Psalms 22:30

22:30 A whole generation ¹  will serve him;

they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. ² 

Isaiah 53:10

53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,

once restitution is made, ³ 

he will see descendants and enjoy long life, ⁴ 

and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

Hosea 2:23

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ⁵  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ⁶  will say, ‘You are ⁷  my God!’”

Zechariah 10:8-9

10:8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before. 10:9 Though I scatter ⁸  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return.

John 1:12-13

1:12 But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name ⁹  – he has given the right to become God’s children 1:13 – children not born ¹⁰  by human parents ¹¹  or by human desire ¹²  or a husband’s ¹³  decision, ¹⁴  but by God.

John 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁵  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ¹⁶  But if it dies, it produces ¹⁷  much grain. ¹⁸ 

Romans 8:17

8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) ¹⁹  – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

James 1:18

1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ²⁰  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James 2:5

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ²¹  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

James 2:1

Prejudice and the Law of Love

2:1 My brothers and sisters, ²²  do not show prejudice ²³  if you possess faith ²⁴  in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁵ 

James 1:23

1:23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone ²⁶  who gazes at his own face ²⁷  in a mirror.

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ²⁸  a slave ²⁹  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ³⁰  Greetings!

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ³¹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ³²  in what he says, ³³  he is a perfect individual, ³⁴  able to control the entire body as well.

James 3:9

3:9 With it we bless the Lord ³⁵  and Father, and with it we curse people ³⁶  made in God’s image.

[22:30]  ¹ tn Heb “offspring.”

[22:30]  ² tn Heb “it will be told concerning the Lord to the generation.” The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[53:10]  ³ tn The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular,in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”

[53:10]  ⁴ sn The idiomatic and stereotypical language emphasizes the servant’s restoration to divine favor. Having numerous descendants and living a long life are standard signs of divine blessing. See Job 42:13-16.

[2:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “for myself.”

[2:23]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).

[10:9]  ⁸ tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.

[1:12]  ⁹ tn On the use of the πιστεύω + εἰς (pisteuw + ei") construction in John: The verb πιστεύω occurs 98 times in John (compared to 11 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark [including the longer ending], and 9 times in Luke). One of the unsolved mysteries is why the corresponding noun form πίστις (pistis) is never used at all. Many have held the noun was in use in some pre-Gnostic sects and this rendered it suspect for John. It might also be that for John, faith was an activity, something that men do (cf. W. Turner, “Believing and Everlasting Life – A Johannine Inquiry,” ExpTim 64 [1952/53]: 50-52). John uses πιστεύω in 4 major ways: (1) of believing facts, reports, etc., 12 times; (2) of believing people (or the scriptures), 19 times; (3) of believing “in” Christ” (πιστεύω + εἰς + acc.), 36 times; (4) used absolutely without any person or object specified, 30 times (the one remaining passage is 2:24, where Jesus refused to “trust” himself to certain individuals). Of these, the most significant is the use of πιστεύω with εἰς + accusative. It is not unlike the Pauline ἐν Χριστῷ (en Cristw) formula. Some have argued that this points to a Hebrew (more likely Aramaic) original behind the Fourth Gospel. But it probably indicates something else, as C. H. Dodd observed: “πιστεύειν with the dative so inevitably connoted simple credence, in the sense of an intellectual judgment, that the moral element of personal trust or reliance inherent in the Hebrew or Aramaic phrase – an element integral to the primitive Christian conception of faith in Christ – needed to be otherwise expressed” (The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 183).

[1:13]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek term translated “born” here also involves conception.

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Grk “of blood(s).” The plural αἱμάτων (Jaimatwn) has seemed a problem to many interpreters. At least some sources in antiquity imply that blood was thought of as being important in the development of the fetus during its time in the womb: thus Wis 7:1: “in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh, within the period of 10 months, compacted with blood, from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.” In John 1:13, the plural αἱμάτων may imply the action of both parents. It may also refer to the “genetic” contribution of both parents, and so be equivalent to “human descent” (see BDAG 26 s.v. αἷμα 1.a). E. C. Hoskyns thinks John could not have used the singular here because Christians are in fact ‘begotten’ by the blood of Christ (The Fourth Gospel, 143), although the context would seem to make it clear that the blood in question is something other than the blood of Christ.

[1:13]  ¹² tn Or “of the will of the flesh.” The phrase οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός (oude ek qelhmato" sarko") is more clearly a reference to sexual desire, but it should be noted that σάρξ (sarx) in John does not convey the evil sense common in Pauline usage. For John it refers to the physical nature in its weakness rather than in its sinfulness. There is no clearer confirmation of this than the immediately following verse, where the λόγος (logos) became σάρξ.

[1:13]  ¹³ tn Or “man’s.”

[1:13]  ¹⁴ tn The third phrase, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός (oude ek qelhmato" andros), means much the same as the second one. The word here (ἀνηρ, anhr) is often used for a husband, resulting in the translation “or a husband’s decision,” or more generally, “or of any human volition whatsoever.” L. Morris may be right when he sees here an emphasis directed at the Jewish pride in race and patriarchal ancestry, although such a specific reference is difficult to prove (John [NICNT], 101).

[12:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ¹⁶ tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[8:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “on the one hand, heirs of God; on the other hand, fellow heirs with Christ.” Some prefer to render v. 17 as follows: “And if children, then heirs – that is, heirs of God. Also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.” Such a translation suggests two distinct inheritances, one coming to all of God’s children, the other coming only to those who suffer with Christ. The difficulty of this view, however, is that it ignores the correlative conjunctions μέν…δέ (men…de, “on the one hand…on the other hand”): The construction strongly suggests that the inheritances cannot be separated since both explain “then heirs.” For this reason, the preferred translation puts this explanation in parentheses.

[1:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”

[2:5]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ²² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:1]  ²³ tn Or “partiality.”

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “do not have faith with personal prejudice,” with emphasis on the last phrase.

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.” Here δόξης (doxhs) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[1:23]  ²⁶ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[1:23]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the face of his beginning [or origin].”

[1:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ²⁹ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[3:2]  ³¹ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ³² tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ³³ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ³⁴ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[3:9]  ³⁵ tc Most later mss (Ï), along with several versional witnesses, have θεόν (qeon, “God”) here instead of κύριον (kurion, “Lord”). Such is a predictable variant since nowhere else in the NT is God described as “Lord and Father,” but he is called “God and Father” on several occasions. Further, the reading κύριον is well supported by early and diversified witnesses (̲⁰ א A B C P Ψ 33 81 945 1241 1739), rendering it as the overwhelmingly preferred reading.

[3:9]  ³⁶ tn Grk “men”; but here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpous) has generic force, referring to both men and women.