John 19:25

19:25 Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ¹ 

Genesis 15:13

15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ²  that your descendants will be strangers ³  in a foreign country. ⁴  They will be enslaved and oppressed ⁵  for four hundred years.

Exodus 1:13-14

1:13 and they ⁶  made the Israelites serve rigorously. ⁷  1:14 They made their lives bitter ⁸  by ⁹  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ¹⁰  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ¹¹ 

Jude 1:18

1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come ¹²  scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” ¹³ 

Jude 1:8

1:8 Yet these men, ¹⁴  as a result of their dreams, ¹⁵  defile the flesh, reject authority, ¹⁶  and insult ¹⁷  the glorious ones. ¹⁸ 

Jude 1:3

Condemnation of the False Teachers

1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you ¹⁹  about our common salvation, I now feel compelled ²⁰  instead to write to encourage ²¹  you to contend earnestly ²²  for the faith ²³  that was once for all ²⁴  entrusted to the saints. ²⁵ 

Ezra 9:9

9:9 Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, in that he has revived us ²⁶  to restore the temple of our God and to raise ²⁷  up its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁸ 

Nehemiah 5:4-8

5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ²⁹  on our fields and our vineyards. 5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ³⁰  and our children are just like their children, ³¹  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ³²  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ³³  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ³⁴ 

5:6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. ³⁵  5:7 I considered these things carefully ³⁶  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ³⁷  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ³⁸  from your own countrymen!” ³⁹  Because of them I called for ⁴⁰  a great public assembly. 5:8 I said to them, “To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews ⁴¹  who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, ⁴²  so that we can then buy them back!” They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say.

Nehemiah 9:27-28

9:27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ⁴³  their adversaries.

9:28 “Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to ⁴⁴  their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again.

Nehemiah 9:36-37

9:36 “So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy ⁴⁵  its good things – we are slaves! 9:37 Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have placed over us due to our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they see fit, ⁴⁶  and we are in great distress!

[19:25]  ¹ sn Several women are mentioned, but it is not easy to determine how many. It is not clear whether his mother’s sister and Mary the wife of Clopas are to be understood as the same individual (in which case only three women are mentioned: Jesus’ mother, her sister Mary, and Mary Magdalene) or as two different individuals (in which case four women are mentioned: Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary Clopas’ wife, and Mary Magdalene). It is impossible to be certain, but when John’s account is compared to the synoptics it is easier to reconcile the accounts if four women were present than if there were only three. It also seems that if there were four women present, this would have been seen by the author to be in juxtaposition to the four soldiers present who performed the crucifixion, and this may explain the transition from the one incident in 23-24 to the other in 25-27. Finally, if only three were present, this would mean that both Jesus’ mother and her sister were named Mary, and this is highly improbable in a Jewish family of that time. If there were four women present, the name of the second, the sister of Jesus’ mother, is not mentioned. It is entirely possible that the sister of Jesus’ mother mentioned here is to be identified with the woman named Salome mentioned in Mark 15:40 and also with the woman identified as “the mother of the sons of Zebedee” mentioned in Matt 27:56. If so, and if John the Apostle is to be identified as the beloved disciple, then the reason for the omission of the second woman’s name becomes clear; she would have been John’s own mother, and he consistently omitted direct reference to himself or his brother James or any other members of his family in the Fourth Gospel.

[15:13]  ² tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, with the Qal infinitive absolute followed by the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “know”). The imperfect here has an obligatory or imperatival force.

[15:13]  ³ tn The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger, “sojourner, stranger”) is related to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to stay for awhile”). Abram’s descendants will stay in a land as resident aliens without rights of citizenship.

[15:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “in a land not theirs.”

[15:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they will serve them and they will oppress them.” The verb עִנּוּ, (’innu, a Piel form from עָנָה, ’anah, “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly”), is used in Exod 1:11 to describe the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

[1:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

[1:14]  ⁸ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

[1:14]  ⁹ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

[1:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and in all service.”

[1:14]  ¹¹ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

[1:18]  ¹² tn Grk “be.”

[1:18]  ¹³ tn Grk “going according to their own desires of ungodliness.”

[1:8]  ¹⁴ tn The reference is now to the false teachers.

[1:8]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “dreaming.” The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι (enupniazomenoi, “dreaming”) is adverbial to the pronoun οὗτοι (|outoi, “these”), though the particular relationship is not clear. It could mean, “while dreaming,” “by dreaming,” or “because of dreaming.” This translation has adopted the last option as Jude’s meaning, partially for syntactical reasons (the causal participle usually precedes the main verb) and partially for contextual reasons (these false teachers must derive their authority from some source, and the dreams provide the most obvious base). The participle ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι was sometimes used of apocalyptic visions, both of true and false prophets. This seems to be the meaning here.

[1:8]  ¹⁶ tn Most likely, the authority of the Lord is in view. This verse, then, echoes the indictment of v. 4: “they deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn The construction with the three verbs (“defile, “reject,” and “insult”) involves the particles μέν, δέ, δέ (men, de, de). A more literal (and pedantic) translation would be: “on the one hand, they defile the flesh, on the other hand, they reject authority, and on another hand, they insult the glorious ones.”

[1:8]  ¹⁸ sn The glorious ones refers to angelic beings rather than mere human beings, just as in 2 Pet 2:10 (on which this passage apparently depends). Whether the angelic beings are good or evil, however, is difficult to tell (hence, the translation is left ambiguous). However, both in 2 Pet 2:11 and here, in Jude 9, the wicked angels seem to be in view (for not even Michael insults them).

[1:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “while being quite diligent to write to you,” or “while making all haste to write to you.” Two issues are at stake: (1) whether σπουδή (spoudh) here means diligence, eagerness, or haste; (2) whether ποιούμενος γράφειν (poioumeno" grafein) is to be taken conatively (“I was about to write”) or progressively (“I was writing”). Without knowing more of the background, it is difficult to tell which option is to be preferred.

[1:3]  ²⁰ tn Grk “I had the necessity.” The term ἀνάγκη (anankh, “necessity”) often connotes urgency or distress. In this context, Jude is indicating that the more comprehensive treatment about the faith shared between himself and his readers was not nearly as urgent as the letter he found it now necessary to write.

[1:3]  ²¹ tn Grk “encouraging.” Παρακαλῶν (parakalwn) is most likely a telic participle. In keeping with other participles of purpose, it is present tense and occurs after the main verb.

[1:3]  ²² tn the verb ἐπαγωνίζομαι (epagwnizomai) is an intensive form of ἀγωνίζομαι (agwnizomai). As such, the notion of struggling, fighting, contending, etc. is heightened.

[1:3]  ²³ tn Τῇ πίστει (th pistei) here is taken as a dative of advantage (“on behalf of the faith”). Though rare (see BDAG 820 s.v. 3), it is not unexampled and must have this meaning here.

[1:3]  ²⁴ sn The adverb once for all (ἅπαξ, Japax) seems to indicate that the doctrinal convictions of the early church had been substantially codified. That is to say, Jude could appeal to written documents of the Christian faith in his arguments with the false teachers. Most likely, these documents were the letters of Paul and perhaps one or more gospels. First and Second Peter may also have been among the documents Jude has in mind (see also the note on the phrase entrusted to the saints in this verse).

[1:3]  ²⁵ sn I now feel compelled instead…saints. Apparently news of some crisis has reached Jude, prompting him to write a different letter than what he had originally planned. A plausible scenario (assuming authenticity of 2 Peter or at least that there are authentic Petrine snippets in it) is that after Peter’s death, Jude intended to write to the same Gentile readers that Peter had written to (essentially, Paul’s churches). Jude starts by affirming that the gospel the Gentiles had received from Paul was the same as the one the Jewish Christians had received from the other apostles (our common salvation). But in the midst of writing this letter, Jude felt that the present crisis deserved another, shorter piece. The crisis, as the letter reveals, is that the false teachers whom Peter prophesied have now infiltrated the church. The letter of Jude is thus an ad hoc letter, intended to confirm the truth of Peter’s letter and encourage the saints to ground their faith in the written documents of the nascent church, rather than listen to the twisted gospel of the false teachers. In large measure, the letter of Jude illustrates the necessity of clinging to the authority of scripture as opposed to those who claim to be prophets.

[9:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “has granted us reviving.”

[9:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to cause to stand.”

[9:9]  ²⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”

[5:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ³² tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ³³ tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ³⁴ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[5:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “words.”

[5:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “my heart was advised upon me.”

[5:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “nobles.”

[5:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “taking a creditor’s debt.” The Hebrew noun מַשָּׁא (masha’) means “interest; debt” and probably refers to the collateral (pledge) collected by a creditor (HALOT 641-42 s.v.). This particular noun form appears only in Nehemiah (5:7, 10; 10:32); however, it is related to מַשָּׁאָה (masha’ah, “contractual loan; debt; collateral”) which appears elsewhere (Deut 24:10; Prov 22:26; cf. Neh 5:11). See the note on the word “people” at the end of v. 5. The BHS editors suggest emending the MT to מָשָׂא (masa’, “burden”), following several medieval Hebrew MSS; however, the result is not entirely clear: “you are bearing a burden, a man with his brothers.”

[5:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his brothers.”

[5:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I gave.”

[5:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “our brothers, the Jews.”

[5:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “your brothers.”

[9:27]  ⁴³ tn Heb “from the hand of” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “from the power of.”

[9:28]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “in the hand of” (so KJV, ASV); NAB “to the power of.”

[9:36]  ⁴⁵ tn The expression “to enjoy” is not included in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:37]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “according to their desire.”