John 4:34

4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me ¹  and to complete ²  his work. ³ 

John 5:30

5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ⁴  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ⁵  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ⁶ 

Psalms 40:7-8

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ⁷ 

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, ⁸  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” ⁹ 

Isaiah 53:10

53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,

once restitution is made, ¹⁰ 

he will see descendants and enjoy long life, ¹¹ 

and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

Matthew 20:28

20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom ¹²  for many.”

Matthew 26:39-42

26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ¹³  “My Father, if possible, ¹⁴  let this cup ¹⁵  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 26:40 Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He ¹⁶  said to Peter, “So, couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour? 26:41 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 26:42 He went away a second time and prayed, ¹⁷  “My Father, if this cup ¹⁸  cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done.”

Romans 15:3

15:3 For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” ¹⁹ 

Philippians 2:7-8

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ²⁰ 

by looking like other men, ²¹ 

and by sharing in human nature. ²² 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

Hebrews 5:8

5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. ²³ 

Hebrews 10:7-9

10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: ²⁴  I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’” ²⁵ 

10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” ²⁶  (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ²⁷  He does away with ²⁸  the first to establish the second.

[4:34]  ¹ sn The one who sent me refers to the Father.

[4:34]  ² tn Or “to accomplish.”

[4:34]  ³ tn The substantival ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as an English infinitive clause.

[5:30]  ⁴ tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ⁵ tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ⁶ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[40:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[40:8]  ⁸ tn Or “your will.”

[40:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

[53:10]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular,in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”

[53:10]  ¹¹ sn The idiomatic and stereotypical language emphasizes the servant’s restoration to divine favor. Having numerous descendants and living a long life are standard signs of divine blessing. See Job 42:13-16.

[20:28]  ¹² sn The Greek word for ransom (λύτρον, lutron) is found here and in Mark 10:45 and refers to the payment of a price in order to purchase the freedom of a slave. The idea of Jesus as the “ransom” is that he paid the price with his own life by standing in our place as a substitute, enduring the judgment that we deserved for sin.

[26:39]  ¹³ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[26:39]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

[26:39]  ¹⁵ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

[26:40]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:42]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[26:42]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “this”; the referent (the cup) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:3]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

[2:7]  ²⁰ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  ²² 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.

[5:8]  ²³ sn There is a wordplay in the Greek text between the verbs “learned” (ἔμαθεν, emaqen) and “suffered” (ἔπαθεν, epaqen).

[10:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “behold,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[10:7]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Ps 40:6-8 (LXX). The phrase a body you prepared for me (in v. 5) is apparently an interpretive expansion of the HT reading “ears you have dug out for me.”

[10:8]  ²⁶ sn Various phrases from the quotation of Ps 40:6 in Heb 10:5-6 are repeated in Heb 10:8.

[10:9]  ²⁷ tc The majority of mss, especially the later ones (א² 0278^vid 1739 Ï lat), have ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”) at this point, while most of the earliest and best witnesses lack such an explicit addressee (so Ì⁴⁶ א* A C D K P Ψ 33 1175 1881 2464 al). The longer reading is a palpable corruption, apparently motivated in part by the wording of Ps 40:8 (39:9 LXX) and by the word order of this same verse as quoted in Heb 10:7.

[10:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “abolishes.”