Matthew 4:17

4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: ¹  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Matthew 11:1

11:1 When ²  Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

Isaiah 61:1

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ³  me. ⁴ 

He has commissioned ⁵  me to encourage ⁶  the poor,

to help ⁷  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

John 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ⁸  at night ⁹  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ¹⁰  that you do unless God is with him.”

Mark 6:12

6:12 So ¹¹  they went out and preached that all should repent.

Luke 9:60

9:60 But Jesus ¹²  said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, ¹³  but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ¹⁴ 

Luke 16:16

16:16 “The law and the prophets were in force ¹⁵  until John; ¹⁶  since then, ¹⁷  the good news of the kingdom of God ¹⁸  has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it. ¹⁹ 

Acts 4:2

4:2 angry ²⁰  because they were teaching the people and announcing ²¹  in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

[4:17]  ¹ tn Grk “and to say.”

[11:1]  ² tn Grk “And it happened when.” The introductory phrase καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto, “it happened that”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[61:1]  ³ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ⁴ sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).

[61:1]  ⁵ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ⁶ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[9:60]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:60]  ¹³ sn There are several options for the meaning of Jesus’ reply Leave the dead to bury their own dead: (1) Recent research suggests that burial customs in the vicinity of Jerusalem from about 20 b.c. to a.d. 70 involved a reinterment of the bones a year after the initial burial, once the flesh had rotted away. At that point the son would have placed his father’s bones in a special box known as an ossuary to be set into the wall of the tomb. Thus Jesus could well be rebuking the man for wanting to wait around for as much as a year before making a commitment to follow him. In 1st century Jewish culture, to have followed Jesus rather than burying one’s father would have seriously dishonored one’s father (cf. Tobit 4:3-4). (2) The remark is an idiom (possibly a proverbial saying) that means, “The matter in question is not the real issue,” in which case Jesus was making a wordplay on the wording of the man’s (literal) request (see L&N 33.137). (3) This remark could be a figurative reference to various kinds of people, meaning, “Let the spiritually dead bury the dead.” (4) It could also be literal and designed to shock the hearer by the surprise of the contrast. Whichever option is preferred, it is clear that the most important priority is to preach the gospel (proclaim the kingdom of God).

[9:60]  ¹⁴ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn There is no verb in the Greek text; one must be supplied. Some translations (NASB, NIV) supply “proclaimed” based on the parallelism with the proclamation of the kingdom. The transitional nature of this verse, however, seems to call for something more like “in effect” (NRSV) or, as used here, “in force.” Further, Greek generally can omit one of two kinds of verbs – either the equative verb or one that is already mentioned in the preceding context (ExSyn 39).

[16:16]  ¹⁶ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[16:16]  ¹⁷ sn Until John; since then. This verse indicates a shift in era, from law to kingdom.

[16:16]  ¹⁸ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[16:16]  ¹⁹ tn Many translations have “entereth violently into it” (ASV) or “is forcing his way into it” (NASB, NIV). This is not true of everyone. It is better to read the verb here as passive rather than middle, and in a softened sense of “be urged.” See Gen 33:11; Judg 13:15-16; 19:7; 2 Sam 3:25, 27 in the LXX. This fits the context well because it agrees with Jesus’ attempt to persuade his opponents to respond morally. For further discussion and details, see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 2:1352-53.

[4:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Or “proclaiming.”