Mazmur 119:63

119:63 I am a friend to all your loyal followers, ¹ 

and to those who keep your precepts.

Amsal 8:31

8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, ² 

and delighting ³  in its people. ⁴ 

Amsal 13:20

13:20 The one who associates ⁵  with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm. ⁶ 

Kidung Agung 7:10

Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession

The Beloved about Her Lover:

7:10 I am my beloved’s,

and he desires me! ⁷ 

Yesaya 62:4

62:4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,”

and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.”

Indeed, ⁸  you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” ⁹ 

and your land “Married.” ¹⁰ 

For the Lord will take delight in you,

and your land will be married to him. ¹¹ 

Efesus 5:25-27

5:25 Husbands, love your ¹²  wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ¹³  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ¹⁴  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ¹⁵ 

Efesus 5:1

Live in Love

5:1 Therefore, be ¹⁶  imitators of God as dearly loved children

Yohanes 3:14-17

3:14 Just as ¹⁷  Moses lifted up the serpent ¹⁸  in the wilderness, ¹⁹  so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ²⁰  3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” ²¹ 

3:16 For this is the way ²²  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ²³  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ²⁴  but have eternal life. ²⁵  3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, ²⁶  but that the world should be saved through him.

[119:63]  ¹ tn Heb “to all who fear you.”

[8:31]  ² tn The two words are synonymous in general and so could be taken to express a superlative idea – the “whole world” (cf. NIV, NCV). But תֵּבֵל (tevel) also means the inhabited world, and so the construct may be interpreted as a partitive genitive.

[8:31]  ³ tn Heb “and my delights” [were] with/in.”

[8:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[13:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “walks.” When used with the preposition אֶת (’et, “with”), the verb הָלַךְ (halakh, “to walk”) means “to associate with” someone (BDB 234 s.v. הָלַךְ II.3.b; e.g., Mic 6:8; Job 34:8). The active participle of הָלַךְ (“to walk”) stresses continual, durative action. One should stay in close association with the wise, and move in the same direction they do.

[13:20]  ⁶ tn The verb form יֵרוֹעַ (yeroa’) is the Niphal imperfect of רָעַע (ra’a’), meaning “to suffer hurt.” Several have attempted to parallel the repetition in the wordplay of the first colon. A. Guillaume has “he who associates with fools will be left a fool” (“A Note on the Roots רִיע, יָרַע, and רָעַע in Hebrew,” JTS 15 [1964]: 294). Knox translated the Vulgate thus: “Fool he ends that fool befriends” (cited by D. Kidner, Proverbs [TOTC], 104).

[7:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “his desire is for me” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[62:4]  ⁸ tn Or “for”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “but.”

[62:4]  ⁹ tn Hebrew חֶפְצִי־בָהּ (kheftsi-vah), traditionally transliterated “Hephzibah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ¹⁰ tn Hebrew בְּעוּלָה (bÿ’ulah), traditionally transliterated “Beulah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ¹¹ tn That is, the land will be restored to the Lord’s favor and once again enjoy his blessing and protection. To indicate the land’s relationship to the Lord, the words “to him” have been supplied at the end of the clause.

[5:25]  ¹² tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[5:26]  ¹³ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:27]  ¹⁴ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[5:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “become.”

[3:14]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And just as.”

[3:14]  ¹⁸ sn Or the snake, referring to the bronze serpent mentioned in Num 21:9.

[3:14]  ¹⁹ sn An allusion to Num 21:5-9.

[3:14]  ²⁰ sn So must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is ultimately a prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nicodemus could not have understood this, but John’s readers, the audience to whom the Gospel is addressed, certainly could have (compare the wording of John 12:32). In John, being lifted up refers to one continuous action of ascent, beginning with the cross but ending at the right hand of the Father. Step 1 is Jesus’ death; step 2 is his resurrection; and step 3 is the ascension back to heaven. It is the upward swing of the “pendulum” which began with the incarnation, the descent of the Word become flesh from heaven to earth (cf. Paul in Phil 2:5-11). See also the note on the title Son of Man in 1:51.

[3:15]  ²¹ tn This is the first use of the term ζωὴν αἰώνιον (zwhn aiwnion) in the Gospel, although ζωή (zwh) in chap. 1 is to be understood in the same way without the qualifying αἰώνιος (aiwnios).

[3:15]  sn Some interpreters extend the quotation of Jesus’ words through v. 21.

[3:16]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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.

[3:17]  ²⁶ sn That is, “to judge the world to be guilty and liable to punishment.”