Zechariah 3:8

3:8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you ¹  are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch. ² 

Psalms 80:15-17

80:15 the root ³  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ⁴ 

80:16 It is burned ⁵  and cut down.

They die because you are displeased with them. ⁶ 

80:17 May you give support to the one you have chosen, ⁷ 

to the one whom you raised up for yourself! ⁸ 

Isaiah 4:2

The Branch of the Lord

4:2 At that time ⁹ 

the crops given by the Lord will bring admiration and honor; ¹⁰ 

the produce of the land will be a source of pride and delight

to those who remain in Israel. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 11:1

An Ideal King Establishes a Kingdom of Peace

11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ¹²  root stock,

a bud will sprout ¹³  from his roots.

Isaiah 53:2

53:2 He sprouted up like a twig before God, ¹⁴ 

like a root out of parched soil; ¹⁵ 

he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, ¹⁶ 

no special appearance that we should want to follow him. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 23:5

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ¹⁸  that a new time will certainly come ¹⁹ 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ²⁰  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ²¹ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ²² 

Jeremiah 33:15

33:15 In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant ²³  of David.

“‘He will do what is just and right in the land.

Luke 1:78

1:78 Because of ²⁴  our God’s tender mercy ²⁵ 

the dawn ²⁶  will break ²⁷  upon us from on high

John 1:45

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.”

[3:8]  ¹ tn Heb “these men.” The cleansing of Joshua and his elevation to enhanced leadership as a priest signify the coming of the messianic age.

[3:8]  ² sn The collocation of servant and branch gives double significance to the messianic meaning of the passage (cf. Isa 41:8, 9; 42:1, 19; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21; Ps 132:17; Jer 23:5; 33:15).

[80:15]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[80:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “burned with fire.”

[80:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “because of the rebuke of your face they perish.”

[80:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “may your hand be upon the man of your right hand.” The referent of the otherwise unattested phrase “man of your right hand,” is unclear. It may refer to the nation collectively as a man. (See the note on the word “yourself” in v. 17b.)

[80:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “upon the son of man you strengthened for yourself.” In its only other use in the Book of Psalms, the phrase “son of man” refers to the human race in general (see Ps 8:4). Here the phrase may refer to the nation collectively as a man. Note the use of the statement “you strengthened for yourself” both here and in v. 15, where the “son” (i.e., the branch of the vine) refers to Israel.

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh yÿhvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jer 23;5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isa 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Num 13:20, 26; Deut 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Ps 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isa 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isa 30:23-24; 32:20; Jer 31:12; Ezek 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”

[11:1]  ¹² sn The text mentions David’s father Jesse, instead of the great king himself. Perhaps this is done for rhetorical reasons to suggest that a new David, not just another disappointing Davidic descendant, will arise. Other prophets call the coming ideal Davidic king “David” or picture him as the second coming of David, as it were. See Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hos 3:5; and Mic 5:2 (as well as the note there).

[11:1]  ¹³ tc The Hebrew text has יִפְרֶה (yifreh, “will bear fruit,” from פָּרָה, parah), but the ancient versions, as well as the parallelism suggest that יִפְרַח (yifrakh, “will sprout”, from פָּרַח, parakh) is the better reading here. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:276, n. 2.

[53:2]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ sn The metaphor in this verse suggests insignificance.

[53:2]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[23:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ²² sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).

[33:15]  ²³ tn Heb “sprig” or “shoot.”

[1:78]  ²⁴ tn For reasons of style, a new sentence has been started in the translation at this point. God’s mercy is ultimately seen in the deliverance John points to, so v. 78a is placed with the reference to Jesus as the light of dawning day.

[1:78]  ²⁵ sn God’s loyal love (steadfast love) is again the topic, reflected in the phrase tender mercy; see Luke 1:72.

[1:78]  ²⁶ sn The Greek term translated dawn (ἀνατολή, anatolh) can be a reference to the morning star or to the sun. The Messiah is pictured as a saving light that shows the way. The Greek term was also used to translate the Hebrew word for “branch” or “sprout,” so some see a double entendre here with messianic overtones (see Isa 11:1-10; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12).

[1:78]  ²⁷ tn Grk “shall visit us.”

[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.