Psalms 56:5-6

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ¹ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ² 

56:6 They stalk ³  and lurk; ⁴ 

they watch my every step, ⁵ 

as ⁶  they prepare to take my life. ⁷ 

Psalms 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ⁸ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ⁹  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Psalms 57:2

57:2 I cry out for help to the sovereign God, ¹⁰ 

to the God who vindicates ¹¹  me.

Psalms 16:7-8

16:7 I will praise ¹²  the Lord who ¹³  guides ¹⁴  me;

yes, during the night I reflect and learn. ¹⁵ 

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ¹⁶ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

Matthew 12:24

12:24 But when the Pharisees ¹⁷  heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, ¹⁸  the ruler ¹⁹  of demons!”

Matthew 26:61

26:61 and declared, “This man ²⁰  said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

John 8:48

8:48 The Judeans ²¹  replied, ²²  “Aren’t we correct in saying ²³  that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?” ²⁴ 

John 8:1

8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ²⁵ 

John 2:20-21

2:20 Then the Jewish leaders ²⁶  said to him, “This temple has been under construction ²⁷  for forty-six years, ²⁸  and are you going to raise it up in three days?” 2:21 But Jesus ²⁹  was speaking about the temple of his body. ³⁰ 

John 2:1

Turning Water into Wine

2:1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana ³¹  in Galilee. ³²  Jesus’ mother ³³  was there,

John 3:16

3:16 For this is the way ³⁴  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ³⁵  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ³⁶  but have eternal life. ³⁷ 

John 4:14-16

4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, ³⁸  but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain ³⁹  of water springing up ⁴⁰  to eternal life.” 4:15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw ⁴¹  water.” ⁴²  4:16 He ⁴³  said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” ⁴⁴ 

[56:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ² tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[56:6]  ³ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ⁴ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[57:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[57:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to God Most High.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[57:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “avenges in favor of.”

[16:7]  ¹² tn Heb “bless,” that is, “proclaim as worthy of praise.”

[16:7]  ¹³ tn Or “because.”

[16:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “counsels, advises.”

[16:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “yes, [during] nights my kidneys instruct [or “correct”] me.” The “kidneys” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s moral character (see Ps 26:2). In the quiet darkness the Lord speaks to his inner being, as it were, and enables him to grow in moral understanding.

[16:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[12:24]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[12:24]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “except by Beelzebul.”

[12:24]  ¹⁹ tn Or “prince.”

[26:61]  ²⁰ tn Grk “This one.”

[8:48]  ²¹ tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31). They had become increasingly hostile as Jesus continued to teach. Now they were ready to say that Jesus was demon-possessed.

[8:48]  ²² tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[8:48]  ²³ tn Grk “Do we not say rightly.”

[8:48]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and have a demon.” It is not clear what is meant by the charge Σαμαρίτης εἶ σὺ καὶ δαιμόνιον ἔχεις (Samarith" ei su kai daimonion ecei"). The meaning could be “you are a heretic and are possessed by a demon.” Note that the dual charge gets one reply (John 8:49). Perhaps the phrases were interchangeable: Simon Magus (Acts 8:14-24) and in later traditions Dositheus, the two Samaritans who claimed to be sons of God, were regarded as mad, that is, possessed by demons.

[8:1]  ²⁵ sn The Mount of Olives is a hill running north to south about 1.8 mi (3 km) long, lying east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. It was named for the large number of olive trees that grew on it.

[2:20]  ²⁶ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 18.

[2:20]  ²⁷ tn A close parallel to the aorist οἰκοδομήθη (oikodomhqh) can be found in Ezra 5:16 (LXX), where it is clear from the following verb that the construction had not yet been completed. Thus the phrase has been translated “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years.” Some, however, see the term ναός (naos) here as referring only to the sanctuary and the aorist verb as consummative, so that the meaning would be “this temple was built forty-six years ago” (so ExSyn 560-61). Ultimately in context the logic of the authorities’ reply appears to fit more naturally if it compares length of time for original construction with length of time to reconstruct it.

[2:20]  ²⁸ sn According to Josephus (Ant. 15.11.1 [15.380]), work on this temple was begun in the 18th year of Herod the Great’s reign, which would have been ca. 19 b.c. (The reference in the Ant. is probably more accurate than the date given in J. W. 1.21.1 [1.401]). Forty-six years later would be around the Passover of a.d. 27/28.

[2:21]  ²⁹ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. This Greek term is frequently used as a way of referring to Jesus in the Johannine letters (cf. 1 John 2:6; 3:3, 5, 7, 16; 4:17).

[2:21]  ³⁰ tn The genitive “of his body” (τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, tou swmato" autou) is a genitive of apposition, clarifying which temple Jesus was referring to. Thus, Jesus not only was referring to his physical resurrection, but also to his participation in the resurrection process. The New Testament thus records the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as all performing the miracle of Christ's resurrection.

[2:1]  ³¹ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:1]  ³² sn Cana in Galilee was not a very well-known place. It is mentioned only here, in 4:46, and 21:2, and nowhere else in the NT. Josephus (Life 16 [86]) says he once had his quarters there. The probable location is present day Khirbet Cana, 8 mi (14 km) north of Nazareth, or Khirbet Kenna, 4 mi (7 km) northeast of Nazareth.

[2:1]  ³³ tn Grk “in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother.”

[3:16]  ³⁴ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ³⁵ tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[3:16]  ³⁶ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ³⁷ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.

[4:14]  ³⁸ tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.

[4:14]  ³⁹ tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.

[4:14]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).

[4:15]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “or come here to draw.”

[4:15]  ⁴² tn The direct object of the infinitive ἀντλεῖν (antlein) is understood in Greek but supplied for clarity in the English translation.

[4:16]  ⁴³ tc Most witnesses have “Jesus” here, either with the article (א^c C² D L W^s Ψ 086 Ï lat) or without (א* A Θ Ë^1,13 al), while several important and early witnesses lack the name (Ì^66,75 B C* 33^vid pc). It is unlikely that scribes would have deliberately expunged the name of Jesus from the text here, especially since it aids the reader with the flow of the dialogue. Further, that the name occurs both anarthrously and with the article suggests that it was a later addition. (For similar arguments, see the tc note on “woman” in 4:11).

[4:16]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “come here” (“back” is implied).