105:14 He let no one oppress them;
he disciplined kings for their sake,
54:15 If anyone dares to 11 challenge you, it will not be my doing!
Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated. 12
65:8 This is what the Lord says:
“When 13 juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,
someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ 14
So I will do for the sake of my servants –
I will not destroy everyone. 15
65:2 I spread out my hands all day long
to my rebellious people,
who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,
and who did what they desired. 16
4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
1 tn Grk “Jesus answered and said.”
2 tn Or “for my sake.”
3 tn Or “I sanctify.”
sn In what sense does Jesus refer to his own ‘sanctification’ with the phrase I set myself apart? In 10:36 Jesus referred to himself as “the one whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world,” which seems to look at something already accomplished. Here, however, it is something he does on behalf of the disciples (on their behalf) and this suggests a reference to his impending death on the cross. There is in fact a Johannine wordplay here based on slightly different meanings for the Greek verb translated set apart (ἁγιάζω, Jagiazw). In the sense it was used in 10:36 of Jesus and in 17:17 and here to refer to the disciples, it means to set apart in the sense that prophets (cf. Jer 1:5) and priests (Exod 40:13, Lev 8:30, and 2 Chr 5:11) were consecrated (or set apart) to perform their tasks. But when Jesus speaks of setting himself apart (consecrating or dedicating himself) on behalf of the disciples here in 17:19 the meaning is closer to the consecration of a sacrificial animal (Deut 15:19). Jesus is “setting himself apart,” i.e., dedicating himself, to do the will of the Father, that is, to go to the cross on the disciples’ behalf (and of course on behalf of their successors as well).
4 tn Or “for their sake.”
5 tn Or “they may be truly consecrated,” or “they may be truly sanctified.”
6 tn Heb “and it was from then.”
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 sn The Hebrew word translated blessed carries the idea of enrichment, prosperity, success. It is the way believers describe success at the hand of God. The text illustrates the promise made to Abraham that whoever blesses his descendants will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3).
9 tn Heb “in the house and in the field.” The word “both” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
10 sn The passage gives us a good picture of Joseph as a young man who was responsible and faithful, both to his master and to his God. This happened within a very short time of his being sold into Egypt. It undermines the view that Joseph was a liar, a tattletale, and an arrogant adolescent.
11 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb here for emphasis.
12 tn Heb “will fall over you.” The expression נָפַל עַל (nafal ’al) can mean “attack,” but here it means “fall over to,” i.e., “surrender to.”
13 tn Heb “just as.” In the Hebrew text the statement is one long sentence, “Just as…, so I will do….”
14 tn Heb “for a blessing is in it.”
15 tn Heb “by not destroying everyone.”
16 tn Heb “who walked [in] the way that is not good, after their thoughts.”
17 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
18 tc If the name Nympha is accented with a circumflex on the ultima (Νυμφᾶν, Numfan), then it refers to a man; if it receives an acute accent on the penult (Νύμφαν), the reference is to a woman. Scribes that considered Nympha to be a man’s name had the corresponding masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ here (autou, “his”; so D [F G] Ψ Ï), while those who saw Nympha as a woman read the feminine αὐτῆς here (auth", “her”; B 0278 6 1739[*] 1881 sa). Several
19 tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.
20 tn Or “showing that genuine faith is productive.” At issue between these two translations is the force of ἀγαθήν (agaqhn): Is it attributive (as the text has it) or predicate (as in this note)? A number of considerations point in the direction of a predicate ἀγαθήν (e.g., separation from the noun πίστιν (pistin) by the verb, the possibility that the construction is an object-complement, etc.), though is not usually seen as an option in either translations or commentaries. Cf. ExSyn 188-89, 312-13, for a discussion. Contextually, it makes an intriguing statement, for it suggests a synthetic or synonymous parallel: “‘Slaves should be wholly subject to their masters…demonstrating that all [genuine] faith is productive, with the result [ecbatic ἵνα] that they will completely adorn the doctrine of God.’ The point of the text, then, if this understanding is correct, is an exhortation to slaves to demonstrate that their faith is sincere and results in holy behavior. If taken this way, the text seems to support the idea that saving faith does not fail, but even results in good works” (ExSyn 312-13). The translation of ἀγαθήν as an attributive adjective, however, also makes good sense.
21 tn Or “adorn,” “show the beauty of.”