John 3:26

3:26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, ¹  about whom you testified – see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”

John 3:33

3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ² 

John 1:11

1:11 He came to what was his own, ³  but ⁴  his own people ⁵  did not receive him. ⁶ 

Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ⁷ 

Is my hand too weak ⁸  to deliver ⁹  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ¹⁰  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 53:1

53:1 Who would have believed ¹²  what we ¹³  just heard? ¹⁴ 

When ¹⁵  was the Lord’s power ¹⁶  revealed through him?

Romans 10:16-21

10:16 But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷  10:17 Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word ¹⁸  of Christ. ¹⁹ 

10:18 But I ask, have they ²⁰  not heard? ²¹  Yes, they have: ²²  Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. ²³  10:19 But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? ²⁴  First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.” ²⁵  10:20 And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.” ²⁶  10:21 But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!” ²⁷ 

Romans 11:2-6

11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” ²⁸  11:4 But what was the divine response ²⁹  to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people ³⁰  who have not bent the knee to Baal.” ³¹ 

11:5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

[3:26]  ¹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:33]  ² tn Or “is true.”

[1:11]  ³ tn Grk “to his own things.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “and,” but in context this is an adversative use of καί (kai) and is thus translated “but.”

[1:11]  ⁵ tn “People” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[1:11]  ⁶ sn His own people did not receive him. There is a subtle irony here: When the λόγος (logos) came into the world, he came to his own (τὰ ἴδια, ta idia, literally “his own things”) and his own people (οἱ ἴδιοι, Joi idioi), who should have known and received him, but they did not. This time John does not say that “his own” did not know him, but that they did not receive him (παρέλαβον, parelabon). The idea is one not of mere recognition, but of acceptance and welcome.

[50:2]  ⁷ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ⁹ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[53:1]  ¹² tn The perfect has a hypothetical force in this rhetorical question. For another example, see Gen 21:7.

[53:1]  ¹³ sn The speaker shifts here from God to an unidentified group (note the first person plural pronouns throughout vv. 1-6). The content of the speech suggests that the prophet speaks here as representative of the sinful nation Israel. The group acknowledges its sin and recognizes that the servant suffered on their behalf.

[53:1]  ¹⁴ tn The first half of v. 1 is traditionally translated, “Who has believed our report?” or “Who has believed our message?” as if the group speaking is lamenting that no one will believe what they have to say. But that doesn’t seem to be the point in this context. Here the group speaking does not cast itself in the role of a preacher or evangelist. No, they are repentant sinners, who finally see the light. The phrase “our report” can mean (1) the report which we deliver, or (2) the report which was delivered to us. The latter fits better here, where the report is most naturally taken as the announcement that has just been made in 52:13-15.

[53:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to whom” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[53:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the arm of the Lord.” The “arm of the Lord” is a metaphor of military power; it pictures the Lord as a warrior who bares his arm, takes up his weapon, and crushes his enemies (cf. 51:9-10; 63:5-6). But Israel had not seen the Lord’s military power at work in the servant.

[10:16]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.

[10:17]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rJhma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.

[10:17]  ¹⁹ tc Most mss (א¹ A D¹ Ψ 33 1881 Ï sy) have θεοῦ (qeou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Cristou; found in Ì^46vid א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 pc lat co). External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rJhma Cristou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression.

[10:18]  ²⁰ tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).

[10:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mh) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.

[10:18]  ²² tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mh) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.

[10:18]  ²³ sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.

[10:19]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Israel did not ‘not know,’ did he?” The double negative in Greek has been translated as a positive affirmation for clarity (see v. 18 above for a similar situation).

[10:19]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.

[10:20]  ²⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 65:1.

[10:21]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 65:2.

[11:3]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.

[11:4]  ²⁹ tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”

[11:4]  ³⁰ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it appears to be a generic usage (“people”) since when Paul speaks of a remnant of faithful Israelites (“the elect,” v. 7), he is not referring to males only. It can also be argued, however, that it refers only to adult males here (“men”), perhaps as representative of all the faithful left in Israel.

[11:4]  ³¹ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.