Luke 2:48

2:48 When ¹  his parents ²  saw him, they were overwhelmed. His ³  mother said to him, “Child, ⁴  why have you treated ⁵  us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” ⁶ 

Psalms 40:8

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, ⁷  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” ⁸ 

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ⁹  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ¹⁰  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ¹¹  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Matthew 21:12

Cleansing the Temple

21:12 Then ¹²  Jesus entered the temple area ¹³  and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, ¹⁴  and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

John 2:16-17

2:16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make ¹⁵  my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁶  2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal ¹⁷  for your house will devour me.” ¹⁸ 

John 4:34

4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me ¹⁹  and to complete ²⁰  his work. ²¹ 

John 5:17

5:17 So he ²²  told ²³  them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” ²⁴ 

John 6:38

6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

John 8:29

8:29 And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, ²⁵  because I always do those things that please him.”

John 9:4

9:4 We must perform the deeds ²⁶  of the one who sent me ²⁷  as long as ²⁸  it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work.

[2:48]  ¹ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:48]  ² tn Grk “when they”; the referent (his parents) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:48]  ³ tn Grk “And his.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:48]  ⁴ tn The Greek word here is τέκνον (teknon) rather than υἱός (Juios, “son”).

[2:48]  ⁵ tn Or “Child, why did you do this to us?”

[2:48]  ⁶ tn Or “your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you.”

[40:8]  ⁷ tn Or “your will.”

[40:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

[3:1]  ⁹ tn In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in 1:1). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11-12; Lk 1:17).

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.

[3:1]  ¹¹ sn This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.

[21:12]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[21:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “the temple.”

[21:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the temple.”

[2:16]  ¹⁵ tn Or (perhaps) “Stop making.”

[2:16]  ¹⁶ tn Or “a house of merchants” (an allusion to Zech 14:21).

[2:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Fervent devotion to your house.”

[2:17]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

[4:34]  ¹⁹ sn The one who sent me refers to the Father.

[4:34]  ²⁰ tn Or “to accomplish.”

[4:34]  ²¹ tn The substantival ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as an English infinitive clause.

[5:17]  ²² tc ‡ Most witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ A D L Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt co) have ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsou", “Jesus”) here, while generally better witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א B W {0141} 892 1241 pbo) lack the name. Although it is possible that Alexandrian scribes deleted the name due to proclivities to prune, this is not as likely as other witnesses adding it for clarification, especially since multiple strands of the Alexandrian text are represented in the shorter reading. NA²⁷ places the word in brackets, indicating some doubts as to authenticity.

[5:17]  ²³ tn Grk “answered.”

[5:17]  ²⁴ sn “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” What is the significance of Jesus’ claim? A preliminary understanding can be obtained from John 5:18, noting the Jewish authorities’ response and the author’s comment. They sought to kill Jesus, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God. This must be seen in the context of the relation of God to the Sabbath rest. In the commandment (Exod 20:11) it is explained that “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth…and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Philo, based on the LXX translation of Exod 20:11, denied outright that God had ever ceased his creative activity. And when Rabban Gamaliel II, R. Joshua, R. Eleazar ben Azariah, and R. Akiba were in Rome, ca. a.d. 95, they gave as a rebuttal to sectarian arguments evidence that God might do as he willed in the world without breaking the Sabbath because the entire world was his private residence. So even the rabbis realized that God did not really cease to work on the Sabbath: Divine providence remained active on the Sabbath, otherwise, all nature and life would cease to exist. As regards men, divine activity was visible in two ways: Men were born and men died on the Sabbath. Since only God could give life and only God could deal with the fate of the dead in judgment, this meant God was active on the Sabbath. This seems to be the background for Jesus’ words in 5:17. He justified his work of healing on the Sabbath by reminding the Jewish authorities that they admitted God worked on the Sabbath. This explains the violence of the reaction. The Sabbath privilege was peculiar to God, and no one was equal to God. In claiming the right to work even as his Father worked, Jesus was claiming a divine prerogative. He was literally making himself equal to God, as 5:18 goes on to state explicitly for the benefit of the reader who might not have made the connection.

[8:29]  ²⁵ tn That is, “he has not abandoned me.”

[9:4]  ²⁶ tn Grk “We must work the works.”

[9:4]  ²⁷ tn Or “of him who sent me” (God).

[9:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “while.”