Daniel 9:4

9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way:

“O Lord, ¹  great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant ²  with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Pengkhotbah 7:20

7:20 For ³  there is not one truly ⁴  righteous person on the earth

who continually does good and never sins.

Yesaya 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ⁵  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ⁶  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ⁷  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ⁸ 

Roma 3:23

3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Yakobus 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ⁹  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹⁰  in what he says, ¹¹  he is a perfect individual, ¹²  able to control the entire body as well.

Yakobus 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ¹³  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ¹⁴ 

Yohanes 1:8-10

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify ¹⁵  about the light. 1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ¹⁶  was coming into the world. ¹⁷  1:10 He was in the world, and the world was created ¹⁸  by him, but ¹⁹  the world did not recognize ²⁰  him.

[9:4]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 7, 9, 15, 16, and 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:4]  ² tn Heb “who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[7:20]  ³ tn The introductory particle כִּי (ki) is rendered variously: “for” (KJV); “indeed” (NASB); not translated (NIV); “for” (NJPS). The particle functions in an explanatory sense, explaining the need for wisdom in v. 19. Righteousness alone cannot always protect a person from calamity (7:15-16); therefore, something additional, such as wisdom, is needed. The need for wisdom as protection from calamity is particularly evident in the light of the fact that no one is truly righteous (7:19-20).

[7:20]  ⁴ tn The term “truly” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Qoheleth does not deny the existence of some people who are relatively righteous.

[6:5]  ⁵ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ⁸ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

[1:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[1:9]  sn In v. 9 the world (κόσμος, kosmos) is mentioned for the first time. This is another important theme word for John. Generally, the world as a Johannine concept does not refer to the totality of creation (the universe), although there are exceptions at 11:9. 17:5, 24, 21:25, but to the world of human beings and human affairs. Even in 1:10 the world created through the Logos is a world capable of knowing (or reprehensibly not knowing) its Creator. Sometimes the world is further qualified as this world (ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, Jo kosmos Joutos) as in 8:23, 9:39, 11:9, 12:25, 31; 13:1, 16:11, 18:36. This is not merely equivalent to the rabbinic phrase “this present age” (ὁ αἰών οὗτος, Jo aiwn Joutos) and contrasted with “the world to come.” For John it is also contrasted to a world other than this one, already existing; this is the lower world, corresponding to which there is a world above (see especially 8:23, 18:36). Jesus appears not only as the Messiah by means of whom an eschatological future is anticipated (as in the synoptic gospels) but also as an envoy from the heavenly world to this world.

[1:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “was made”; Grk “came into existence.”

[1:10]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and,” but in context this is an adversative use of καί (kai) and is thus translated “but.”

[1:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “know.”