Psalms 41:9

41:9 Even my close friend ¹  whom I trusted,

he who shared meals with me, has turned against me. ² 

Micah 7:5-6

7:5 Do not rely on a friend;

do not trust a companion!

Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! ³ 

7:6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,

a daughter challenges ⁴  her mother,

and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;

a man’s enemies are his own servants. ⁵ 

John 7:41-43

7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” ⁶  But still others said, “No, ⁷  for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ⁸  7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant ⁹  of David ¹⁰  and comes from Bethlehem, ¹¹  the village where David lived?” ¹²  7:43 So there was a division in the crowd ¹³  because of Jesus. ¹⁴ 

John 9:16

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ¹⁵  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ¹⁶  the Sabbath.” ¹⁷  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ¹⁸  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ¹⁹  among them.

John 10:19-21

10:19 Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people ²⁰  because of these words. 10:20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! ²¹  Why do you listen to him?” 10:21 Others said, “These are not the words ²²  of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, ²³  can it?” ²⁴ 

John 15:18-21

The World’s Hatred

15:18 “If the world hates you, be aware ²⁵  that it hated me first. ²⁶  15:19 If you belonged to the world, ²⁷  the world would love you as its own. ²⁸  However, because you do not belong to the world, ²⁹  but I chose you out of the world, for this reason ³⁰  the world hates you. ³¹  15:20 Remember what ³²  I told you, ‘A slave ³³  is not greater than his master.’ ³⁴  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed ³⁵  my word, they will obey ³⁶  yours too. 15:21 But they will do all these things to you on account of ³⁷  my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. ³⁸ 

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ³⁹  the synagogue, ⁴⁰  yet a time ⁴¹  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ⁴² 

Acts 13:43-46

13:43 When the meeting of the synagogue ⁴³  had broken up, ⁴⁴  many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes ⁴⁵  followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading ⁴⁶  them ⁴⁷  to continue ⁴⁸  in the grace of God.

13:44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁹  13:45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, ⁵⁰  and they began to contradict ⁵¹  what Paul was saying ⁵²  by reviling him. ⁵³  13:46 Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, ⁵⁴  “It was necessary to speak the word of God ⁵⁵  to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy ⁵⁶  of eternal life, we ⁵⁷  are turning to the Gentiles. ⁵⁸ 

Acts 14:1-4

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14:1 The same thing happened in Iconium ⁵⁹  when Paul and Barnabas ⁶⁰  went into the Jewish synagogue ⁶¹  and spoke in such a way that a large group ⁶²  of both Jews and Greeks believed. 14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe ⁶³  stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds ⁶⁴  against the brothers. 14:3 So they stayed there ⁶⁵  for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified ⁶⁶  to the message ⁶⁷  of his grace, granting miraculous signs ⁶⁸  and wonders to be performed through their hands. 14:4 But the population ⁶⁹  of the city was divided; some ⁷⁰  sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

Acts 28:24

28:24 Some were convinced ⁷¹  by what he said, ⁷²  but others refused ⁷³  to believe.

[41:9]  ¹ tn Heb “man of my peace.” The phrase here refers to one’s trusted friend (see Jer 38:22; Obad 7).

[41:9]  ² tn Heb “has made a heel great against me.” The precise meaning of this phrase, which appears only here, is uncertain.

[7:5]  ³ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “rises up against.”

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the enemies of a man are the men of his house.”

[7:41]  ⁶ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

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

[7:41]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

[7:42]  ¹⁰ sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

[7:42]  ¹¹ sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

[7:42]  ¹² tn Grk “the village where David was.”

[7:43]  ¹³ tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:43]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:16]  ¹⁵ tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).

[9:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ¹⁷ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or “So there was discord.”

[10:19]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “the Jewish religious leaders”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase could be taken to refer to the Jewish religious leaders, since the Pharisees were the last to be mentioned specifically by name, in John 9:40. However, in light of the charge about demon possession, which echoes 8:48, it is more likely that Jewish people in general (perhaps in Jerusalem, if that is understood to be the setting of the incident) are in view here.

[10:20]  ²¹ tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.

[10:21]  ²² tn Or “the sayings.”

[10:21]  ²³ tn Grk “open the eyes of the blind” (“opening the eyes” is an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[10:21]  ²⁴ 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 “can it?”).

[15:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “know.”

[15:18]  ²⁶ tn Grk “it hated me before you.”

[15:19]  ²⁷ tn Grk “if you were of the world.”

[15:19]  ²⁸ tn The words “you as” are not in the original but are supplied for clarity.

[15:19]  ²⁹ tn Grk “because you are not of the world.”

[15:19]  ³⁰ tn Or “world, therefore.”

[15:19]  ³¹ sn I chose you out of the world…the world hates you. Two themes are brought together here. In 8:23 Jesus had distinguished himself from the world in addressing his Jewish opponents: “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” In 15:16 Jesus told the disciples “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.” Now Jesus has united these two ideas as he informs the disciples that he has chosen them out of the world. While the disciples will still be “in” the world after Jesus has departed, they will not belong to it, and Jesus prays later in John 17:15-16 to the Father, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The same theme also occurs in 1 John 4:5-6: “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.” Thus the basic reason why the world hates the disciples (as it hated Jesus before them) is because they are not of the world. They are born from above, and are not of the world. For this reason the world hates them.

[15:20]  ³² tn Grk “Remember the word that I said to you.”

[15:20]  ³³ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:20]  ³⁴ sn A slave is not greater than his master. Jesus now recalled a statement he had made to the disciples before, in John 13:16. As the master has been treated, so will the slaves be treated also. If the world had persecuted Jesus, then it would also persecute the disciples. If the world had kept Jesus’ word, it would likewise keep the word of the disciples. In this statement there is the implication that the disciples would carry on the ministry of Jesus after his departure; they would in their preaching and teaching continue to spread the message which Jesus himself had taught while he was with them. And they would meet with the same response, by and large, that he encountered.

[15:20]  ³⁵ tn Or “if they kept.”

[15:20]  ³⁶ tn Or “they will keep.”

[15:21]  ³⁷ tn Or “because of.”

[15:21]  ³⁸ tn Jesus is referring to God as “the one who sent me.”

[16:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ⁴² sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[13:43]  ⁴³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[13:43]  ⁴⁴ tn BDAG 607 s.v. λύω 3 has “λυθείσης τ. συναγωγῆς when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up Ac 13:43.”

[13:43]  ⁴⁵ tn Normally the phrase σεβόμενοι τὸν θεόν (sebomenoi ton qeon) refers to Gentiles (“God-fearers”) who believed in God, attended the synagogue, and followed the Mosaic law to some extent, but stopped short of undergoing circumcision. BDAG 918 s.v. σέβω 1.b lists in this category references in Acts 16:14; 18:7; with σεβόμενοι alone, Acts 13:50; 17:4, 17; the phrase is also found in Josephus, Ant. 14.7.2 (14.110). Unique to this particular verse is the combination σεβόμενοι προσηλύτων (sebomenoi proshlutwn). Later rabbinic discussion suggests that to be regarded as a proper proselyte, a Gentile male had to submit to circumcision. If that is the case here, these Gentiles in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch should be regarded as full proselytes who had converted completely to Judaism and undergone circumcision. It is probably more likely, however, that προσηλύτων is used here in a somewhat looser sense (note the use of σεβομένας [sebomena"] alone to refer to women in Acts 13:50) and that these Gentiles were still in the category commonly called “God-fearers” without being full, technical proselytes to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Regardless, the point is that many Gentiles, as well as Jews, came to faith.

[13:43]  ⁴⁶ tn This is the meaning given for ἔπειθον (epeiqon) in this verse by BDAG 791 s.v. πείθω 1.b.

[13:43]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “who, as they were speaking with them, were persuading them.”

[13:43]  ⁴⁸ tn The verb προμένειν (promenein) is similar in force to the use of μένω (menw, “to reside/remain”) in the Gospel and Epistles of John.

[13:44]  ⁴⁹ tc Most mss (B* C E Ψ Ï sy bo) read θεοῦ (qeou, “of God”) here instead of κυρίου (kuriou, “of the Lord”). Other mss, among them some important early witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א A B² 33 81 323 945 1175 1739 al sa), read κυρίου. The external evidence favors κυρίου, though not decisively. Internally, the mention of “God” in v. 43, and especially “the word of God” in v. 46, would provide some temptation for scribes to assimilate the wording in v. 44 to these texts.

[13:45]  ⁵⁰ sn They were filled with jealousy. Their foolish response to the gospel is noted again (see Acts 5:17). The same verb is used in Acts 7:9; 17:5.

[13:45]  ⁵¹ tn The imperfect verb ἀντέλεγον (antelegon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect in the logical sequence of events: After they were filled with jealousy, the Jewish opponents began to contradict what Paul said.

[13:45]  ⁵² tn Grk “the things being said by Paul.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:45]  ⁵³ tn The participle βλασφημοῦντες (blasfhmounte") has been regarded as indicating the means of the action of the main verb. It could also be translated as a finite verb (“and reviled him”) in keeping with contemporary English style. The direct object (“him”) is implied rather than expressed and could be impersonal (“it,” referring to what Paul was saying rather than Paul himself), but the verb occurs more often in contexts involving defamation or slander against personal beings (not always God). For a very similar context to this one, compare Acts 18:6. The translation “blaspheme” is not used because in contemporary English its meaning is more narrowly defined and normally refers to blasphemy against God (not what Paul’s opponents were doing here). The modern term “slandering” comes close to what was being done to Paul here.

[13:46]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out courageously and said.” The redundancy is removed in the translation and the verb “replied” is used in keeping with the logical sequence of events. The theme of boldness reappears: Acts 4:24-30; 9:27-28.

[13:46]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:46]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “and consider yourselves unworthy.”

[13:46]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “behold, we.” In this context ἰδού (idou) is not easily translated into English.

[13:46]  ⁵⁸ sn This turning to the Gentiles would be a shocking rebuke to 1st century Jews who thought they alone were the recipients of the promise.

[14:1]  ⁵⁹ sn Iconium. See the note in 13:51.

[14:1]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:1]  ⁶¹ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[14:1]  ⁶² tn Or “that a large crowd.”

[14:2]  ⁶³ tn Or “who would not believe.”

[14:2]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “embittered their minds” (Grk “their souls”). BDAG 502 s.v. κακόω 2 has “make angry, embitter τὰς ψυχάς τινων κατά τινος poison the minds of some persons against another Ac 14:2.”

[14:3]  ⁶⁵ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[14:3]  ⁶⁶ sn The Lord testified to the message by granting the signs described in the following clause.

[14:3]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “word.”

[14:3]  ⁶⁸ tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned.

[14:4]  ⁶⁹ tn BDAG 825 s.v. πλῆθος 2.b.γ has this translation for πλῆθος (plhqo").

[14:4]  ⁷⁰ tn These clauses are a good example of the contrastive μὲν…δέ (men…de) construction: Some “on the one hand” sided with the Jews, but some “on the other hand” sided with the apostles.

[28:24]  ⁷¹ tn Or “persuaded.”

[28:24]  ⁷² tn Grk “by the things spoken.”

[28:24]  ⁷³ sn Some were convinced…but others refused to believe. Once again the gospel caused division among Jews, as in earlier chapters of Acts (13:46; 18:6).