (which is used in v. 13). The final mem (ם) is probably dittographic; note the mem at the beginning of the next word.

[51:12]  ² tn Heb “Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who [as] grass is given up?” The feminine singular forms should probably be emended to the masculine singular (see v. 13). They have probably been influenced by the construction אַתְּ־הִיא (’at-hi’) in vv. 9-10.

[51:13]  ³ tn Heb “and that you forget.”

[51:13]  ⁴ tn Or “the heavens” (also in v. 16). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[51:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “and that you tremble constantly all the day.”

[51:13]  ⁶ tn The question anticipates the answer, “Ready to disappear!” See v. 14.

[29:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “the fear of man.” This uses an objective genitive to describe a situation where fearing what people might do or think controls one’s life. There is no indication in the immediate context that this should be limited only to males, so the translation uses the more generic “people” here.

[29:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “gives [or yields, or produces]”; NIV “will prove to be.”

[29:25]  ⁹ sn “Snare” is an implied comparison; fearing people is like being in a trap – there is no freedom of movement or sense of security.

[29:25]  ¹⁰ sn The image of being set on high comes from the military experience of finding a defensible position, a place of safety and security, such as a high wall or a mountain. Trusting in the Lord sets people free and gives them a sense of safety and security (e.g, Prov 10:27; 12:2).

[26:69]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:69]  ¹² tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[26:70]  ¹³ tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[26:71]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:71]  ¹⁵ tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).

[26:73]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:73]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “your speech.”

[26:74]  ¹⁸ tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some mss [Ì^37vid,45 ˹] in Matt 26:34) which would have been sounded at 3 a.m.; in this case Jesus would have prophesied a precise time by which the denials would have taken place. For more details see J. H. Bernard, St. John (ICC), 2:604. However, in light of the fact that Mark mentions the rooster crowing twice (Mark 14:72) and in Luke 22:60 the words are reversed (ἐφώνησεν ἀλέκτωρ, efwnhsen alektwr), it is more probable that a real rooster is in view. In any event natural cockcrow would have occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in Palestine at this time of year (March-April) anyway.

[26:75]  ¹⁹ sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.

[2:12]  ²⁰ tn The conjunction γάρ has not been translated here.

[2:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “he drew back.” If ἑαυτόν (Jeauton) goes with both ὑπέστελλεν (Jupestellen) and ἀφώριζεν (afwrizen) rather than only the latter, the meaning would be “he drew himself back” (see BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 1.a).

[2:12]  ²² tn Or “and held himself aloof.”

[2:12]  ²³ tn Grk “the [ones] of the circumcision,” that is, the group of Jewish Christians who insisted on circumcision of Gentiles before they could become Christians.

[2:13]  ²⁴ tn The words “with them” are a reflection of the σύν- (sun-) prefix on the verb συναπήχθη (sunaphcqh; see L&N 31.76).