John 1:47-49
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite.[a] There is no duplicity in him.” 48 [b](A)Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God;[c] you are the King of Israel.”(B)
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- 1:47 A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him: Jacob was the first to bear the name “Israel” (Gn 32:29), but Jacob was a man of duplicity (Gn 27:35–36).
- 1:48 Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).
- 1:49 Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28).
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