Matius 7:7-8

Ask, Seek, Knock

7:7 “Ask ¹  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ²  will be opened for you. 7:8 For everyone who asks ³  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Markus 10:36-37

10:36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 10:37 They said to him, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.”

Markus 10:51

10:51 Then ⁴  Jesus said to him, ⁵  “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, ⁶  let me see again.” ⁷ 

Yohanes 16:23

16:23 At that time ⁸  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ⁹  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹¹ 

Yohanes 5:14-15

5:14 After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, ¹²  lest anything worse happen to you.” 5:15 The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders ¹³  that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

[7:7]  ¹ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[7:7]  ² tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

[7:8]  ³ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.

[10:51]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[10:51]  ⁵ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς is redundant and has not been translated.

[10:51]  ⁶ tn Or “Master”; Grk ῥαββουνί (rabbouni).

[10:51]  ⁷ tn Grk “that I may see [again].” The phrase can be rendered as an imperative of request, “Please, give me sight.” Since the man is not noted as having been blind from birth (as the man in John 9 was) it is likely the request is to receive back the sight he once had.

[16:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ¹⁰ sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[16:1]  ¹¹ 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.

[5:14]  ¹² tn Since this is a prohibition with a present imperative, the translation “stop sinning” is sometimes suggested. This is not likely, however, since the present tense is normally used in prohibitions involving a general condition (as here) while the aorist tense is normally used in specific instances. Only when used opposite the normal usage (the present tense in a specific instance, for example) would the meaning “stop doing what you are doing” be appropriate.

[5:15]  ¹³ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 10.