Yohanes 3:34

3:34 For the one whom God has sent ¹  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ² 

Yohanes 6:27

6:27 Do not work for the food that disappears, ³  but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food ⁴  which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” ⁵ 

Mazmur 2:2

2:2 The kings of the earth ⁶  form a united front; ⁷ 

the rulers collaborate ⁸ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ⁹ 

Mazmur 2:6-12

2:6 “I myself ¹⁰  have installed ¹¹  my king

on Zion, my holy hill.”

2:7 The king says, ¹²  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ¹³ 

‘You are my son! ¹⁴  This very day I have become your father!

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ¹⁵ 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

2:9 You will break them ¹⁶  with an iron scepter; ¹⁷ 

you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” ¹⁸ 

2:10 So now, you kings, do what is wise; ¹⁹ 

you rulers of the earth, submit to correction! ²⁰ 

2:11 Serve ²¹  the Lord in fear!

Repent in terror! ²² 

2:12 Give sincere homage! ²³ 

Otherwise he ²⁴  will be angry, ²⁵ 

and you will die because of your behavior, ²⁶ 

when his anger quickly ignites. ²⁷ 

How blessed ²⁸  are all who take shelter in him! ²⁹ 

Yesaya 11:2-5

11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ³⁰  –

a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ³¹ 

a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ³² 

a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ³³ 

11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ³⁴ 

He will not judge by mere appearances, ³⁵ 

or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ³⁶ 

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ³⁷ 

and make right decisions ³⁸  for the downtrodden of the earth. ³⁹ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ⁴⁰ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ⁴¹ 

11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ⁴² 

Yesaya 42:1

The Lord Commissions His Special Servant

42:1 ⁴³ “Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ⁴⁴  for the nations. ⁴⁵ 

Yesaya 42:3

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ⁴⁶ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ⁴⁷ 

Yesaya 49:1-3

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ⁴⁸ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ⁴⁹ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁵⁰ 

49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

he hid me in the hollow of his hand;

he made me like a sharpened ⁵¹  arrow,

he hid me in his quiver. ⁵² 

49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” ⁵³ 

Yesaya 49:6-8

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ⁵⁴  of Israel? ⁵⁵ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ⁵⁶ 

so you can bring ⁵⁷  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ⁵⁸  of Israel, their Holy One, ⁵⁹  says

to the one who is despised ⁶⁰  and rejected ⁶¹  by nations, ⁶² 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ⁶³ 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

49:8 This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;

in the day of deliverance I will help you;

I will protect you ⁶⁴  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ⁶⁵ 

to rebuild ⁶⁶  the land ⁶⁷ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

Yesaya 55:4

55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, ⁶⁸ 

a ruler and commander of nations.”

Yesaya 61:1-3

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ⁶⁹  me. ⁷⁰ 

He has commissioned ⁷¹  me to encourage ⁷²  the poor,

to help ⁷³  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ⁷⁴ 

to console all who mourn,

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ⁷⁵  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ⁷⁶  instead of discouragement. ⁷⁷ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ⁷⁸ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ⁷⁹ 

Yeremia 1:5

1:5 “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb ⁸⁰  I chose you. ⁸¹ 

Before you were born I set you apart.

I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

[3:34]  ¹ tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ² tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

[6:27]  ³ tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).

[6:27]  sn Do not work for the food that disappears. Note the wordplay on “work” here. This does not imply “working” for salvation, since the “work” is later explained (in John 6:29) as “to believe in the one whom he (the Father) sent.”

[6:27]  ⁴ tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.

[6:27]  ⁵ tn Grk “on this one.”

[2:2]  ⁶ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[2:6]  ¹⁰ tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”

[2:6]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”

[2:7]  ¹² tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ¹³ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ¹⁴ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[2:8]  ¹⁵ sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.

[2:9]  ¹⁸ sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.

[2:10]  ¹⁹ sn The speaker here is either the psalmist or the Davidic king, who now addresses the rebellious kings.

[2:10]  ²⁰ tn The Niphal has here a tolerative nuance; the kings are urged to submit themselves to the advice being offered.

[2:11]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “serve” refers here to submitting to the Lord’s sovereignty as expressed through the rule of the Davidic king. Such “service” would involve maintaining allegiance to the Davidic king by paying tribute on a regular basis.

[2:11]  ²² tn Traditionally, “rejoice with trembling” (KJV). The verb גִּיל (gil) normally means “rejoice,” but this meaning does not fit well here in conjunction with “in trembling.” Some try to understand “trembling” (and the parallel יִרְאָה, yir’ah, “fear”) in the sense of “reverential awe” and then take the verbs “serve” and “rejoice” in the sense of “worship” (cf. NASB). But רְעָדָה (rÿ’adah, “trembling”) and its related terms consistently refer to utter terror and fear (see Exod 15:15; Job 4:14; Pss 48:6; 55:5; 104:32; Isa 33:14; Dan 10:11) or at least great emotional distress (Ezra 10:9). It seems more likely here that גִּיל carries its polarized meaning “mourn, lament,” as in Hos 10:5. “Mourn, lament” would then be metonymic in this context for “repent” (referring to one’s rebellious ways). On the meaning of the verb in Hos 10:5, see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea (AB), 556-57.

[2:12]  ²³ tn Traditionally, “kiss the son” (KJV). But בַּר (bar) is the Aramaic word for “son,” not the Hebrew. For this reason many regard the reading as suspect. Some propose emendations of vv. 11b-12a. One of the more popular proposals is to read בִּרְעָדָה נַשְּׁקוּ לְרַגְלָיו (bir’adah nashÿqu lÿraslayv, “in trembling kiss his feet”). It makes better sense to understand בַּר (bar) as an adjective meaning “pure” (see Pss 24:4; 73:1 and BDB 141 s.v. בַּר 3) functioning here in an adverbial sense. If read this way, then the syntactical structure of exhortation (imperative followed by adverbial modifier) corresponds to the two preceding lines (see v. 11). The verb נָשַׁק (nashaq, “kiss”) refers metonymically to showing homage (see 1 Sam 10:1; Hos 13:2). The exhortation in v. 12a advocates a genuine expression of allegiance and warns against insincerity. When swearing allegiance, vassal kings would sometimes do so insincerely, with the intent of rebelling when the time was right. The so-called “Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon” also warn against such an attitude. In this treaty the vassal is told: “If you, as you stand on the soil where this oath [is sworn], swear the oath with your words and lips [only], do not swear with your entire heart, do not transmit it to your sons who will live after this treaty, if you take this curse upon yourselves but do not plan to keep the treaty of Esarhaddon…may your sons and grandsons because of this fear in the future” (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 2:62).

[2:12]  ²⁴ tn Throughout the translation of this verse the third person masculine pronouns refer to the Lord (cf. v. 11).

[2:12]  ²⁵ tn The implied subject of the verb is the Lord, mentioned in v. 11. Elsewhere the subject of this verb is consistently the Lord, suggesting it may be a technical term for divine anger. Anger is here used metonymically for judgment, as the following statement makes clear. A Moabite cognate occurs in the Mesha inscription, where it is used of the Moabite god Chemosh’s anger at his people (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 1:209).

[2:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and you will perish [in the] way.” The Hebrew word דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to their rebellious behavior (not to a pathway, as often understood). It functions syntactically as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb “perish.”

[2:12]  ²⁷ tn Or “burns.” The Lord’s anger is compared here to fire, the most destructive force known in ancient Israel.

[2:12]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[2:12]  ²⁹ sn Who take shelter in him. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[11:2]  ³⁰ sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.

[11:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “a spirit of wisdom and understanding.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of wisdom he will possess. His wisdom will enable him to make just legal decisions (v. 3). A very similar phrase occurs in Eph 1:17.

[11:2]  ³² tn Heb “a spirit of counsel [or “strategy”] and strength.” The construction is a hendiadys; the point is that he will have the strength/ability to execute the plans/strategies he devises. This ability will enable him to suppress oppressors and implement just policies (v. 4).

[11:2]  ³³ tn Heb “a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” “Knowledge” is used here in its covenantal sense and refers to a recognition of God’s authority and a willingness to submit to it. See Jer 22:16. “Fear” here refers to a healthy respect for God’s authority which produces obedience. Taken together the two terms emphasize the single quality of loyalty to the Lord. This loyalty guarantees that he will make just legal decisions and implement just policies (vv. 4-5).

[11:3]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.” In Amos 5:21 the Hiphil of רוּחַ (ruakh, “smell”) carries the nuance of “smell with delight, get pleasure from.” There the Lord declares that he does not “smell with delight” (i.e., get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies, which probably stand by metonymy for the incense offered during these festivals. In Isa 11:3 there is no sacrificial context to suggest such a use, but it is possible that “the fear of the Lord” is likened to incense. This coming king will get the same kind of delight from obeying (fearing) the Lord, as a deity does in the incense offered by worshipers. Some regard such an explanation as strained in this context, and prefer to omit this line from the text as a virtual dittograph of the preceding statement.

[11:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “by what appears to his eyes”; KJV “after the sight of his eyes”; NIV “by what he sees with his eyes.”

[11:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”

[11:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ³⁹ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ⁴⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[11:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.

[42:1]  ⁴³ sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.

[42:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[42:1]  ⁴⁵ sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.

[42:3]  ⁴⁶ sn The “crushed reed” and “dim wick” symbolize the weak and oppressed who are on the verge of extinction.

[42:3]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “faithfully he will bring out justice” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[49:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  sn The Lord’s special servant, introduced in chap. 42, speaks here of his commission.

[49:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[49:2]  ⁵¹ tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”

[49:2]  ⁵² sn The figurative language emphasizes the servant’s importance as the Lord’s effective instrument. The servant’s mouth, which stands metonymically for his words, is compared to a sharp sword because he will be an effective spokesman on God’s behalf (see 50:4). The Lord holds his hand on the servant, ready to draw and use him at the appropriate time. The servant is like a sharpened arrow reserved in a quiver for just the right moment.

[49:3]  ⁵³ sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.

[49:6]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ⁵⁵ sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ⁵⁶ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[49:7]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:7]  ⁵⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:7]  ⁶⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

[49:7]  ⁶¹ tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

[49:7]  ⁶² tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

[49:7]  ⁶³ tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

[49:8]  ⁶⁴ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).

[49:8]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.

[49:8]  ⁶⁶ tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

[49:8]  ⁶⁷ tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.

[55:4]  ⁶⁸ sn Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness (cf. Pss 18:50 HT [18:49 ET]; 22:28 HT [22:27 ET]). See J. H. Eaton, Kingship in the Psalms (SBT), 182-84.

[61:1]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ⁷⁰ sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).

[61:1]  ⁷¹ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ⁷² tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ⁷³ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[61:2]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[61:3]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ⁷⁸ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[1:5]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “the womb.” The words “your mother’s” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:5]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “I knew you.” The parallelism here with “set you apart” and “appointed you” make clear that Jeremiah is speaking of his foreordination to be a prophet. For this same nuance of the Hebrew verb see Gen 18:19; Amos 3:2.