Psalms 22:6

22:6 But I ¹  am a worm, ²  not a man; ³ 

people insult me and despise me. ⁴ 

Isaiah 49:7

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ⁵  of Israel, their Holy One, ⁶  says

to the one who is despised ⁷  and rejected ⁸  by nations, ⁹ 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ¹⁰ 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 53:2-3

53:2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, ¹¹ 

like a root out of parched soil; ¹² 

he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, ¹³ 

no special appearance that we should want to follow him. ¹⁴ 

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people, ¹⁵ 

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him; ¹⁶ 

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ¹⁷ 

Mark 6:3

6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son ¹⁸  of Mary ¹⁹  and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

Luke 3:23

The Genealogy of Jesus

3:23 So ²⁰  Jesus, when he began his ministry, ²¹  was about thirty years old. He was ²²  the son (as was supposed) ²³  of Joseph, the son ²⁴  of Heli,

Luke 4:22

4:22 All ²⁵  were speaking well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. They ²⁶  said, “Isn’t this ²⁷  Joseph’s son?”

John 1:45-46

1:45 Philip found Nathanael ²⁸  and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also ²⁹  wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 1:46 Nathanael ³⁰  replied, ³¹  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ³²  Philip replied, ³³  “Come and see.”

John 6:42

6:42 and they said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

John 7:41-42

7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” ³⁴  But still others said, “No, ³⁵  for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ³⁶  7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant ³⁷  of David ³⁸  and comes from Bethlehem, ³⁹  the village where David lived?” ⁴⁰ 

John 9:29

9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man ⁴¹  comes from!”

[22:6]  ¹ tn The grammatical construction (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist’s experience and that of his ancestors. When he considers God’s past reliability, it only heightens his despair and confusion, for God’s present silence stands in stark contrast to his past saving acts.

[22:6]  ² tn The metaphor expresses the psalmist’s self-perception, which is based on how others treat him (see the following line).

[22:6]  ³ tn Or “not a human being.” The psalmist perceives himself as less than human.

[22:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “a reproach of man and despised by people.”

[49:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:7]  ⁶ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

[49:7]  ⁸ tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

[49:7]  ⁹ tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

[49:7]  ¹⁰ tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

[53:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “before him.” Some suggest an emendation to “before us.” If the third singular suffix of the Hebrew text is retained, it probably refers to the Lord (see v. 1b). For a defense of this reading, see R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 173-74.

[53:2]  ¹² sn The metaphor in this verse suggests insignificance.

[53:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “that we might see him.” The vav conjunctive prefixed to the imperfect introduces a result clause here. See GKC 504-5 §166.a.

[53:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that we should desire him.” The vav conjunctive prefixed to the imperfect introduces a result clause here. See GKC 504-5 §166.a.

[53:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

[53:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “like a hiding of the face from him,” i.e., “like one before whom the face is hidden” (see BDB 712 s.v. מַסְתֵּר).

[53:3]  ¹⁷ sn The servant is likened to a seriously ill person who is shunned by others because of his horrible disease.

[6:3]  ¹⁸ tc Evidently because of the possible offensiveness of designating Jesus a carpenter, several mss ([Ì^45vid] ˹³ 33^vid [565 579] 700 [2542] pc it vg^mss) harmonize the words “carpenter, the son” to the parallel passage in Matt 13:55, “the son of the carpenter.” Almost all the rest of the mss read “the carpenter, the son.” Since the explicit designation of Jesus as a carpenter is the more difficult reading, and is much better attested, it is most likely correct.

[6:3]  ¹⁹ sn The reference to Jesus as the carpenter is probably derogatory, indicating that they knew Jesus only as a common laborer like themselves. The reference to him as the son of Mary (even though Jesus’ father was probably dead by this point) appears to be somewhat derogatory, for a man was not regarded as his mother’s son in Jewish usage unless an insult was intended (cf. Judg 11:1-2; John 6:42; 8:41; 9:29).

[3:23]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the summary nature of the statement.

[3:23]  ²¹ tn The words “his ministry” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

[3:23]  ²² tn Grk “of age, being.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle ὤν (wn) has been translated as a finite verb with the pronoun “he” supplied as subject, and a new sentence begun in the translation at this point.

[3:23]  ²³ sn The parenthetical remark as was supposed makes it clear that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. But a question still remains whose genealogy this is. Mary is nowhere mentioned, so this may simply refer to the line of Joseph, who would have functioned as Jesus’ legal father, much like stepchildren can have when they are adopted by a second parent.

[3:23]  ²⁴ tc Several of the names in the list have alternate spellings in the ms tradition, but most of these are limited to a few mss. Only significant differences are considered in the notes through v. 38.

[4:22]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And all.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:22]  ²⁷ sn The form of the question assumes a positive reply. It really amounts to an objection, as Jesus’ response in the next verses shows. Jesus spoke smoothly and impressively. He made a wonderful declaration, but could a local carpenter’s son make such an offer? That was their real question.

[1:45]  ²⁸ sn Nathanael is traditionally identified with Bartholomew (although John never describes him as such). He appears here after Philip, while in all lists of the twelve except in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew follows Philip. Also, the Aramaic Bar-tolmai means “son of Tolmai,” the surname; the man almost certainly had another name.

[1:45]  ²⁹ tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[1:46]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

[1:46]  ³¹ tn Grk “said to him.”

[1:46]  ³² sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

[1:46]  ³³ tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”

[7:41]  ³⁴ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:41]  ³⁵ tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.

[7:41]  ³⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does he?”).

[7:42]  ³⁷ tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

[7:42]  ³⁸ sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

[7:42]  ³⁹ sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

[7:42]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “the village where David was.”

[9:29]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “where this one.”