Psalms 1:3

1:3 He is like ¹  a tree planted by flowing streams; ² 

it ³  yields ⁴  its fruit at the proper time, ⁵ 

and its leaves never fall off. ⁶ 

He succeeds in everything he attempts. ⁷ 

Psalms 37:2

37:2 For they will quickly dry up like grass,

and wither away like plants. ⁸ 

Matthew 13:6

13:6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered.

Matthew 21:19-20

21:19 After noticing a fig tree ⁹  by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once. 21:20 When the disciples saw it they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

Mark 4:6

4:6 When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, ¹⁰  it withered.

Mark 11:21

11:21 Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered.”

Luke 8:6

8:6 Other seed fell on rock, ¹¹  and when it came up, it withered because it had no moisture.

John 15:4-6

15:4 Remain ¹²  in me, and I will remain in you. ¹³  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, ¹⁴  unless it remains ¹⁵  in ¹⁶  the vine, so neither can you unless you remain ¹⁷  in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ¹⁸  in me – and I in him – bears ¹⁹  much fruit, ²⁰  because apart from me you can accomplish ²¹  nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain ²²  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ²³  and are burned up. ²⁴ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same characteristic force as the imperfect in the preceding verse. According to the psalmist, the one who studies and obeys God’s commands typically prospers.

[1:3]  ² tn Heb “channels of water.”

[1:3]  ³ tn Heb “which.”

[1:3]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in v. 3 draw attention to the typical nature of the actions/states they describe.

[1:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “in its season.”

[1:3]  ⁶ tn Or “fade”; “wither.”

[1:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and all which he does prospers”; or “and all which he does he causes to prosper.” (The simile of the tree does not extend to this line.) It is not certain if the Hiphil verbal form (יַצְלִיחַ, yatsliakh) is intransitive-exhibitive (“prospers”) or causative (“causes to prosper”) here. If the verb is intransitive, then כֹּל (kol, “all, everything”) is the subject. If the verb is causative, then the godly individual or the Lord himself is the subject and כֹּל is the object. The wording is reminiscent of Josh 1:8, where the Lord tells Joshua: “This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper (literally, “cause your way to prosper”) and be successful.”

[37:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “like green vegetation.”

[21:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “one fig tree.”

[4:6]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “it did not have root.”

[8:6]  ¹¹ sn The rock in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

[15:4]  ¹² tn Or “Reside.”

[15:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “and I in you.” The verb has been repeated for clarity and to conform to contemporary English style, which typically allows fewer ellipses (omitted or understood words) than Greek.

[15:4]  ¹⁴ sn The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to the vine, from which its life and sustenance flows. As far as the disciples were concerned, they would produce no fruit from themselves if they did not remain in their relationship to Jesus, because the eternal life which a disciple must possess in order to bear fruit originates with Jesus; he is the source of all life and productivity for the disciple.

[15:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “resides.”

[15:4]  ¹⁶ tn While it would be more natural to say “on the vine” (so NAB), the English preposition “in” has been retained here to emphasize the parallelism with the following clause “unless you remain in me.” To speak of remaining “in” a person is not natural English either, but is nevertheless a biblical concept (cf. “in Christ” in Eph 1:3, 4, 6, 7, 11).

[15:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “you reside.”

[15:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  ²¹ tn Or “do.”

[15:6]  ²² tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ²³ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”