Jeremiah 17:18

17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.

Do not let me be disgraced.

May they be dismayed.

Do not let me be dismayed.

Bring days of disaster on them.

Bring on them the destruction they deserve.” ¹ 

Deuteronomy 32:35-36

32:35 I will get revenge and pay them back

at the time their foot slips;

for the day of their disaster is near,

and the impending judgment ²  is rushing upon them!”

32:36 The Lord will judge his people,

and will change his plans concerning ³  his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

Psalms 27:1-2

Psalm 27 ⁴ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ⁵ 

I fear no one! ⁶ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ⁷ 

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁸ 

to devour my flesh, ⁹ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ¹⁰ 

they stumble and fall. ¹¹ 

John 18:4-6

18:4 Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, ¹²  came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?” ¹³  18:5 They replied, ¹⁴  “Jesus the Nazarene.” He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.) ¹⁵  18:6 So when Jesus ¹⁶  said to them, “I am he,” they retreated ¹⁷  and fell to the ground. ¹⁸ 

[17:18]  ¹ tn Or “complete destruction.” See the translator’s note on 16:18.

[32:35]  ² tn Heb “prepared things,” “impending things.” See BDB 800 s.v. עָתִיד.

[32:36]  ³ tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.

[27:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ⁹ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[18:4]  ¹² tn Grk “knowing all things that were coming upon him.”

[18:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “Whom do you seek?”

[18:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “They answered.”

[18:5]  ¹⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Before he states the response to Jesus’ identification of himself, the author inserts a parenthetical note that Judas, again identified as the one who betrayed him (cf. 18:2), was standing with the group of soldiers and officers of the chief priests. Many commentators have considered this to be an awkward insertion, but in fact it heightens considerably the dramatic effect of the response to Jesus’ self-identification in the following verse, and has the added effect of informing the reader that along with the others the betrayer himself ironically falls down at Jesus’ feet (18:6).

[18:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:6]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “moved back” (but here a fairly rapid movement is implied).

[18:6]  ¹⁸ sn When Jesus said to those who came to arrest him “I am,” they retreated and fell to the ground. L. Morris says that “it is possible that those in front recoiled from Jesus’ unexpected advance, so that they bumped those behind them, causing them to stumble and fall” (John [NICNT], 743-44). Perhaps this is what in fact happened on the scene; but the theological significance given to this event by the author implies that more is involved. The reaction on the part of those who came to arrest Jesus comes in response to his affirmation that he is indeed the one they are seeking, Jesus the Nazarene. But Jesus makes this affirmation of his identity using a formula which the reader has encountered before in the Fourth Gospel, e.g., 8:24, 28, 58. Jesus has applied to himself the divine Name of Exod 3:14, “I AM.” Therefore this amounts to something of a theophany which causes even his enemies to recoil and prostrate themselves, so that Jesus has to ask a second time, “Who are you looking for?” This is a vivid reminder to the reader of the Gospel that even in this dark hour, Jesus holds ultimate power over his enemies and the powers of darkness, because he is the one who bears the divine Name.