John 11:1

The Death of Lazarus

11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ¹ 

John 11:5

11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) ² 

John 13:23

13:23 One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, ³  was at the table ⁴  to the right of Jesus in a place of honor. ⁵ 

Genesis 22:2

22:2 God ⁶  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁷  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁸  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁹  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ¹⁰  you.”

Psalms 16:3

16:3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,

and the leading officials I admired so much ¹¹  –

Philippians 2:26-27

2:26 Indeed, he greatly missed all of you and was distressed because you heard that he had been ill. 2:27 In fact he became so ill that he nearly died. ¹²  But God showed mercy to him – and not to him only, but also to me – so that I would not have grief on top of grief.

Philippians 2:2

2:2 complete my joy and be of the same mind, ¹³  by having the same love, being united in spirit, ¹⁴  and having one purpose.

Philippians 4:20

4:20 May glory be given to God our Father forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 12:6-7

12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” ¹⁵ 

12:7 Endure your suffering ¹⁶  as discipline; ¹⁷  God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

James 5:14-15

5:14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint ¹⁸  him with oil in the name of the Lord. 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁹ 

Revelation 3:19

3:19 All those ²⁰  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

[11:1]  ¹ tn Grk “from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”

[11:5]  ² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It was necessary for the author to reaffirm Jesus’ love for Martha and her sister and Lazarus here because Jesus’ actions in the following verse appear to be contradictory.

[13:23]  ³ sn Here for the first time the one Jesus loved, the ‘beloved disciple,’ is introduced. This individual also is mentioned in 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, and 21:20. Some have suggested that this disciple is to be identified with Lazarus, since the Fourth Gospel specifically states that Jesus loved him (11:3, 5, 36). From the terminology alone this is a possibility; the author is certainly capable of using language in this way to indicate connections. But there is nothing else to indicate that Lazarus was present at the last supper; Mark 14:17 seems to indicate it was only the twelve who were with Jesus at this time, and there is no indication in the Fourth Gospel to the contrary. Nor does it appear that Lazarus ever stood so close to Jesus as the later references in chaps. 19, 20 and 21 seem to indicate. When this is coupled with the omission of all references to John son of Zebedee from the Fourth Gospel, it seems far more likely that the references to the beloved disciple should be understood as references to him.

[13:23]  ⁴ tn Grk “was reclining.” This reflects the normal 1st century practice of eating a meal in a semi-reclining position.

[13:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “was reclining in the bosom (or “lap”) of Jesus” (according to both L&N 17.25 and BDAG 65 s.v. ἀνάκειμαι 2 an idiom for taking the place of honor at a meal, but note the similar expression in John 1:18). Whether this position or the position to the left of Jesus should be regarded as the position of second highest honor (next to the host, in this case Jesus, who was in the position of highest honor) is debated. F. Prat, “Les places d’honneur chez les Juifs contemporains du Christ” (RSR 15 [1925]: 512-22), who argued that the table arrangement was that of the Roman triclinium (a U-shaped table with Jesus and two other disciples at the bottom of the U), considered the position to the left of Jesus to be the one of second highest honor. Thus the present translation renders this “a position of honor” without specifying which one (since both of the two disciples to the right and to the left of Jesus would be in positions of honor). Other translations differ as to how they handle the phrase ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ (en tw kolpw tou Ihsou; “leaning on Jesus’ bosom,” KJV; “lying close to the breast of Jesus,” RSV; “reclining on Jesus’ breast,” NASB; “reclining next to him,” NIV, NRSV) but the symbolic significance of the beloved disciple’s position seems clear. He is close to Jesus and in an honored position. The phrase as an idiom for a place of honor at a feast is attested in the Epistles of Pliny (the Younger) 4.22.4, an approximate contemporary of Paul.

[22:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁷ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ⁸ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ⁹ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[16:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “regarding the holy ones who [are] in the land, they; and the mighty [ones] in [whom is/was] all my desire.” The difficult syntax makes the meaning of the verse uncertain. The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s angelic assembly (see Ps 89:5, 7), but the qualifying clause “who are in the land” suggests that here it refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3).

[2:27]  ¹² tn Grk “For he became ill to the point of death.”

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Or “and feel the same way,” “and think the same thoughts.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated “and be of the same mind” to reflect its epexegetical force to the imperative “complete my joy.”

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Greek word here is σύμψυχοι (sumyucoi, literally “fellow souled”).

[12:6]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Prov 3:11-12.

[12:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “endure,” with the object (“your suffering”) understood from the context.

[12:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in order to become disciplined.”

[5:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “anointing.”

[5:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[3:19]  ²⁰ tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”