Proverbs 2:13

2:13 who leave ¹  the upright ²  paths

to walk on the dark ³  ways,

Proverbs 4:19

4:19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness; ⁴ 

they do not know what causes them to stumble. ⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 2:14

2:14 The wise man can see where he is going, ⁶  but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also realized that the same fate ⁷  happens to them both. ⁸ 

John 3:19

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ⁹  that the light has come into the world and people ¹⁰  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

John 12:35

12:35 Jesus replied, ¹¹  “The light is with you for a little while longer. ¹²  Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. ¹³  The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

John 12:1

Jesus’ Anointing

12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he ¹⁴  had raised from the dead.

John 2:11

2:11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ¹⁵  in Cana ¹⁶  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ¹⁷  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ¹⁸ 

[2:13]  ¹ tn The articular plural active participle functions as attributive adjective for אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) in v. 12b, indicating that אִישׁ (“man”) is collective.

[2:13]  ² tn Heb “paths of uprightness.” The noun יָשָׁר (yashar, “uprightness; straightness”) is an attributive genitive. The moral life is described in Proverbs as the smooth, straight way (2:13; 4:11). The wicked abandon the clear straight path for an evil, crooked, uncertain path.

[2:13]  ³ tn Heb “ways of darkness.” Darkness is often metaphorical for sinfulness, ignorance, or oppression. Their way of life lacks spiritual illumination.

[4:19]  ⁴ sn The simile describes ignorance or spiritual blindness, sinfulness, calamity, despair.

[4:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “in what they stumble.”

[2:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “has his eyes in his head.” The term עַיִן (’ayin, “eye”) is used figuratively in reference to mental and spiritual faculties (BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.a). The term “eye” is a metonymy of cause (eye) for effect (sight and perception).

[2:14]  ⁷ sn The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.

[2:14]  ⁸ tn The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example of synecdoche of general (“all of them”) for the specific (“both of them,” that is, both the wise man and the fool).

[3:19]  ⁹ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[12:35]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[12:35]  ¹² tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”

[12:35]  ¹³ sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “whom Jesus,” but a repetition of the proper name (Jesus) here would be redundant in the English clause structure, so the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.

[2:11]  ¹⁵ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. also 4:54 where the same construction occurs.

[2:11]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed.”

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “his disciples trusted in him,” or “his disciples put their faith in him.”