Yesaya 44:7-8

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ¹ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ² 

let them announce future events! ³ 

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ⁴ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ⁵  I know of none.

Yesaya 46:10-11

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ⁶  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

46:11 who summons an eagle ⁷  from the east,

from a distant land, one who carries out my plan.

Yes, I have decreed, ⁸ 

yes, I will bring it to pass;

I have formulated a plan,

yes, I will carry it out.

Yesaya 48:5-6

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! ⁹ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ¹⁰ 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ¹¹ 

Lukas 21:13

21:13 This will be a time for you to serve as witnesses. ¹² 

Yohanes 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹³ 

[44:7]  ¹ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ³ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[44:8]  ⁴ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[44:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[46:10]  ⁶ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[46:11]  ⁷ tn Or, more generally, “a bird of prey” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV; see 18:6).

[46:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “spoken”; KJV “I have spoken it.”

[48:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”

[21:13]  ¹² tn Grk “This will turn out to you for [a] testimony.”

[16:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”

[16:1]  sn In Johannine thought the verb σκανδαλίζω (skandalizw) means to trip up disciples and cause them to fall away from Jesus’ company (John 6:61, 1 John 2:10). Similar usage is found in Didache 16:5, an early Christian writing from around the beginning of the 2nd century a.d. An example of a disciple who falls away is Judas Iscariot. Here and again in 16:4 Jesus gives the purpose for his telling the disciples about coming persecution: He informs them so that when it happens, the disciples will not fall away, which in this context would refer to the confusion and doubt which they would certainly experience when such persecution began. There may have been a tendency for the disciples to expect immediately after Jesus’ victory over death the institution of the messianic kingdom, particularly in light of the turn of events recorded in the early chapters of Acts. Jesus here forestalls such disillusionment for the disciples by letting them know in advance that they will face persecution and even martyrdom as they seek to carry on his mission in the world after his departure. This material has parallels in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24-25) and the synoptic parallels.