Yehezkiel 2:3

2:3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house ¹  of Israel, to rebellious nations ²  who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted ³  against me to this very day.

Yehezkiel 2:6

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ⁴  and thorns ⁵  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ⁶  for they are a rebellious house!

Yehezkiel 2:8

2:8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

Yehezkiel 3:1

3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ⁷  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

Yehezkiel 3:4

3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

Yehezkiel 3:10

3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully.

Yehezkiel 3:17

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ⁸  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

Yehezkiel 4:1

Ominous Object Lessons

4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick ⁹  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ¹⁰  a city on it – Jerusalem.

Yehezkiel 5:1

5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. ¹¹  Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. ¹²  Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off.

Yehezkiel 7:2

7:2 “You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ¹³ 

Yehezkiel 12:3

12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, ¹⁴  although they are a rebellious house.

Yehezkiel 13:2

13:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination: ¹⁵  ‘Hear the word of the Lord!

Yehezkiel 14:3

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ¹⁶  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ¹⁷  me?

Yehezkiel 14:13

14:13 “Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, ¹⁸  cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.

Yehezkiel 15:2

15:2 “Son of man, of all the woody branches among the trees of the forest, what happens to the wood of the vine? ¹⁹ 

Yehezkiel 16:2

16:2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem ²⁰  with her abominable practices

Yehezkiel 17:2

17:2 “Son of man, offer a riddle, ²¹  and tell a parable to the house of Israel.

Yehezkiel 20:3

20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ²²  declares the sovereign Lord.’

Yehezkiel 37:3

37:3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.”

Mazmur 8:4

8:4 Of what importance is the human race, ²³  that you should notice ²⁴  them?

Of what importance is mankind, ²⁵  that you should pay attention to them, ²⁶ 

Daniel 8:17

8:17 So he approached the place where I was standing. As he came, I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground. ²⁷  Then he said to me, “Understand, son of man, ²⁸  that the vision pertains to the time of the end.”

Matius 16:13-16

Peter’s Confession

16:13 When ²⁹  Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, ³⁰  he asked his disciples, ³¹  “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 16:14 They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, ³²  and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16:16 Simon Peter answered, ³³  “You are the Christ, ³⁴  the Son of the living God.”

Yohanes 3:13

3:13 No one ³⁵  has ascended ³⁶  into heaven except the one who descended from heaven – the Son of Man. ³⁷ 

Yohanes 3:16

3:16 For this is the way ³⁸  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ³⁹  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ⁴⁰  but have eternal life. ⁴¹ 

[2:3]  ¹ tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8, “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).

[2:3]  ² tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.

[2:3]  ³ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

[2:3]  tn The Hebrew term used here is the strongest word available for expressing a covenant violation. The word is used in the diplomatic arena to express a treaty violation (2 Kgs 1:1; 3:5, 7).

[2:6]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  sn Here thorns may be a figure for hostility (Ezek 28:24; Mic 7:4).

[2:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “eat what you find.”

[3:17]  ⁸ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

[4:1]  ⁹ sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “draw.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[5:1]  ¹² tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”

[7:2]  ¹³ tn Or “earth.” Elsewhere the expression “four corners of the earth” figuratively refers to the whole earth (Isa 11:12).

[12:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.

[13:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from their mind.”

[13:2]  sn Who prophesy from their imagination. Note the testimony of Moses in Num 16:28, which contains a similar expression.

[14:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

[14:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

[14:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “break its staff of bread.”

[15:2]  ¹⁹ tn Most modern translations take the statement as a comparison (“how is vine wood better than any forest wood?”) based on the preposition מִן (min). But a comparison should have a word as an adjective or stative verb designating a quality, i.e., a word for “good/better” is lacking. The preposition is translated above in its partitive sense.

[15:2]  sn Comparing Israel to the wood of the vine may focus on Israel’s inferiority to the other nations. For the vine imagery in relation to Israel and the people of God, see Ps 80:8-13; John 15:1-7; Rom 11:17-22.

[16:2]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:2]  ²¹ sn The verb occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Judg 14:12-19, where Samson supplies a riddle.

[20:3]  ²² tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

[8:4]  ²³ tn Heb “What is man[kind]?” The singular noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race.

[8:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “remember him.”

[8:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and the son of man.” The phrase “son of man” is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12.

[8:4]  ²⁶ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God’s characteristic activity.

[8:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “on my face.”

[8:17]  ²⁸ tn Or “human one.”

[16:13]  ²⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[16:13]  ³⁰ map For location see Map1 C1; Map2 F4.

[16:13]  ³¹ tn Grk “he asked his disciples, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has been left untranslated.

[16:14]  ³² sn The appearance of Elijah would mean that the end time had come. According to 2 Kgs 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah.

[16:16]  ³³ tn Grk “And answering, Simon Peter said.”

[16:16]  ³⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[16:16]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.

[3:13]  ³⁵ tn Grk “And no one.”

[3:13]  ³⁶ sn The verb ascended is a perfect tense in Greek (ἀναβέβηκεν, anabebhken) which seems to look at a past, completed event. (This is not as much of a problem for those who take Jesus’ words to end at v. 12, and these words to be a comment by the author, looking back on Jesus’ ascension.) As a saying of Jesus, these words are a bit harder to explain. Note, however, the lexical similarities with 1:51: “ascending,” “descending,” and “son of man.” Here, though, the ascent and descent is accomplished by the Son himself, not the angels as in 1:51. There is no need to limit this saying to Jesus’ ascent following the resurrection, however; the point of the Jacob story (Gen 28), which seems to be the background for 1:51, is the freedom of communication and relationship between God and men (a major theme of John’s Gospel). This communication comes through the angels in Gen 28 (and John 1:51); but here (most appropriately) it comes directly through the Son of Man. Although Jesus could be referring to a prior ascent, after an appearance as the preincarnate Son of Man, more likely he is simply pointing out that no one from earth has ever gone up to heaven and come down again. The Son, who has come down from heaven, is the only one who has been ‘up’ there. In both Jewish intertestamental literature and later rabbinic accounts, Moses is portrayed as ascending to heaven to receive the Torah and descending to distribute it to men (e.g., Targum Ps 68:19.) In contrast to these Jewish legends, the Son is the only one who has ever made the ascent and descent.

[3:13]  ³⁷ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (A^[*^] Θ Ψ 050 Ë^1,13 Ï latt sy^c,p,h), have at the end of this verse “the one who is in heaven” (ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, Jo wn en tw ouranw). A few others have variations on this phrase, such as “who was in heaven” (e sy^c), or “the one who is from heaven” (0141 pc sy^s). The witnesses normally considered the best, along with several others, lack the phrase in its entirety (Ì^66,75 א B L T W^s 083 086 33 1241 pc co). On the one hand, if the reading ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ is authentic it may suggest that while Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus he spoke of himself as in heaven even while he was on earth. If that is the case, one could see why variations from this hard saying arose: “who was in heaven,” “the one who is from heaven,” and omission of the clause. At the same time, such a saying could be interpreted (though with difficulty) as part of the narrator’s comments rather than Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus, alleviating the problem. And if v. 13 was viewed in early times as the evangelist’s statement, “the one who is in heaven” could have crept into the text through a marginal note. Other internal evidence suggests that this saying may be authentic. The adjectival participle, ὁ ὤν, is used in the Fourth Gospel more than any other NT book (though the Apocalypse comes in a close second), and frequently with reference to Jesus (1:18; 6:46; 8:47). It may be looking back to the LXX of Exod 3:14 (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν). Especially since this exact construction is not necessary to communicate the location of the Son of Man, its presence in many witnesses here may suggest authenticity. Further, John uses the singular of οὐρανός (ourano", “heaven”) in all 18 instances of the word in this Gospel, and all but twice with the article (only 1:32 and 6:58 are anarthrous, and even in the latter there is significant testimony to the article). At the same time, the witnesses that lack this clause are very weighty and must not be discounted. Generally speaking, if other factors are equal, the reading of such mss should be preferred. And internally, it could be argued that ὁ ὤν is the most concise way to speak of the Son of Man in heaven at that time (without the participle the point would be more ambiguous). Further, the articular singular οὐρανός is already used twice in this verse, thus sufficiently prompting scribes to add the same in the longer reading. This combination of factors suggests that ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ is not a genuine Johannism. Further intrinsic evidence against the longer reading relates to the evangelist’s purposes: If he intended v. 13 to be his own comments rather than Jesus’ statement, his switch back to Jesus’ words in v. 14 (for the lifting up of the Son of Man is still seen as in the future) seems inexplicable. The reading “who is in heaven” thus seems to be too hard. All things considered, as intriguing as the longer reading is, it seems almost surely to have been a marginal gloss added inadvertently to the text in the process of transmission. For an argument in favor of the longer reading, see David Alan Black, “The Text of John 3:13,” GTJ 6 (1985): 49-66.

[3:13]  sn See the note on the title Son of Man in 1:51.

[3:16]  ³⁸ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ³⁹ tn 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 Clement 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 (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), 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).

[3:16]  ⁴⁰ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ⁴¹ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.