John 1:21

1:21 So they asked him, “Then who are you? ¹  Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” ²  “Are you the Prophet?” ³  He answered, “No!”

John 4:19

4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see ⁴  that you are a prophet.

John 4:25

4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); ⁵  “whenever he ⁶  comes, he will tell ⁷  us everything.” ⁸ 

John 4:42

4:42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one ⁹  really is the Savior of the world.” ¹⁰ 

John 7:40

Differing Opinions About Jesus

7:40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd ¹¹  began to say, “This really ¹²  is the Prophet!” ¹³ 

Genesis 49:10

49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, ¹⁴ 

until he comes to whom it belongs; ¹⁵ 

the nations will obey him. ¹⁶ 

Deuteronomy 18:15-18

18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; ¹⁷  you must listen to him. 18:16 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our ¹⁸  God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” 18:17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. 18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.

Matthew 11:3

11:3 “Are you the one who is to come, ¹⁹  or should we look for another?”

Matthew 21:11

21:11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth ²⁰  in Galilee.”

Luke 7:16

7:16 Fear ²¹  seized them all, and they began to glorify ²²  God, saying, “A great prophet ²³  has appeared ²⁴  among us!” and “God has come to help ²⁵  his people!”

Luke 24:19

24:19 He ²⁶  said to them, “What things?” “The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied, “a man ²⁷  who, with his powerful deeds and words, proved to be a prophet ²⁸  before God and all the people;

Acts 3:22-24

3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey ²⁹  him in everything he tells you. ³⁰  3:23 Every person ³¹  who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed ³²  from the people.’ ³³  3:24 And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced ³⁴  these days.

Acts 7:37

7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ³⁵  ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ ³⁶ 

[1:21]  ¹ tn Grk “What then?” (an idiom).

[1:21]  ² sn According to the 1st century rabbinic interpretation of 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah. How does one reconcile John the Baptist’s denial here (“I am not”) with Jesus’ statements in Matt 11:14 (see also Mark 9:13 and Matt 17:12) that John the Baptist was Elijah? Some have attempted to remove the difficulty by a reconstruction of the text in the Gospel of John which makes the Baptist say that he was Elijah. However, external support for such emendations is lacking. According to Gregory the Great, John was not Elijah, but exercised toward Jesus the function of Elijah by preparing his way. But this avoids the real difficulty, since in John’s Gospel the question of the Jewish authorities to the Baptist concerns precisely his function. It has also been suggested that the author of the Gospel here preserves a historically correct reminiscence – that John the Baptist did not think of himself as Elijah, although Jesus said otherwise. Mark 6:14-16 and Mark 8:28 indicate the people and Herod both distinguished between John and Elijah – probably because he did not see himself as Elijah. But Jesus’ remarks in Matt 11:14, Mark 9:13, and Matt 17:12 indicate that John did perform the function of Elijah – John did for Jesus what Elijah was to have done for the coming of the Lord. C. F. D. Moule pointed out that it is too simple to see a straight contradiction between John’s account and that of the synoptic gospels: “We have to ask by whom the identification is made, and by whom refused. The synoptic gospels represent Jesus as identifying, or comparing, the Baptist with Elijah, while John represents the Baptist as rejecting the identification when it is offered him by his interviewers. Now these two, so far from being incompatible, are psychologically complementary. The Baptist humbly rejects the exalted title, but Jesus, on the contrary, bestows it on him. Why should not the two both be correct?” (The Phenomenon of the New Testament [SBT], 70).

[1:21]  ³ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief. Acts 3:22 identifies Jesus as this prophet.

[4:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “behold” or “perceive,” but these are not as common in contemporary English usage.

[4:25]  ⁵ tn Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “the one who has been anointed.”

[4:25]  ⁶ tn Grk “that one.”

[4:25]  ⁷ tn Or “he will announce to us.”

[4:25]  ⁸ tn Grk “all things.”

[4:42]  ⁹ tn Or “this.” The Greek pronoun can mean either “this one” or “this” (BDAG 740 s.v. οὗτος 1).

[4:42]  ¹⁰ sn There is irony in the Samaritans’ declaration that Jesus was really the Savior of the world, an irony foreshadowed in the prologue to the Fourth Gospel (1:11): “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Yet the Samaritans welcomed Jesus and proclaimed him to be not the Jewish Messiah only, but the Savior of the world.

[7:40]  ¹¹ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:40]  ¹² tn Or “truly.”

[7:40]  ¹³ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[49:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or perhaps “from his descendants,” taking the expression “from between his feet” as a euphemism referring to the genitals. In this case the phrase refers by metonymy to those who come forth from his genitals, i.e., his descendants.

[49:10]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew form שִׁילֹה (shiloh) is a major interpretive problem. There are at least four major options (with many variations and less likely alternatives): (1) Some prefer to leave the text as it is, reading “Shiloh” and understanding it as the place where the ark rested for a while in the time of the Judges. (2) By repointing the text others arrive at the translation “until the [or “his”] ruler comes,” a reference to a Davidic ruler or the Messiah. (3) Another possibility that does not require emendation of the consonantal text, but only repointing, is “until tribute is brought to him” (so NEB, JPS, NRSV), which has the advantage of providing good parallelism with the following line, “the nations will obey him.” (4) The interpretation followed in the present translation, “to whom it [belongs]” (so RSV, NIV, REB), is based on the ancient versions. Again, this would refer to the Davidic dynasty or, ultimately, to the Messiah.

[49:10]  ¹⁶ tn “and to him [will be] the obedience of the nations.” For discussion of this verse see J. Blenkinsopp, “The Oracle of Judah and the Messianic Entry,” JBL 80 (1961): 55-64; and E. M. Good, “The ‘Blessing’ on Judah,” JBL 82 (1963): 427-32.

[18:15]  ¹⁷ tc The MT expands here on the usual formula by adding “from among you” (cf. Deut 17:15; 18:18; Smr; a number of Greek texts). The expansion seems to be for the purpose of emphasis, i.e., the prophet to come must be not just from Israel but an Israelite by blood.

[18:16]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the collective singular in this verse: “my God…lest I die.”

[11:3]  ¹⁹ sn Aspects of Jesus’ ministry may have led John to question whether Jesus was the promised stronger and greater one who is to come that he had preached about in Matt 3:1-12.

[21:11]  ²⁰ map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[7:16]  ²¹ tn Or “Awe.” Grk “fear,” but the context and the following remark show that it is mixed with wonder; see L&N 53.59. This is a reaction to God’s work; see Luke 5:9.

[7:16]  ²² tn This imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[7:16]  ²³ sn That Jesus was a great prophet was a natural conclusion for the crowd to make, given the healing; but Jesus is more than this. See Luke 9:8, 19-20.

[7:16]  ²⁴ tn Grk “arisen.”

[7:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “visited,” but this conveys a different impression to a modern reader. L&N 85.11 renders the verb, “to be present, with the implication of concern – ‘to be present to help, to be on hand to aid.’ … ‘God has come to help his people’ Lk 7:16.” The language recalls Luke 1:68, 78.

[24:19]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[24:19]  ²⁷ tn This translates the Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr).

[24:19]  ²⁸ sn The role of Jesus as prophet is a function Luke frequently mentions: 4:25-27; 9:35; 13:31-35.

[3:22]  ²⁹ tn Grk “hear,” but the idea of “hear and obey” or simply “obey” is frequently contained in the Greek verb ἀκούω (akouw; see L&N 36.14) and the following context (v. 23) makes it clear that failure to “obey” the words of this “prophet like Moses” will result in complete destruction.

[3:22]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. By quoting Deut 18:15 Peter declared that Jesus was the eschatological “prophet like [Moses]” mentioned in that passage, who reveals the plan of God and the way of God.

[3:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “every soul” (here “soul” is an idiom for the whole person).

[3:23]  ³² tn Or “will be completely destroyed.” In Acts 3:23 the verb ἐξολεθρεύω (exoleqreuw) is translated “destroy and remove” by L&N 20.35.

[3:23]  ³³ sn A quotation from Deut 18:19, also Lev 23:29. The OT context of Lev 23:29 discusses what happened when one failed to honor atonement. One ignored the required sacrifice of God at one’s peril.

[3:24]  ³⁴ tn Or “proclaimed.”

[7:37]  ³⁵ tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”

[7:37]  ³⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).