Discovery BoxPsalms 32:5-6
Context32:5 Then I confessed my sin;
I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.
I said, “I will confess 1 my rebellious acts to the Lord.”
And then you forgave my sins. 2 (Selah)
32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers 3 should pray to you
while there is a window of opportunity. 4
Certainly 5 when the surging water 6 rises,
it will not reach them. 7
Psalms 51:9-13
Context51:9 Hide your face 8 from my sins!
Wipe away 9 all my guilt!
51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! 10
Renew a resolute spirit within me! 11
Do not take your Holy Spirit 13 away from me! 14
51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!
Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! 15
51:13 Then I will teach 16 rebels your merciful ways, 17
and sinners will turn 18 to you.
Luke 22:32
Context22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, 19 that your faith may not fail. 20 When 21 you have turned back, 22 strengthen 23 your brothers.”
John 21:15-17
Context21:15 Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, 24 do you love me more than these do?” 25 He replied, 26 “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” 27 Jesus 28 told him, “Feed my lambs.” 21:16 Jesus 29 said 30 a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, 31 “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus 32 told him, “Shepherd my sheep.” 21:17 Jesus 33 said 34 a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed 35 that Jesus 36 asked 37 him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, 38 “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus 39 replied, 40 “Feed my sheep.
[32:5] 1 tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”
[32:5] 2 tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.
[32:6] 3 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
[32:6] 4 tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the
[32:6] 5 tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.
[32:6] 6 sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.
[32:6] 7 tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.
[51:9] 8 sn In this context Hide your face from my sins means “Do not hold me accountable for my sins.”
[51:9] 9 tn See the note on the similar expression “wipe away my rebellious acts” in v. 1.
[51:10] 10 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.
[51:10] 11 tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”
[51:11] 12 tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”
[51:11] 13 sn Your Holy Spirit. The personal Spirit of God is mentioned frequently in the OT, but only here and in Isa 63:10-11 is he called “your/his Holy Spirit.”
[51:11] 14 sn Do not take…away. The psalmist expresses his fear that, due to his sin, God will take away the Holy Spirit from him. NT believers enjoy the permanent gift of the Holy Spirit and need not make such a request nor fear such a consequence. However, in the OT God’s Spirit empowered certain individuals for special tasks and only temporarily resided in them. For example, when God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him, the divine Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14).
[51:12] 15 tn Heb “and [with] a willing spirit sustain me.” The psalmist asks that God make him the kind of person who willingly obeys the divine commandments. The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
[51:13] 16 tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. This may be a vow or promise. If forgiven, the psalmist will “repay” the Lord by declaring God’s mercy and motivating other sinners to repent.
[51:13] 17 tn Heb “your ways.” The word “merciful” is added for clarification. God’s “ways” are sometimes his commands, but in this context, where the teaching of God’s ways motivates repentance (see the next line), it is more likely that God’s merciful and compassionate way of dealing with sinners is in view. Thanksgiving songs praising God for his deliverance typically focus on these divine attributes (see Pss 34, 41, 116, 138).
[51:13] 18 tn Or “return,” i.e., in repentance.
[22:32] 19 sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.
[22:32] 20 sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.
[22:32] 21 tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[22:32] 22 tn Or “turned around.”
[22:32] 23 sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.
[21:15] 24 tc The majority of
[21:15] 25 tn To whom (or what) does “these” (τούτων, toutwn) refer? Three possibilities are suggested: (1) τούτων should be understood as neuter, “these things,” referring to the boats, nets, and fishing gear nearby. In light of Peter’s statement in 21:3, “I am going fishing,” some have understood Peter to have renounced his commission in light of his denials of Jesus. Jesus, as he restores Peter and forgives him for his denials, is asking Peter if he really loves his previous vocation more than he loves Jesus. Three things may be said in evaluation of this view: (a) it is not at all necessary to understand Peter’s statement in 21:3 as a renouncement of his discipleship, as this view of the meaning of τούτων would imply; (b) it would probably be more likely that the verb would be repeated in such a construction (see 7:31 for an example where the verb is repeated); and (c) as R. E. Brown has observed (John [AB], 2:1103) by Johannine standards the choice being offered to Peter between material things and the risen Jesus would seem rather ridiculous, especially after the disciples had realized whom it was they were dealing with (the Lord, see v. 12). (2) τούτων refers to the other disciples, meaning “Do you love me more than you love these other disciples?” The same objection mentioned as (c) under (1) would apply here: Could the author, in light of the realization of who Jesus is which has come to the disciples after the resurrection, and which he has just mentioned in 21:12, seriously present Peter as being offered a choice between the other disciples and the risen Jesus? This leaves option (3), that τούτων refers to the other disciples, meaning “Do you love me more than these other disciples do?” It seems likely that there is some irony here: Peter had boasted in 13:37, “I will lay down my life for you,” and the synoptics present Peter as boasting even more explicitly of his loyalty to Jesus (“Even if they all fall away, I will not,” Matt 26:33; Mark 14:29). Thus the semantic force of what Jesus asks Peter here amounts to something like “Now, after you have denied me three times, as I told you you would, can you still affirm that you love me more than these other disciples do?” The addition of the auxiliary verb “do” in the translation is used to suggest to the English reader the third interpretation, which is the preferred one.
[21:15] 26 tn Grk “He said to him.”
[21:15] 27 tn Is there a significant difference in meaning between the two words for love used in the passage, ἀγαπάω and φιλέω (agapaw and filew)? Aside from Origen, who saw a distinction in the meaning of the two words, most of the Greek Fathers like Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria, saw no real difference of meaning. Neither did Augustine nor the translators of the Itala (Old Latin). This was also the view of the Reformation Greek scholars Erasmus and Grotius. The suggestion that a distinction in meaning should be seen comes primarily from a number of British scholars of the 19th century, especially Trench, Westcott, and Plummer. It has been picked up by others such as Spicq, Lenski, and Hendriksen. But most modern scholars decline to see a real difference in the meaning of the two words in this context, among them Bernard, Moffatt, Bonsirven, Bultmann, Barrett, Brown, Morris, Haenchen, and Beasley-Murray. There are three significant reasons for seeing no real difference in the meaning of ἀγαπάω and φιλέω in these verses: (1) the author has a habit of introducing slight stylistic variations in repeated material without any significant difference in meaning (compare, for example, 3:3 with 3:5, and 7:34 with 13:33). An examination of the uses of ἀγαπάω and φιλέω in the Fourth Gospel seems to indicate a general interchangeability between the two. Both terms are used of God’s love for man (3:16, 16:27); of the Father’s love for the Son (3:35, 5:20); of Jesus’ love for men (11:5, 11:3); of the love of men for men (13:34, 15:19); and of the love of men for Jesus (8:42, 16:27). (2) If (as seems probable) the original conversation took place in Aramaic (or possibly Hebrew), there would not have been any difference expressed because both Aramaic and Hebrew have only one basic word for love. In the LXX both ἀγαπάω and φιλέω are used to translate the same Hebrew word for love, although ἀγαπάω is more frequent. It is significant that in the Syriac version of the NT only one verb is used to translate vv. 15-17 (Syriac is very similar linguistically to Palestinian Aramaic). (3) Peter’s answers to the questions asked with ἀγαπάω are ‘yes’ even though he answers using the verb φιλέω. If he is being asked to love Jesus on a higher or more spiritual level his answers give no indication of this, and one would be forced to say (in order to maintain a consistent distinction between the two verbs) that Jesus finally concedes defeat and accepts only the lower form of love which is all that Peter is capable of offering. Thus it seems best to regard the interchange between ἀγαπάω and φιλέω in these verses as a minor stylistic variation of the author, consistent with his use of minor variations in repeated material elsewhere, and not indicative of any real difference in meaning. Thus no attempt has been made to distinguish between the two Greek words in the translation.
[21:15] 28 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:16] 29 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:16] 30 tn Grk “said again.” The word “again” (when used in connection with the phrase “a second time”) is redundant and has not been translated.
[21:16] 31 tn Grk “He said to him.”
[21:16] 32 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:17] 33 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:17] 34 tn Grk “said to him.” The words “to him” are clear from the context and slightly redundant in English.
[21:17] 36 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:17] 38 tn Grk “and said to him.” The words “to him” are clear from the context and slightly redundant in English.
[21:17] 39 tc ‡ Most witnesses, especially later ones (A Θ Ψ Ë13 Ï), read ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (Jo Ihsou", “Jesus”) here, while B C have ᾿Ιησοῦς without the article and א D W Ë1 33 565 al lat lack both. Because of the rapid verbal exchange in this pericope, “Jesus” is virtually required for clarity, providing a temptation to scribes to add the name. Further, the name normally occurs with the article. Although it is possible that B C accidentally omitted the article with the name, it is just as likely that they added the simple name to the text for clarity’s sake, while other witnesses added the article as well. The omission of ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς thus seems most likely to be authentic. NA27 includes the words in brackets, indicating some doubts as to their authenticity.
