Matthew 13:22

13:22 The ¹  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ²  choke the word, ³  so it produces nothing.

Matthew 14:9

14:9 Although it grieved the king, ⁴  because of his oath and the dinner guests he commanded it to be given.

Jude 1:23-24

1:23 save ⁵  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ⁶  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ⁷  hating even the clothes stained ⁸  by the flesh. ⁹ 

Final Blessing

1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, ¹⁰  and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, ¹¹  without blemish ¹²  before his glorious presence, ¹³ 

Daniel 6:14-17

6:14 When the king heard this, ¹⁴  he was very upset and began thinking about ¹⁵  how he might rescue Daniel. Until late afternoon ¹⁶  he was struggling to find a way to rescue him. 6:15 Then those men came by collusion to the king and ¹⁷  said to him, ¹⁸  “Recall, ¹⁹  O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or decree that the king issues can be changed.” 6:16 So the king gave the order, ²⁰  and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den ²¹  of lions. The king consoled ²²  Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!” 6:17 Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening ²³  to the den. The king sealed ²⁴  it with his signet ring and with those ²⁵  of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel.

Mark 6:26

6:26 Although it grieved the king deeply, ²⁶  he did not want to reject her request because of his oath and his guests.

Mark 10:22

10:22 But at this statement, the man ²⁷  looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. ²⁸ 

Luke 18:23

18:23 But when the man ²⁹  heard this he became very sad, ³⁰  for he was extremely wealthy.

John 19:12-16

19:12 From this point on, Pilate tried ³¹  to release him. But the Jewish leaders ³²  shouted out, ³³  “If you release this man, ³⁴  you are no friend of Caesar! ³⁵  Everyone who claims to be a king ³⁶  opposes Caesar!” 19:13 When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat ³⁷  in the place called “The Stone Pavement” ³⁸  (Gabbatha in ³⁹  Aramaic). ⁴⁰  19:14 (Now it was the day of preparation ⁴¹  for the Passover, about noon. ⁴² ) ⁴³  Pilate ⁴⁴  said to the Jewish leaders, ⁴⁵  “Look, here is your king!”

19:15 Then they ⁴⁶  shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! ⁴⁷  Crucify ⁴⁸  him!” Pilate asked, ⁴⁹  “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!” 19:16 Then Pilate ⁵⁰  handed him over ⁵¹  to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus,

[13:22]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:22]  ² tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

[13:22]  ³ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.

[14:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “and being grieved, the king commanded.”

[1:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “and save.”

[1:23]  ⁶ tn Grk “and have mercy.”

[1:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.

[1:23]  ⁸ sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

[1:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.

[1:24]  ¹⁰ tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”

[1:24]  ¹² tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.

[1:24]  ¹³ tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”

[6:14]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “the word.”

[6:14]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “placed his mind on.”

[6:14]  ¹⁶ tn Aram “the entrances of the sun.”

[6:15]  ¹⁷ tc Theodotion lacks the words “came by collusion to the king and.”

[6:15]  ¹⁸ tn Aram “the king.”

[6:15]  ¹⁹ tn Aram “know”; NAB “Keep in mind”; NASB “Recognize”; NIV, NCV “Remember.”

[6:16]  ²⁰ tn Aram “said.” So also in vv. 24, 25.

[6:16]  ²¹ sn The den was perhaps a pit below ground level which could be safely observed from above.

[6:16]  ²² tn Aram “answered and said [to Daniel].”

[6:17]  ²³ tn Aram “mouth.”

[6:17]  ²⁴ sn The purpose of the den being sealed was to prevent unauthorized tampering with the opening of the den. Any disturbance of the seal would immediately alert the officials to improper activity of this sort.

[6:17]  ²⁵ tn Aram “the signet rings.”

[6:26]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and being deeply grieved, the king did not want.”

[10:22]  ²⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man who asked the question in v. 17) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:22]  ²⁸ tn Grk “he had many possessions.” This term (κτῆμα, kthma) is often used for land as a possession.

[18:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  ³⁰ tn Or “very distressed” (L&N 25.277).

[19:12]  ³¹ tn Grk “sought.”

[19:12]  ³² tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin, and their servants (mentioned specifically as “the chief priests and their servants” in John 19:6). See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:12]  ³³ tn Grk “shouted out, saying.”

[19:12]  ³⁴ tn Grk “this one.”

[19:12]  ³⁵ sn Is the author using the phrase Friend of Caesar in a technical sense, as a title bestowed on people for loyal service to the Emperor, or in a more general sense merely describing a person as loyal to the Emperor? L. Morris (John [NICNT], 798) thinks it is “unlikely” that the title is used in the technical sense, and J. H. Bernard (St. John [ICC], 2:621) argues that the technical sense of the phrase as an official title was not used before the time of Vespasian (a.d. 69-79). But there appears to be significant evidence for much earlier usage. Some of this is given in BDAG 498-99 s.v. Καῖσαρ. E. Bammel (“φίλος τοῦ καίσαρος (John 19:12),” TLZ 77 [1952]: 205-10) listed significant and convincing arguments that the official title was indeed in use at the time. Granting that the title was in use during this period, what is the likelihood that it had been bestowed on Pilate? Pilate was of the equestrian order, that is, of lower nobility as opposed to senatorial rank. As such he would have been eligible to receive such an honor. It also appears that the powerful Sejanus was his patron in Rome, and Sejanus held considerable influence with Tiberius. Tacitus (Annals 6.8) quotes Marcus Terentius in his defense before the Senate as saying that close friendship with Sejanus “was in every case a powerful recommendation to the Emperor’s friendship.” Thus it is possible that Pilate held this honor. Therefore it appears that the Jewish authorities were putting a good deal of psychological pressure on Pilate to convict Jesus. They had, in effect, finally specified the charge against Jesus as treason: “Everyone who makes himself to be king opposes Caesar.” If Pilate now failed to convict Jesus the Jewish authorities could complain to Rome that Pilate had released a traitor. This possibility carried more weight with Pilate than might at first be evident: (1) Pilate’s record as governor was not entirely above reproach; (2) Tiberius, who lived away from Rome as a virtual recluse on the island of Capri, was known for his suspicious nature, especially toward rivals or those who posed a political threat; and (3) worst of all, Pilate’s patron in Rome, Sejanus, had recently come under suspicion of plotting to seize the imperial succession for himself. Sejanus was deposed in October of a.d. 31. It may have been to Sejanus that Pilate owed his appointment in Judea. Pilate was now in a very delicate position. The Jewish authorities may have known something of this and deliberately used it as leverage against him. Whether or not they knew just how potent their veiled threat was, it had the desired effect. Pilate went directly to the judgment seat to pronounce his judgment.

[19:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “who makes himself out to be a king.”

[19:13]  ³⁷ tn Or “the judge’s seat.”

[19:13]  ³⁸ sn The precise location of the place called ‘The Stone Pavement’ is still uncertain, although a paved court on the lower level of the Fortress Antonia has been suggested. It is not certain whether it was laid prior to a.d. 135, however.

[19:13]  ³⁹ tn Grk “in Hebrew.”

[19:13]  ⁴⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:14]  ⁴¹ sn The term day of preparation (παρασκευή, paraskeuh) appears in all the gospels as a description of the day on which Jesus died. It could refer to any Friday as the day of preparation for the Sabbath (Saturday), and this is the way the synoptic gospels use the term (Matt 27:62, Mark 15:42, and Luke 23:54). John, however, specifies in addition that this was not only the day of preparation of the Sabbath, but also the day of preparation of the Passover, so that the Sabbath on the following day was the Passover (cf. 19:31).

[19:14]  ⁴² tn Grk “about the sixth hour.”

[19:14]  ⁴³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin, and their servants (mentioned specifically as “the chief priests and their servants” in John 19:6). See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “Then these.”

[19:15]  ⁴⁷ tn The words “with him” (twice) are not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[19:15]  ⁴⁸ sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.

[19:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Pilate said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because it is clear in English who Pilate is addressing.

[19:16]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “Then he”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:16]  ⁵¹ tn Or “delivered him over.”