Numbers 21:8-9

21:8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks ¹  at it, he will live.” 21:9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived. ² 

Numbers 21:2

21:2 So Israel made a vow ³  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ⁴  this people into our ⁵  hand, then we will utterly destroy ⁶  their cities.”

Numbers 13:21

The Spies’ Activities

13:21 So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, ⁷  at the entrance of Hamath. ⁸ 

Matthew 9:20-21

9:20 But ⁹  a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage ¹⁰  for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge ¹¹  of his cloak. ¹²  9:21 For she kept saying to herself, ¹³  “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.” ¹⁴ 

Matthew 14:36

14:36 They begged him if ¹⁵  they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Mark 3:10

3:10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him.

Mark 6:56

6:56 And wherever he would go – into villages, towns, or countryside – they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if ¹⁶  they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Mark 8:22

A Two-stage Healing

8:22 Then ¹⁷  they came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus ¹⁸  and asked him to touch him.

John 3:14-15

3:14 Just as ¹⁹  Moses lifted up the serpent ²⁰  in the wilderness, ²¹  so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ²²  3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” ²³ 

Acts 5:15-16

5:15 Thus ²⁴  they even carried the sick out into the streets, and put them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow would fall on some of them. 5:16 A crowd of people from the towns around Jerusalem ²⁵  also came together, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits. ²⁶  They ²⁷  were all ²⁸  being healed.

Acts 19:12

19:12 so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body ²⁹  were brought ³⁰  to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. ³¹ 

[21:8]  ¹ tn The word order is slightly different in Hebrew: “and it shall be anyone who is bitten when he looks at it he shall live.”

[21:9]  ² sn The image of the snake was to be a symbol of the curse that the Israelites were experiencing; by lifting the snake up on a pole Moses was indicating that the curse would be drawn away from the people – if they looked to it, which was a sign of faith. This symbol was later stored in the temple, until it became an object of worship and had to be removed (2 Kgs 18:4). Jesus, of course, alluded to it and used it as an illustration of his own mission. He would become the curse, and be lifted up, so that people who looked by faith to him would live (John 3:14). For further material, see D. J. Wiseman, “Flying Serpents,” TynBul 23 (1972): 108-10; and K. R. Joines, “The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult,” JBL 87 (1968): 245-56.

[21:2]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative with the verb: They vowed a vow. The Israelites were therefore determined with God’s help to defeat Arad.

[21:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of נָתַן (natan) to stress the point – if you will surely/indeed give.”

[21:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “my.”

[21:2]  ⁶ tn On the surface this does not sound like much of a vow. But the key is in the use of the verb for “utterly destroy” – חָרַם (kharam). Whatever was put to this “ban” or “devotion” belonged to God, either for his use, or for destruction. The oath was in fact saying that they would take nothing from this for themselves. It would simply be the removal of what was alien to the faith, or to God’s program.

[13:21]  ⁷ sn Zin is on the southern edge of the land, but Rehob is far north, near Mount Hermon. The spies covered all the land.

[13:21]  ⁸ tn The idiom uses the infinitive construct: “to enter Hamath,” meaning, “on the way that people go to Hamath.”

[9:20]  ⁹ tn Grk “And behold a woman.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[9:20]  ¹⁰ sn Suffering from a hemorrhage. The woman was most likely suffering from a vaginal hemorrhage which would make her ritually unclean.

[9:20]  ¹¹ sn The edge of his cloak refers to the kraspedon, the blue tassel on the garment that symbolized a Jewish man’s obedience to the law (cf. Num 15:37-41). The woman thus touched the very part of Jesus’ clothing that indicated his ritual purity.

[9:20]  ¹² tn Grk “garment,” but here ἱμάτιον (Jimation) denotes the outer garment in particular.

[9:21]  ¹³ tn The imperfect verb is here taken iteratively, for the context suggests that the woman was trying to find the courage to touch Jesus’ cloak.

[9:21]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “saved.”

[14:36]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “asked that they might touch.”

[6:56]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “asked that they might touch.”

[8:22]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And just as.”

[3:14]  ²⁰ sn Or the snake, referring to the bronze serpent mentioned in Num 21:9.

[3:14]  ²¹ sn An allusion to Num 21:5-9.

[3:14]  ²² sn So must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is ultimately a prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nicodemus could not have understood this, but John’s readers, the audience to whom the Gospel is addressed, certainly could have (compare the wording of John 12:32). In John, being lifted up refers to one continuous action of ascent, beginning with the cross but ending at the right hand of the Father. Step 1 is Jesus’ death; step 2 is his resurrection; and step 3 is the ascension back to heaven. It is the upward swing of the “pendulum” which began with the incarnation, the descent of the Word become flesh from heaven to earth (cf. Paul in Phil 2:5-11). See also the note on the title Son of Man in 1:51.

[3:15]  ²³ tn This is the first use of the term ζωὴν αἰώνιον (zwhn aiwnion) in the Gospel, although ζωή (zwh) in chap. 1 is to be understood in the same way without the qualifying αἰώνιος (aiwnios).

[5:15]  ²⁴ tn This is a continuation of the preceding sentence in Greek, but because this would produce an awkward sentence in English, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

[5:16]  ²⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:16]  ²⁶ sn Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

[5:16]  ²⁷ tn Literally a relative pronoun, “who.” In English, however, a relative clause (“bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits, who were all being healed”) could be understood to refer only to the second group (meaning only those troubled by unclean spirits were being healed) or even that the unclean spirits were being healed. To avoid this ambiguity the pronoun “they” was used to begin a new English sentence.

[5:16]  ²⁸ sn They were all being healed. Note how the healings that the apostles provided were comprehensive in their consistency.

[19:12]  ²⁹ tn Or “skin” (the outer surface of the body).

[19:12]  ³⁰ tn Or “were taken.” It might be that as word went out into the region that since the sick could not come to Paul, healing was brought to them this way. The “handkerchiefs” are probably face cloths for wiping perspiration (see BDAG 934 s.v. σουδάριον) while the “aprons” might be material worn by workmen (BDAG 923-24 s.v. σιμικίνθιον).

[19:12]  ³¹ tn The words “of them” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.