Titus 1:7

1:7 For the overseer ¹  must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, ²  not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain.

Isaiah 56:10-11

56:10 All their watchmen ³  are blind,

they are unaware. ⁴ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ⁵  lie down,

and love to snooze.

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ⁶ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 8:10

8:10 ⁸ So I will give their wives to other men

and their fields to new owners.

For from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all practice deceit.

Ezekiel 13:19

13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people ⁹  who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

Micah 3:5

3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people

are as good as dead. ¹⁰ 

If someone gives them enough to eat,

they offer an oracle of peace. ¹¹ 

But if someone does not give them food,

they are ready to declare war on him. ¹² 

Micah 3:11

3:11 Her ¹³  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ¹⁴ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ¹⁵  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ¹⁶ 

Disaster will not overtake ¹⁷  us!”

John 10:12

10:12 The hired hand, ¹⁸  who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons ¹⁹  the sheep and runs away. ²⁰  So the wolf attacks ²¹  the sheep and scatters them.

John 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ²²  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ²³  by the door, ²⁴  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

John 6:5

6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up ²⁵  and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”

John 6:2

6:2 A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.

John 2:1-3

Turning Water into Wine

2:1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana ²⁶  in Galilee. ²⁷  Jesus’ mother ²⁸  was there, 2:2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. ²⁹  2:3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” ³⁰ 

[1:7]  ¹ sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.

[1:7]  ² tn Grk “as God’s steward.”

[56:10]  ³ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

[56:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

[56:10]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

[56:11]  ⁵ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”

[8:10]  ⁷ sn See Jer 6:12-15 for parallels to 8:10-12. The words of Jeremiah to the people may have been repeated on more than one occasion or have been found appropriate to more than one of his collection of messages in written and edited form. See Jer 36:4 and Jer 36:28 for reference to at least two of these collections.

[13:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the Lord. For this reason some prefer to begin the quotation after “the Lord says” (cf. NIV), but this leaves “concerning the prophets” hanging very awkwardly at the beginning of the quotation. It is preferable to add הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) at the beginning of the quotation, right after the graphically similar יְהוָה (yÿhvah; see D. R. Hillers, Micah [Hermeneia], 44). The phrase הוֹי עַל (hoy ’al, “woe upon”) occurs in Jer 50:27 and Ezek 13:3 (with “the prophets” following the preposition in the latter instance).

[3:5]  ¹² tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.

[3:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”

[3:11]  ¹³ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[10:12]  ¹⁵ sn Jesus contrasts the behavior of the shepherd with that of the hired hand. This is a worker who is simply paid to do a job; he has no other interest in the sheep and is certainly not about to risk his life for them. When they are threatened, he simply runs away.

[10:12]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “leaves.”

[10:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “flees.”

[10:12]  ¹⁸ tn Or “seizes.” The more traditional rendering, “snatches,” has the idea of seizing something by force and carrying it off, which is certainly possible here. However, in the sequence in John 10:12, this action precedes the scattering of the flock of sheep, so “attacks” is preferable.

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ¹⁸ sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).

[10:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “entrance.”

[6:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

[2:1]  ²¹ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:1]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Grk “in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother.”

[2:2]  ²³ sn There is no clue to the identity of the bride and groom, but in all probability either relatives or friends of Jesus’ family were involved, since Jesus’ mother and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the celebration. The attitude of Mary in approaching Jesus and asking him to do something when the wine ran out also suggests that familial obligations were involved.

[2:3]  ²⁵ tn The word “left” is not in the Greek text but is implied.