Psalms 15:3

15:3 He ¹  does not slander, ² 

or do harm to others, ³ 

or insult his neighbor. ⁴ 

Psalms 50:20

50:20 You plot against your brother; ⁵ 

you slander your own brother. ⁶ 

Psalms 101:5

101:5 I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret.

I will not tolerate anyone who has a cocky demeanor and an arrogant attitude. ⁷ 

Proverbs 10:18

10:18 The one who conceals hatred utters lies, ⁸ 

and the one who spreads ⁹  slander ¹⁰  is certainly ¹¹  a fool.

Proverbs 25:13

25:13 Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest, ¹² 

so is a faithful messenger to those who send him,

for he refreshes the heart ¹³  of his masters.

Jeremiah 9:4

9:4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends.

He must not even trust any of his relatives. ¹⁴ 

For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. ¹⁵ 

And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

Matthew 4:1

The Temptation of Jesus

4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ¹⁶  to be tempted by the devil.

John 6:70

6:70 Jesus replied, ¹⁷  “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?” ¹⁸ 

John 6:2

6:2 A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.

John 3:3

3:3 Jesus replied, ¹⁹  “I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁰  unless a person is born from above, ²¹  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ²² 

Titus 2:3

2:3 Older women likewise are to exhibit behavior fitting for those who are holy, not slandering, not slaves to excessive drinking, but teaching what is good.

Revelation 12:9-10

12:9 So ²³  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him. 12:10 Then ²⁴  I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

“The salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the ruling authority ²⁵  of his Christ, ²⁶  have now come,

because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, ²⁷ 

the one who accuses them day and night ²⁸  before our God,

has been thrown down.

[15:3]  ¹ sn Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age.

[15:3]  ² tn Heb “he does not slander upon his tongue.” For another example of רָגַל (ragal, “slander”) see 2 Sam 19:28.

[15:3]  ³ tn Or “his fellow.”

[15:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he does not lift up an insult against one who is near to him.”

[50:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “you sit, against your brother you speak.” To “sit” and “speak” against someone implies plotting against that person (see Ps 119:23).

[50:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “against the son of your mother you give a fault.”

[101:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “[one who has] pride of eyes and wideness [i.e., arrogance] of heart, him I will not endure.”

[10:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “lips of falsehood.” The genitive noun שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “falsehood”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun “lips” is a metonymy of cause for speech produced by lips. The one who shows friendliness while concealing hatred is a liar (e.g., Ps 28:3).

[10:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “causes to go out.” The Hiphil of יָצָא (yatsa) literally means “to cause to go out” (BDB 424 s.v. Hiph.1). This may refer to speech (“to utter”) in the sense of causing words to go out of one’s mouth, or it may refer to slander (“to spread”) in the sense of causing slander to go out to others.

[10:18]  ¹⁰ tn The word דִבָּה (dibbah) means “whispering; defamation; evil report” (BDB 179 s.v.). Cf. NAB “accusations”; TEV “gossip.”

[10:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he is a fool.” The independent personal pronoun הוּא (hu’, “he”) is used for emphasis. This is reflected in the translation as “certainly.”

[25:13]  ¹² sn The emblem in the parallelism of this verse is the simile of the first line. Because snow at the time of harvest would be rare, and probably unwelcome, various commentators have sought to explain this expression. R. N. Whybray suggests it may refer to snow brought down from the mountains and kept cool in an ice hole (Proverbs [CBC], 148); this seems rather forced. J. H. Greenstone following Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105, suggests it might refer to the refreshing breeze that comes from snow-capped mountains (Proverbs, 260). C. H. Toy suggests a snow-cooled drink (Proverbs [ICC], 464), and W. McKane an application of ice water to the forehead (Proverbs [OTL], 585). Some English versions replace “snow” with “water” (cf. TEV “cold water”; CEV “cool water”). These all attempt to explain the simile; but the point is clear enough, a faithful servant is refreshing to his master. The analogy could be hypothetical – as refreshing as the coolness of snow would be in harvest time.

[25:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he restores the life [or, soul] of his masters.” The idea suggests that someone who sends the messenger either entrusts his life to him or relies on the messenger to resolve some concern. A faithful messenger restores his master’s spirit and so is “refreshing.”

[9:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Be on your guard…Do not trust.” The verbs are second masculine plural of direct address and there seems no way to translate literally and not give the mistaken impression that Jeremiah is being addressed. This is another example of the tendency in Hebrew style to turn from description to direct address (a figure of speech called apostrophe).

[9:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “cheating, each of them will cheat.”

[4:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “desert.”

[6:70]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Jesus answered them.”

[6:70]  ¹⁸ tn Although most translations render this last phrase as “one of you is a devil,” such a translation presupposes that there is more than one devil. This finds roots in the KJV in which the Greek word for demon was often translated “devil.” In fact, the KJV never uses the word “demon.” (Sixty-two of the 63 NT instances of δαιμόνιον [daimonion] are translated “devil” [in Acts 17:18 the plural has been translated “gods”]. This can get confusing in places where the singular “devil” is used: Is Satan or one of the demons in view [cf. Matt 9:33 (demon); 13:39 (devil); 17:18 (demon); Mark 7:26 (demon); Luke 4:2 (devil); etc.]?) Now regarding John 6:70, both the construction in Greek and the technical use of διάβολος (diabolos) indicate that the one devil is in view. To object to the translation “the devil” because it thus equates Judas with Satan does not take into consideration that Jesus often spoke figuratively (e.g., “destroy this temple” [John 2:19]; “he [John the Baptist] is Elijah” [Matt 11:14]), even equating Peter with the devil on one occasion (Mark 8:33). According to ExSyn 249, “A curious phenomenon has occurred in the English Bible with reference to one particular monadic noun, διάβολος. The KJV translates both διάβολος and δαιμόνιον as ‘devil.’ Thus in the AV translators’ minds, ‘devil’ was not a monadic noun. Modern translations have correctly rendered δαιμόνιον as ‘demon’ and have, for the most part, recognized that διάβολος is monadic (cf., e.g., 1 Pet 5:8; Rev 20:2). But in John 6:70 modern translations have fallen into the error of the King James translators. The KJV has ‘one of you is a devil.’ So does the RSV, NRSV, ASV, NIV, NKJV, and the JB [Jerusalem Bible]. Yet there is only one devil…The legacy of the KJV still lives on, then, even in places where it ought not.”

[3:3]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ²¹ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  ²² sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[12:9]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

[12:10]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[12:10]  ²⁵ tn Or “the right of his Messiah to rule.” See L&N 37.35.

[12:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[12:10]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The translation “fellow believer” would normally apply (L&N 11.23), but since the speaker(s) are not specified in this context, it is not clear if such a translation would be appropriate here. The more generic “brothers and sisters” was chosen to emphasize the fact of a relationship without specifying its type.

[12:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “who accuses them continually.”