Kejadian 19:1-38

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while ¹  Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. ²  When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ³  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ⁴  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ⁵ 

19:3 But he urged ⁶  them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. 19:4 Before they could lie down to sleep, ⁷  all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house. ⁸  19:5 They shouted to Lot, ⁹  “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex ¹⁰  with them!”

19:6 Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him. 19:7 He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly! ¹¹  19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ¹²  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ¹³  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ¹⁴  of my roof.” ¹⁵ 

19:9 “Out of our way!” ¹⁶  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, ¹⁷  and now he dares to judge us! ¹⁸  We’ll do more harm ¹⁹  to you than to them!” They kept ²⁰  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough ²¹  to break down the door.

19:10 So the men inside ²²  reached out ²³  and pulled Lot back into the house ²⁴  as they shut the door. 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, ²⁵  with blindness. The men outside ²⁶  wore themselves out trying to find the door. 19:12 Then the two visitors ²⁷  said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? ²⁸  Do you have ²⁹  any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? ³⁰  Get them out of this ³¹  place 19:13 because we are about to destroy ³²  it. The outcry against this place ³³  is so great before the Lord that he ³⁴  has sent us to destroy it.”

19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. ³⁵  He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy ³⁶  the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. ³⁷ 

19:15 At dawn ³⁸  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ³⁹  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ⁴⁰  19:16 When Lot ⁴¹  hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. ⁴²  They led them away and placed them ⁴³  outside the city. 19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ⁴⁴  said, “Run ⁴⁵  for your lives! Don’t look ⁴⁶  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁴⁷  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord! ⁴⁸  19:19 Your ⁴⁹  servant has found favor with you, ⁵⁰  and you have shown me great ⁵¹  kindness ⁵²  by sparing ⁵³  my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because ⁵⁴  this disaster will overtake ⁵⁵  me and I’ll die. ⁵⁶  19:20 Look, this town ⁵⁷  over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. ⁵⁸  Let me go there. ⁵⁹  It’s just a little place, isn’t it? ⁶⁰  Then I’ll survive.” ⁶¹ 

19:21 “Very well,” he replied, ⁶²  “I will grant this request too ⁶³  and will not overthrow ⁶⁴  the town you mentioned. 19:22 Run there quickly, ⁶⁵  for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) ⁶⁶ 

19:23 The sun had just risen ⁶⁷  over the land as Lot reached Zoar. ⁶⁸  19:24 Then the Lord rained down ⁶⁹  sulfur and fire ⁷⁰  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ⁷¹  19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ⁷²  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ⁷³  from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s ⁷⁴  wife looked back longingly ⁷⁵  and was turned into a pillar of salt.

19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went ⁷⁶  to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 19:28 He looked out toward ⁷⁷  Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. ⁷⁸  As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. ⁷⁹ 

19:29 So when God destroyed ⁸⁰  the cities of the region, ⁸¹  God honored ⁸²  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ⁸³  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ⁸⁴  the cities Lot had lived in.

19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 19:31 Later the older daughter said ⁸⁵  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby ⁸⁶  to have sexual relations with us, ⁸⁷  according to the way of all the world. 19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine ⁸⁸  so we can have sexual relations ⁸⁹  with him and preserve ⁹⁰  our family line through our father.” ⁹¹ 

19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, ⁹²  and the older daughter ⁹³  came and had sexual relations with her father. ⁹⁴  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ⁹⁵  19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ⁹⁶  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ⁹⁷  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ⁹⁸  19:35 So they made their father drunk ⁹⁹  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. ¹⁰⁰  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ¹⁰¹ 

19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter ¹⁰²  gave birth to a son and named him Moab. ¹⁰³  He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ¹⁰⁴  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Kejadian 1:25-26

1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

1:26 Then God said, “Let us make ¹⁰⁵ 

humankind ¹⁰⁶  in our image, after our likeness, ¹⁰⁷  so they may rule ¹⁰⁸  over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, ¹⁰⁹  and over all the creatures that move ¹¹⁰  on the earth.”

Roma 15:28-29

15:28 Therefore after I have completed this and have safely delivered this bounty to them, ¹¹¹  I will set out for Spain by way of you, 15:29 and I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.

Filemon 1:22

1:22 At the same time also, prepare a place for me to stay, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given back to you.

Filemon 1:2

1:2 to Apphia ¹¹²  our sister, ¹¹³  to Archippus our ¹¹⁴  fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your house.

Yohanes 1:12

1:12 But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name ¹¹⁵  – he has given the right to become God’s children

Yohanes 1:3

1:3 All things were created ¹¹⁶  by him, and apart from him not one thing was created ¹¹⁷  that has been created. ¹¹⁸ 

Yohanes 1:14

1:14 Now ¹¹⁹  the Word became flesh ¹²⁰  and took up residence ¹²¹  among us. We ¹²²  saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, ¹²³  full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

[19:1]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.

[19:1]  ² tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.

[19:1]  sn The expression sitting in the city’s gateway may mean that Lot was exercising some type of judicial function (see the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 19:8; Jer 26:10; 38:7; 39:3).

[19:2]  ³ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ⁴ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ⁵ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[19:3]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb פָּצַר (patsar, “to press, to insist”) ironically foreshadows the hostile actions of the men of the city (see v. 9, where the verb also appears). The repetition of the word serves to contrast Lot to his world.

[19:4]  ⁷ tn The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) means “to lie down, to recline,” that is, “to go to bed.” Here what appears to be an imperfect is a preterite after the adverb טֶרֶם (terem). The nuance of potential (perfect) fits well.

[19:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the young to the old, all the people from the end [of the city].” The repetition of the phrase “men of” stresses all kinds of men.

[19:5]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to him.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[19:5]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) is used here in the sense of “to lie with” or “to have sex with” (as in Gen 4:1). That this is indeed the meaning is clear from Lot’s warning that they not do so wickedly, and his willingness to give them his daughters instead.

[19:5]  sn The sin of the men of Sodom is debated. The fact that the sin involved a sexual act (see note on the phrase “have sex” in 19:5) precludes an association of the sin with inhospitality as is sometimes asserted (see W. Roth, “What of Sodom and Gomorrah? Homosexual Acts in the Old Testament,” Explor 1 [1974]: 7-14). The text at a minimum condemns forced sexual intercourse, i.e., rape. Other considerations, though, point to a condemnation of homosexual acts more generally. The narrator emphasizes the fact that the men of Sodom wanted to have sex with men: They demand that Lot release the angelic messengers (seen as men) to them for sex, and when Lot offers his daughters as a substitute they refuse them and attempt to take the angelic messengers by force. In addition the wider context of the Pentateuch condemns homosexual acts as sin (see, e.g., Lev 18:22). Thus a reading of this text within its narrative context, both immediate and broad, condemns not only the attempted rape but also the attempted homosexual act.

[19:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “may my brothers not act wickedly.”

[19:8]  ¹² tn Heb “who have not known.” Here this expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[19:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes.”

[19:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “shadow.”

[19:8]  ¹⁵ sn This chapter portrays Lot as a hypocrite. He is well aware of the way the men live in his city and is apparently comfortable in the midst of it. But when confronted by the angels, he finally draws the line. But he is nevertheless willing to sacrifice his daughters’ virginity to protect his guests. His opposition to the crowds leads to his rejection as a foreigner by those with whom he had chosen to live. The one who attempted to rescue his visitors ends up having to be rescued by them.

[19:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “approach out there” which could be rendered “Get out of the way, stand back!”

[19:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to live as a resident alien.”

[19:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he has judged, judging.” The infinitive absolute follows the finite verbal form for emphasis. This emphasis is reflected in the translation by the phrase “dares to judge.”

[19:9]  ¹⁹ tn The verb “to do wickedly” is repeated here (see v. 7). It appears that whatever “wickedness” the men of Sodom had intended to do to Lot’s visitors – probably nothing short of homosexual rape – they were now ready to inflict on Lot.

[19:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they pressed against the man, against Lot, exceedingly.”

[19:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “and they drew near.”

[19:10]  ²² tn Heb “the men,” referring to the angels inside Lot’s house. The word “inside” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:10]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text adds “their hand.” These words have not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[19:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to them into the house.”

[19:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the least to the greatest.”

[19:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Sodom outside the door) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the men,” referring to the angels inside Lot’s house. The word “visitors” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Yet who [is there] to you here?”

[19:12]  ²⁹ tn The words “Do you have” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and anyone who (is) to you in the city.”

[19:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “the place.” The Hebrew article serves here as a demonstrative.

[19:13]  ³² tn The Hebrew participle expresses an imminent action here.

[19:13]  ³³ tn Heb “for their outcry.” The words “about this place” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” The repetition of the divine name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun “he” for stylistic reasons.

[19:14]  ³⁵ sn The language has to be interpreted in the light of the context and the social customs. The men are called “sons-in-law” (literally “the takers of his daughters”), but the daughters had not yet had sex with a man. It is better to translate the phrase “who were going to marry his daughters.” Since formal marriage contracts were binding, the husbands-to-be could already be called sons-in-law.

[19:14]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew active participle expresses an imminent action.

[19:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he was like one taunting in the eyes of his sons-in-law.” These men mistakenly thought Lot was ridiculing them and their lifestyle. Their response illustrates how morally insensitive they had become.

[19:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

[19:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “who are found.” The wording might imply he had other daughters living in the city, but the text does not explicitly state this.

[19:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[19:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:16]  ⁴² tn Heb “in the compassion of the Lord to them.”

[19:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “brought him out and placed him.” The third masculine singular suffixes refer specifically to Lot, though his wife and daughters accompanied him (see v. 17). For stylistic reasons these have been translated as plural pronouns (“them”).

[19:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.

[19:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “escape.”

[19:17]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.

[19:17]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “my lords.” See the following note on the problem of identifying the addressee here. The Hebrew term is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[19:19]  ⁴⁹ tn The second person pronominal suffixes are singular in this verse (note “your eyes,” “you have made great,” and “you have acted”). Verse 18a seems to indicate that Lot is addressing the angels, but the use of the singular and the appearance of the divine title “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’adonay) in v. 18b suggests he is speaking to God.

[19:19]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “in your eyes.”

[19:19]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “you made great your kindness.”

[19:19]  ⁵² sn The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) can refer to “faithful love” or to “kindness,” depending on the context. The precise nuance here is uncertain.

[19:19]  ⁵³ tn The infinitive construct explains how God has shown Lot kindness.

[19:19]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “lest.”

[19:19]  ⁵⁵ tn The Hebrew verb דָּבַק (davaq) normally means “to stick to, to cleave, to join.” Lot is afraid he cannot outrun the coming calamity.

[19:19]  ⁵⁶ tn The perfect verb form with vav consecutive carries the nuance of the imperfect verbal form before it.

[19:20]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”

[19:20]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”

[19:20]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.

[19:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “Is it not little?”

[19:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.

[19:21]  ⁶² tn Heb “And he said, ‘Look, I will grant.’” The order of the clauses has been rearranged for stylistic reasons. The referent of the speaker (“he”) is somewhat ambiguous: It could be taken as the angel to whom Lot has been speaking (so NLT; note the singular references in vv. 18-19), or it could be that Lot is speaking directly to the Lord here. Most English translations leave the referent of the pronoun unspecified and maintain the ambiguity.

[19:21]  ⁶³ tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”

[19:21]  ⁶⁴ tn The negated infinitive construct indicates either the consequence of God’s granting the request (“I have granted this request, so that I will not”) or the manner in which he will grant it (“I have granted your request by not destroying”).

[19:22]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.

[19:22]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.” The name of the place, צוֹעַר (tso’ar) apparently means “Little Place,” in light of the wordplay with the term “little” (מִצְעָר, mits’ar) used twice by Lot to describe the town (v. 20).

[19:23]  ⁶⁷ sn The sun had just risen. There was very little time for Lot to escape between dawn (v. 15) and sunrise (here).

[19:23]  ⁶⁸ tn The juxtaposition of the two disjunctive clauses indicates synchronic action. The first action (the sun’s rising) occurred as the second (Lot’s entering Zoar) took place. The disjunctive clauses also signal closure for the preceding scene.

[19:24]  ⁶⁹ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

[19:24]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

[19:24]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:24]  sn The text explicitly states that the sulfur and fire that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah was sent down from the sky by the Lord. What exactly this was, and how it happened, can only be left to intelligent speculation, but see J. P. Harland, “The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain,” BA 6 (1943): 41-54.

[19:25]  ⁷² tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:25]  ⁷³ tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

[19:26]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:26]  ⁷⁵ tn The Hebrew verb means “to look intently; to gaze” (see 15:5).

[19:26]  sn Longingly. Lot’s wife apparently identified with the doomed city and thereby showed lack of respect for God’s provision of salvation. She, like her daughters later, had allowed her thinking to be influenced by the culture of Sodom.

[19:27]  ⁷⁶ tn The words “and went” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:28]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[19:28]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “all the land of the plain”; Heb “and all the face of the land of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:28]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”

[19:28]  sn It is hard to imagine what was going on in Abraham’s mind, but this brief section in the narrative enables the reader to think about the human response to the judgment. Abraham had family in that area. He had rescued those people from the invasion. That was why he interceded. Yet he surely knew how wicked they were. That was why he got the number down to ten when he negotiated with God to save the city. But now he must have wondered, “What was the point?”

[19:29]  ⁸⁰ tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.

[19:29]  ⁸¹ tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:29]  ⁸² tn Heb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23-32) was that the Lord not destroy the righteous with the wicked. While the requisite minimum number of righteous people (ten, v. 32) needed for God to spare the cities was not found, God nevertheless rescued the righteous before destroying the wicked.

[19:29]  sn God showed Abraham special consideration because of the covenantal relationship he had established with the patriarch. Yet the reader knows that God delivered the “righteous” (Lot’s designation in 2 Pet 2:7) before destroying their world – which is what he will do again at the end of the age.

[19:29]  ⁸³ sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.

[19:29]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”

[19:31]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”

[19:31]  ⁸⁶ tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.

[19:31]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.

[19:32]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:32]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.

[19:32]  ⁹⁰ tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.

[19:32]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[19:32]  sn For a discussion of the cultural background of the daughters’ desire to preserve our family line see F. C. Fensham, “The Obliteration of the Family as Motif in the Near Eastern Literature,” AION 10 (1969): 191-99.

[19:33]  ⁹² tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:33]  ⁹³ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:33]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.

[19:33]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”

[19:34]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:34]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

[19:34]  ⁹⁸ tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[19:35]  ⁹⁹ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:35]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “lied down with him.”

[19:35]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”

[19:37]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:37]  ¹⁰³ sn The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, me’avinu) which the daughters used twice (vv. 32, 34). This account is probably included in the narrative in order to portray the Moabites, who later became enemies of God’s people, in a negative light.

[19:38]  ¹⁰⁴ sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.

[1:26]  ¹⁰⁵ sn The plural form of the verb has been the subject of much discussion through the years, and not surprisingly several suggestions have been put forward. Many Christian theologians interpret it as an early hint of plurality within the Godhead, but this view imposes later trinitarian concepts on the ancient text. Some have suggested the plural verb indicates majesty, but the plural of majesty is not used with verbs. C. Westermann (Genesis, 1:145) argues for a plural of “deliberation” here, but his proposed examples of this use (2 Sam 24:14; Isa 6:8) do not actually support his theory. In 2 Sam 24:14 David uses the plural as representative of all Israel, and in Isa 6:8 the Lord speaks on behalf of his heavenly court. In its ancient Israelite context the plural is most naturally understood as referring to God and his heavenly court (see 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Isa 6:1-8). (The most well-known members of this court are God’s messengers, or angels. In Gen 3:5 the serpent may refer to this group as “gods/divine beings.” See the note on the word “evil” in 3:5.) If this is the case, God invites the heavenly court to participate in the creation of humankind (perhaps in the role of offering praise, see Job 38:7), but he himself is the one who does the actual creative work (v. 27). Of course, this view does assume that the members of the heavenly court possess the divine “image” in some way. Since the image is closely associated with rulership, perhaps they share the divine image in that they, together with God and under his royal authority, are the executive authority over the world.

[1:26]  ¹⁰⁶ tn The Hebrew word is אָדָם (’adam), which can sometimes refer to man, as opposed to woman. The term refers here to humankind, comprised of male and female. The singular is clearly collective (see the plural verb, “[that] they may rule” in v. 26b) and the referent is defined specifically as “male and female” in v. 27. Usage elsewhere in Gen 1-11 supports this as well. In 5:2 we read: “Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and called their name ‘humankind’ (אָדָם).” The noun also refers to humankind in 6:1, 5-7 and in 9:5-6.

[1:26]  ¹⁰⁷ tn The two prepositions translated “in” and “according to” have overlapping fields of meaning and in this context seem to be virtually equivalent. In 5:3 they are reversed with the two words. The word צֶלֶם (tselem, “image”) is used frequently of statues, models, and images – replicas (see D. J. A. Clines, “The Etymology of Hebrew selem,” JNSL 3 [1974]: 19-25). The word דְּמוּת (dÿmut, “likeness”) is an abstract noun; its verbal root means “to be like; to resemble.” In the Book of Genesis the two terms describe human beings who in some way reflect the form and the function of the creator. The form is more likely stressing the spiritual rather than the physical. The “image of God” would be the God-given mental and spiritual capacities that enable people to relate to God and to serve him by ruling over the created order as his earthly vice-regents.

[1:26]  sn In our image, after our likeness. Similar language is used in the instructions for building the tabernacle. Moses was told to make it “according to the pattern” he was shown on the mount (Exod 25:9, 10). Was he shown a form, a replica, of the spiritual sanctuary in the heavenly places? In any case, what was produced on earth functioned as the heavenly sanctuary does, but with limitations.

[1:26]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Following the cohortative (“let us make”), the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result (see Gen 19:20; 34:23; 2 Sam 3:21). God’s purpose in giving humankind his image is that they might rule the created order on behalf of the heavenly king and his royal court. So the divine image, however it is defined, gives humankind the capacity and/or authority to rule over creation.

[1:26]  ¹⁰⁹ tc The MT reads “earth”; the Syriac reads “wild animals” (cf. NRSV).

[1:26]  ¹¹⁰ tn Heb “creep” (also in v. 28).

[15:28]  ¹¹¹ tn Grk “have sealed this fruit to them.”

[1:2]  ¹¹² sn Apphia is thought to be the wife of Philemon.

[1:2]  ¹¹³ tc Most witnesses (D² Ψ Ï) here read τῇ ἀγαπητῇ (th agaphth, “beloved, dear”), a reading that appears to have been motivated by the masculine form of the same adjective in v. 1. Further, the earliest and best witnesses, along with a few others (א A D* F G I P 048 0278 33 81 104 1739 1881 pc), have ἀδελφῇ (adelfh, “sister”). Thus on internal and external grounds, ἀδελφῇ is the strongly preferred reading.

[1:2]  ¹¹⁴ tn Though the term “our” does not appear in the Greek text it is inserted to bring out the sense of the passage.

[1:12]  ¹¹⁵ tn On the use of the πιστεύω + εἰς (pisteuw + ei") construction in John: The verb πιστεύω occurs 98 times in John (compared to 11 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark [including the longer ending], and 9 times in Luke). One of the unsolved mysteries is why the corresponding noun form πίστις (pistis) is never used at all. Many have held the noun was in use in some pre-Gnostic sects and this rendered it suspect for John. It might also be that for John, faith was an activity, something that men do (cf. W. Turner, “Believing and Everlasting Life – A Johannine Inquiry,” ExpTim 64 [1952/53]: 50-52). John uses πιστεύω in 4 major ways: (1) of believing facts, reports, etc., 12 times; (2) of believing people (or the scriptures), 19 times; (3) of believing “in” Christ” (πιστεύω + εἰς + acc.), 36 times; (4) used absolutely without any person or object specified, 30 times (the one remaining passage is 2:24, where Jesus refused to “trust” himself to certain individuals). Of these, the most significant is the use of πιστεύω with εἰς + accusative. It is not unlike the Pauline ἐν Χριστῷ (en Cristw) formula. Some have argued that this points to a Hebrew (more likely Aramaic) original behind the Fourth Gospel. But it probably indicates something else, as C. H. Dodd observed: “πιστεύειν with the dative so inevitably connoted simple credence, in the sense of an intellectual judgment, that the moral element of personal trust or reliance inherent in the Hebrew or Aramaic phrase – an element integral to the primitive Christian conception of faith in Christ – needed to be otherwise expressed” (The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 183).

[1:3]  ¹¹⁶ tn Or “made”; Grk “came into existence.”

[1:3]  ¹¹⁷ tn Or “made”; Grk “nothing came into existence.”

[1:3]  ¹¹⁸ tc There is a major punctuation problem here: Should this relative clause go with v. 3 or v. 4? The earliest mss have no punctuation (Ì^66,75* א* A B Δ al). Many of the later mss which do have punctuation place it before the phrase, thus putting it with v. 4 (Ì^75c C D L W^s 050* pc). NA²⁵ placed the phrase in v. 3; NA²⁶ moved the words to the beginning of v. 4. In a detailed article K. Aland defended the change (“Eine Untersuchung zu Johannes 1, 3-4. Über die Bedeutung eines Punktes,” ZNW 59 [1968]: 174-209). He sought to prove that the attribution of ὃ γέγονεν (}o gegonen) to v. 3 began to be carried out in the 4th century in the Greek church. This came out of the Arian controversy, and was intended as a safeguard for doctrine. The change was unknown in the West. Aland is probably correct in affirming that the phrase was attached to v. 4 by the Gnostics and the Eastern Church; only when the Arians began to use the phrase was it attached to v. 3. But this does not rule out the possibility that, by moving the words from v. 4 to v. 3, one is restoring the original reading. Understanding the words as part of v. 3 is natural and adds to the emphasis which is built up there, while it also gives a terse, forceful statement in v. 4. On the other hand, taking the phrase ὃ γέγονεν with v. 4 gives a complicated expression: C. K. Barrett says that both ways of understanding v. 4 with ὃ γέγονεν included “are almost impossibly clumsy” (St. John, 157): “That which came into being – in it the Word was life”; “That which came into being – in the Word was its life.” The following stylistic points should be noted in the solution of this problem: (1) John frequently starts sentences with ἐν (en); (2) he repeats frequently (“nothing was created that has been created”); (3) 5:26 and 6:53 both give a sense similar to v. 4 if it is understood without the phrase; (4) it makes far better Johannine sense to say that in the Word was life than to say that the created universe (what was made, ὃ γέγονεν) was life in him. In conclusion, the phrase is best taken with v. 3. Schnackenburg, Barrett, Carson, Haenchen, Morris, KJV, and NIV concur (against Brown, Beasley-Murray, and NEB). The arguments of R. Schnackenburg, St. John, 1:239-40, are particularly persuasive.

[1:3]  tn Or “made”; Grk “that has come into existence.”

[1:14]  ¹¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic, the incarnation of the Word. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[1:14]  ¹²⁰ tn This looks at the Word incarnate in humility and weakness; the word σάρξ (sarx) does not carry overtones of sinfulness here as it frequently does in Pauline usage. See also John 3:6.

[1:14]  ¹²¹ tn Grk “and tabernacled.”

[1:14]  sn The Greek word translated took up residence (σκηνόω, skhnow) alludes to the OT tabernacle, where the Shekinah, the visible glory of God’s presence, resided. The author is suggesting that this glory can now be seen in Jesus (note the following verse). The verb used here may imply that the Shekinah glory that once was found in the tabernacle has taken up residence in the person of Jesus. Cf. also John 2:19-21. The Word became flesh. This verse constitutes the most concise statement of the incarnation in the New Testament. John 1:1 makes it clear that the Logos was fully God, but 1:14 makes it clear that he was also fully human. A Docetic interpretation is completely ruled out. Here for the first time the Logos of 1:1 is identified as Jesus of Nazareth – the two are one and the same. Thus this is the last time the word logos is used in the Fourth Gospel to refer to the second person of the Trinity. From here on it is Jesus of Nazareth who is the focus of John’s Gospel.

[1:14]  ¹²² tn Grk “and we saw.”

[1:14]  ¹²³ tn Or “of the unique one.” Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clem. 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant., 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).