John 17:4

17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing ¹  the work you gave me to do. ² 

John 19:28

Jesus’ Death

19:28 After this Jesus, realizing that by this time ³  everything was completed, ⁴  said (in order to fulfill the scripture), ⁵  “I am thirsty!” ⁶ 

John 4:34

4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me ⁷  and to complete ⁸  his work. ⁹ 

John 17:23

17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, ¹⁰  so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

John 5:36

5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds ¹¹  that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds ¹²  I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.

[17:4]  ¹ tn Or “by finishing” or “by accomplishing.” Jesus now states that he has glorified the Father on earth by finishing (τελειώσας [teleiwsas] is best understood as an adverbial participle of means) the work which the Father had given him to do.

[17:4]  ² tn Grk “the work that you gave to me so that I may do it.”

[19:28]  ³ tn Or “that already.”

[19:28]  ⁴ tn Or “finished,” “accomplished”; Grk “fulfilled.”

[19:28]  ⁵ sn A reference to Ps 69:21 or Ps 22:15.

[19:28]  ⁶ sn In order to fulfill (τελειωθῇ [teleiwqh], a wordplay on the previous statement that everything was completed [τετέλεσται, tetelestai]) the scripture, he said, “I am thirsty.” The scripture referred to is probably Ps 69:21, “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Also suggested, however, is Ps 22:15, “My tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth, and you [God] lay me in the dust of death.” Ps 22:1 reads “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” a statement Jesus makes from the cross in both Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34. In light of the connection in the Fourth Gospel between thirst and the living water which Jesus offers, it is highly ironic that here Jesus himself, the source of that living water, expresses his thirst. And since 7:39 associates the living water with the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ statement here in 19:28 amounts to an admission that at this point he has been forsaken by God (cf. Ps 22:1, Matt 27:46, and Mark 15:34).

[4:34]  ⁵ sn The one who sent me refers to the Father.

[4:34]  ⁶ tn Or “to accomplish.”

[4:34]  ⁷ tn The substantival ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as an English infinitive clause.

[17:23]  ⁷ tn Or “completely unified.”

[5:36]  ⁹ tn Or “works.”

[5:36]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “complete, which I am now doing”; the referent of the relative pronoun has been specified by repeating “deeds” from the previous clause.