John 6:27

6:27 Do not work for the food that disappears, ¹  but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food ²  which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” ³ 

John 6:40

6:40 For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up ⁴  at the last day.” ⁵ 

John 6:63

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ⁶  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁷ 

John 4:14

4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, ⁸  but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain ⁹  of water springing up ¹⁰  to eternal life.”

Psalms 22:26

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ¹¹ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ¹²  live forever!

Proverbs 9:4-6

9:4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”

she says ¹³  to those ¹⁴  who lack understanding. ¹⁵ 

9:5 “Come, eat ¹⁶  some of my food,

and drink some of the wine I have mixed. ¹⁷ 

9:6 Abandon your foolish ways ¹⁸  so that you may live, ¹⁹ 

and proceed ²⁰  in the way of understanding.”

Isaiah 25:6-8

25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. ²¹ 

At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –

tender meat and choicest wine. ²² 

25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up

the shroud that is over all the peoples, ²³ 

the woven covering that is over all the nations; ²⁴ 

25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. ²⁵ 

The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,

and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ²⁶ 

Isaiah 55:1-3

The Lord Gives an Invitation

55:1 “Hey, ²⁷  all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost! ²⁸ 

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ²⁹ 

Why spend ³⁰  your hard-earned money ³¹  on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully ³²  to me and eat what is nourishing! ³³ 

Enjoy fine food! ³⁴ 

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ³⁵ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ³⁶  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ³⁷ 

Galatians 2:20

2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, ³⁸  and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So ³⁹  the life I now live in the body, ⁴⁰  I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, ⁴¹  who loved me and gave himself for me.

Philippians 3:7-10

3:7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. 3:8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! ⁴²  – that I may gain Christ, 3:9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness ⁴³  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ⁴⁴  based on Christ’s ⁴⁵  faithfulness. ⁴⁶  3:10 My aim is to know him, ⁴⁷  to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, ⁴⁸  and to be like him in his death,

[6:27]  ¹ tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).

[6:27]  ² tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.

[6:27]  ³ tn Grk “on this one.”

[6:40]  ⁴ tn Or “resurrect him,” or “make him live again.”

[6:40]  ⁵ sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here (looks on the Son and believes in him).

[6:63]  ⁶ tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

[6:63]  ⁷ tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”

[4:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.

[4:14]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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).

[22:26]  ¹¹ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ¹² tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[9:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “lacking of heart she says to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she says to the lacking of heart.”

[9:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “him.”

[9:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “heart”; cf. NIV “to those who lack judgment.”

[9:5]  ¹⁶ tn The construction features a cognate accusative (verb and noun from same root). The preposition בּ (bet) has the partitive use “some” (GKC 380 §119.m).

[9:5]  ¹⁷ tn The final verb actually stands in a relative clause although the relative pronoun is not present; it modifies “wine.”

[9:6]  ¹⁸ tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[9:6]  ¹⁹ tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.

[9:6]  ²⁰ tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

[25:6]  ²¹ sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”

[25:6]  ²² tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”

[25:7]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).

[25:7]  ²⁴ sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).

[25:8]  ²⁵ sn The image of the Lord “swallowing” death would be especially powerful, for death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry enemy that swallows its victims. See the note at 5:14.

[25:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “has spoken” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[55:1]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments and is often prefixed to judgment oracles for rhetorical effect. But here it appears to be a simple interjection, designed to grab the audience’s attention. Perhaps there is a note of sorrow or pity. See BDB 223 s.v.

[55:1]  ²⁸ sn The statement is an oxymoron. Its ironic quality adds to its rhetorical impact. The statement reminds one of the norm (one must normally buy commodities) as it expresses the astounding offer. One might paraphrase the statement: “Come and take freely what you normally have to pay for.”

[55:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for what is not food.”

[55:2]  ³⁰ tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[55:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.

[55:2]  ³² tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.

[55:2]  ³³ tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[55:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”

[55:3]  ³⁵ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ³⁶ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[2:20]  ³⁸ tn Both the NA²⁷/UBS⁴ Greek text and the NRSV place the phrase “I have been crucified with Christ” at the end of v. 19, but most English translations place these words at the beginning of v. 20.

[2:20]  ³⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “So” to bring out the connection of the following clauses with the preceding ones. What Paul says here amounts to a result or inference drawn from his co-crucifixion with Christ and the fact that Christ now lives in him. In Greek this is a continuation of the preceding sentence, but the construction is too long and complex for contemporary English style, so a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “flesh.”

[2:20]  ⁴¹ tc A number of important witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ B D* F G) have θεοῦ καὶ Χριστοῦ (qeou kai Cristou, “of God and Christ”) instead of υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ (Juiou tou qeou, “the Son of God”), found in the majority of mss, including several important ones (א A C D¹ Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co). The construction “of God and Christ” appears to be motivated as a more explicit affirmation of the deity of Christ (following as it apparently does the Granville Sharp rule). Although Paul certainly has an elevated Christology, explicit “God-talk” with reference to Jesus does not normally appear until the later books (cf., e.g., Titus 2:13, Phil 2:10-11, and probably Rom 9:5). For different arguments but the same textual conclusions, see TCGNT 524.

[3:8]  ⁴² tn The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.

[3:9]  ⁴³ tn Or “faith in Christ.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.

[3:9]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “in fact” are supplied because of English style, picking up the force of the Greek article with πίστει (pistei). See also the following note on the word “Christ’s.”

[3:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “based on the faithfulness.” The article before πίστει (pistei) is taken as anaphoric, looking back to διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ (dia pistew" Cristou); hence, “Christ’s” is implied.

[3:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “based on faith.”

[3:10]  ⁴⁷ tn The articular infinitive τοῦ γνῶναι (tou gnwnai, “to know”) here expresses purpose. The words “My aim is” have been supplied in the translation to emphasize this nuance and to begin a new sentence (shorter sentences are more appropriate for English style).

[3:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “to know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.”