Kejadian 31:15

31:15 Hasn’t he treated us like foreigners? He not only sold us, but completely wasted ¹  the money paid for us! ² 

Mazmur 22:30

22:30 A whole generation ³  will serve him;

they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. ⁴ 

Mazmur 87:6

87:6 The Lord writes in the census book of the nations, ⁵ 

“This one was born there.” ⁶  (Selah)

Yohanes 1:13

1:13 – children not born ⁷  by human parents ⁸  or by human desire ⁹  or a husband’s ¹⁰  decision, ¹¹  but by God.

Galatia 3:26-29

3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. ¹²  3:27 For all of you who ¹³  were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave ¹⁴  nor free, there is neither male nor female ¹⁵  – for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, ¹⁶  heirs according to the promise.

Galatia 4:28

4:28 But you, ¹⁷  brothers and sisters, ¹⁸  are children of the promise like Isaac.

Galatia 4:1

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹⁹  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ²⁰  of everything.

Yohanes 3:1-2

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ²¹  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ²²  3:2 came to Jesus ²³  at night ²⁴  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ²⁵  that you do unless God is with him.”

[31:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and he devoured, even devouring.” The infinitive absolute (following the finite verb here) is used for emphasis.

[31:15]  sn He sold us and…wasted our money. The precise nature of Rachel’s and Leah’s complaint is not entirely clear. Since Jacob had to work to pay for them, they probably mean that their father has cheated Jacob and therefore cheated them as well. See M. Burrows, “The Complaint of Laban’s Daughters,” JAOS 57 (1937): 250-76.

[31:15]  ² tn Heb “our money.” The word “money” is used figuratively here; it means the price paid for Leah and Rachel. A literal translation (“our money”) makes it sound as if Laban wasted money that belonged to Rachel and Leah, rather than the money paid for them.

[22:30]  ³ tn Heb “offspring.”

[22:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “it will be told concerning the Lord to the generation.” The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[87:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord records in the writing of the nations.”

[87:6]  ⁶ tn As noted in v. 4, the translation assumes a contrast between “there” (the various foreign lands) and “in her” (Zion). In contrast to foreigners, the citizens of Zion have special status because of their birthplace (v. 5). In this case vv. 4 and 6 form a structural frame around v. 5.

[1:13]  ⁷ tn The Greek term translated “born” here also involves conception.

[1:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “of blood(s).” The plural αἱμάτων (Jaimatwn) has seemed a problem to many interpreters. At least some sources in antiquity imply that blood was thought of as being important in the development of the fetus during its time in the womb: thus Wis 7:1: “in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh, within the period of 10 months, compacted with blood, from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.” In John 1:13, the plural αἱμάτων may imply the action of both parents. It may also refer to the “genetic” contribution of both parents, and so be equivalent to “human descent” (see BDAG 26 s.v. αἷμα 1.a). E. C. Hoskyns thinks John could not have used the singular here because Christians are in fact ‘begotten’ by the blood of Christ (The Fourth Gospel, 143), although the context would seem to make it clear that the blood in question is something other than the blood of Christ.

[1:13]  ⁹ tn Or “of the will of the flesh.” The phrase οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός (oude ek qelhmato" sarko") is more clearly a reference to sexual desire, but it should be noted that σάρξ (sarx) in John does not convey the evil sense common in Pauline usage. For John it refers to the physical nature in its weakness rather than in its sinfulness. There is no clearer confirmation of this than the immediately following verse, where the λόγος (logos) became σάρξ.

[1:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “man’s.”

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn The third phrase, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός (oude ek qelhmato" andros), means much the same as the second one. The word here (ἀνηρ, anhr) is often used for a husband, resulting in the translation “or a husband’s decision,” or more generally, “or of any human volition whatsoever.” L. Morris may be right when he sees here an emphasis directed at the Jewish pride in race and patriarchal ancestry, although such a specific reference is difficult to prove (John [NICNT], 101).

[3:26]  ¹² tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

[3:27]  ¹³ tn Grk “For as many of you as.”

[3:28]  ¹⁴ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 1:10.

[3:28]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “male and female.”

[3:29]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.

[4:28]  ¹⁷ tc Most mss (א A C D² Ψ 062 Ï lat sy bo) read “we” here, while “you” is found in Ì⁴⁶ B D* F G 0261^vid 0278 33 1739 al sa. It is more likely that a copyist, noticing the first person pronouns in vv. 26 and 31, changed a second person pronoun here to first person for consistency.

[4:28]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[4:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

[4:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

[3:1]  ²¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ²² tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[3:2]  ²³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  sn Possibly Nicodemus came…at night because he was afraid of public association with Jesus, or he wanted a lengthy discussion without interruptions; no explanation for the timing of the interview is given by the author. But the timing is significant for John in terms of the light-darkness motif – compare John 9:4, 11:10, 13:30 (especially), 19:39, and 21:3. Out of the darkness of his life and religiosity Nicodemus came to the Light of the world. The author probably had multiple meanings or associations in mind here, as is often the case.

[3:2]  ²⁵ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.