Yehezkiel 36:26-27

36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ¹  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ²  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; ³  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ⁴  and carefully observe my regulations. ⁵ 

Yohanes 6:44-45

6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, ⁶  and I will raise him up at the last day. 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ ⁷  Everyone who hears and learns from the Father ⁸  comes to me.

[36:26]  ¹ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ² sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[36:27]  ³ tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

[36:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

[36:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

[6:44]  ⁶ tn Or “attracts him,” or “pulls him.” The word is used of pulling or dragging, often by force. It is even used once of magnetic attraction (A. Oepke, TDNT 2:503).

[6:44]  sn The Father who sent me draws him. The author never specifically explains what this “drawing” consists of. It is evidently some kind of attraction; whether it is binding and irresistible or not is not mentioned. But there does seem to be a parallel with 6:65, where Jesus says that no one is able to come to him unless the Father has allowed it. This apparently parallels the use of Isaiah by John to reflect the spiritual blindness of the Jewish leaders (see the quotations from Isaiah in John 9:41 and 12:39-40).

[6:45]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 54:13.

[6:45]  ⁸ tn Or “listens to the Father and learns.”