John 3:18

3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. ¹  The one who does not believe has been condemned ²  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ³  Son of God.

John 8:14

8:14 Jesus answered, ⁴  “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people ⁵  do not know where I came from or where I am going. ⁶ 

John 12:3

12:3 Then Mary took three quarters of a pound ⁷  of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard ⁸  and anointed the feet of Jesus. She ⁹  then wiped his feet dry with her hair. (Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.) ¹⁰ 

[3:18]  ¹ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ² tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ³ tn See the note on the term “one and only” in 3:16.

[8:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[8:14]  ⁵ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to indicate that the pronoun (“you”) and verb (“do not know”) in Greek are plural.

[8:14]  ⁶ sn You people do not know where I came from or where I am going. The ignorance of the religious authorities regarding Jesus’ origin works on two levels at once: First, they thought Jesus came from Galilee (although he really came from Bethlehem in Judea) and second, they did not know that he came from heaven (from the Father), and this is where he would return. See further John 7:52.

[12:3]  ⁷ tn Or “half a liter”; Grk “a pound” (that is, a Roman pound, about 325 grams or 12 ounces).

[12:3]  ⁸ tn Μύρον (muron) was usually made of myrrh (from which the English word is derived) but here it is used in the sense of ointment or perfumed oil (L&N 6.205). The adjective πιστικῆς (pistikh") is difficult with regard to its exact meaning; some have taken it to derive from πίστις (pistis) and relate to the purity of the oil of nard. More probably it is something like a brand name, “pistic nard,” the exact significance of which has not been discovered.

[12:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “And she.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[12:3]  ¹⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. With a note characteristic of someone who was there and remembered, the author adds that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil. In the later rabbinic literature, Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7.1.1 states “The fragrance of good oil is diffused from the bedroom to the dining hall, but a good name is diffused from one end of the world to the other.” If such a saying was known in the 1st century, this might be the author’s way of indicating that Mary’s act of devotion would be spoken of throughout the entire world (compare the comment in Mark 14:9).