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Duration: 365 days

2 Chronicles 21-22

21 Jehoshaphat passed away^[a] and was buried with his ancestors^[b] in the City of David.^[c] His son Jehoram^[d] replaced him as king.

Jehoram’s Reign

²His brothers, Jehoshaphat’s sons, were Azariah, Jechiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were sons of King Jehoshaphat of Israel.^[e] ³Their father gave them many presents, including silver, gold, and other precious items, along with fortified cities in Judah. But he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

⁴Jehoram took control of his father’s kingdom and became powerful.^[f] Then he killed all his brothers,^[g] as well as some of the officials of Israel. ⁵Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel, just as Ahab’s dynasty had done, for he married Ahab’s daughter.^[h] He did evil in the sight of^[i] the Lord. ⁷But the Lord was unwilling to destroy David’s dynasty^[j] because of the promise^[k] he had made to give David a perpetual dynasty.^[l]

⁸During Jehoram’s^[m] reign Edom freed themselves from Judah’s control and set up their own king.^[n] ⁹Jehoram crossed over with his officers and all his chariots. The Edomites, who had surrounded him, attacked at night and defeated him and his chariot officers.^[o] ¹⁰So Edom has remained free from Judah’s control to this very day.^[p] At that same time Libnah also rebelled and freed themselves from Judah’s control^[q] because Jehoram^[r] rejected the Lord God of his ancestors. ¹¹He also built high places on the hills of Judah; he encouraged the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the Lord^[s] and led Judah away from the Lord.^[t]

¹²Jehoram^[u] received this letter from Elijah the prophet: “This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: ‘You^[v] have not followed in the footsteps^[w] of your father Jehoshaphat and of^[x] King Asa of Judah, ¹³but have instead followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel. You encouraged the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the Lord, just as the family of Ahab does in Israel.^[y] You also killed your brothers, members of your father’s family,^[z] who were better than you. ¹⁴So look, the Lord is about to severely afflict^[aa] your people, your sons, your wives, and all you own. ¹⁵And you will get a serious, chronic intestinal disease which will cause your intestines to come out.’”^[ab]

¹⁶The Lord stirred up against Jehoram the Philistines^[ac] and the Arabs who lived beside the Cushites. ¹⁷They attacked Judah and swept through it.^[ad] They carried off everything they found in the royal palace,^[ae] including his sons and wives. None of his sons was left, except for his youngest, Ahaziah. ¹⁸After all this happened, the Lord afflicted him with an incurable intestinal disease.^[af] ¹⁹After about two years his intestines came out because of the disease, so that he died a very painful death.^[ag] His people did not make a bonfire to honor him, as they had done for his ancestors.^[ah]

²⁰Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. No one regretted his death;^[ai] he was buried in the City of David,^[aj] but not in the royal tombs.

Ahaziah’s Reign

22 The residents of Jerusalem made his youngest son Ahaziah king in his place, for the raiding party that invaded the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons.^[ak] So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah. ²Ahaziah was twenty-two^[al] years old when he became king, and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. His mother^[am] was Athaliah, the granddaughter^[an] of Omri. ³He followed in the footsteps of Ahab’s dynasty,^[ao] for his mother gave him evil advice.^[ap] ⁴He did evil in the sight of^[aq] the Lord like Ahab’s dynasty because, after his father’s death, they^[ar] gave him advice that led to his destruction. ⁵He followed their advice and joined Ahab’s son King Joram^[as] of Israel in a battle against King Hazael of Syria^[at] at Ramoth Gilead in which the Syrians defeated Joram. ⁶Joram^[au] returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received from the Syrians^[av] in Ramah when he fought against King Hazael of Syria. Ahaziah^[aw] son of King Jehoram of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he had been wounded.^[ax]

⁷God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall through his visit to Joram.^[ay] When Ahaziah^[az] arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had commissioned^[ba] to wipe out Ahab’s family.^[bb] ⁸While Jehu was dishing out punishment to Ahab’s family, he discovered the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives who were serving Ahaziah and killed them. ⁹He looked for Ahaziah, who was captured while hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu and then executed him. They did give him a burial, for they reasoned,^[bc] “He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with his whole heart.” There was no one in Ahaziah’s family strong enough to rule in his place.^[bd]

Athaliah is Eliminated

¹⁰When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she was determined to destroy the entire royal line^[be] of Judah.^[bf] ¹¹So Jehoshabeath,^[bg] the daughter of King Jehoram,^[bh] took Ahaziah’s son Joash and stole him away from the rest of the royal descendants who were to be executed. She hid him and his nurse in the room where the bed covers were stored. So Jehoshabeath the daughter of King Jehoram, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so she could not execute him. ¹²He remained in hiding in God’s temple^[bi] for six years while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21:1 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
2 Chronicles 21:1 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 12, 19).
2 Chronicles 21:1 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
2 Chronicles 21:1 tn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 8:20-24 has the variant spelling “Joram” for the son of Jehoshaphat.
2 Chronicles 21:2 sn A number of times in 2 Chronicles “Israel” is used instead of the more specific “Judah”; see 2 Chr 12:6; 23:2). In the interest of consistency some translations (e.g., NAB, NRSV) substitute “Judah” for “Israel” here.
2 Chronicles 21:4 tn Heb “and Jehoram arose over the kingdom of his father and strengthened himself.”
2 Chronicles 21:4 tn Heb “and he killed all his brothers with the sword.”
2 Chronicles 21:6 tn Heb “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife.”
2 Chronicles 21:6 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
2 Chronicles 21:7 tn Heb “house.”
2 Chronicles 21:7 tn Or “covenant.”
2 Chronicles 21:7 tn Heb “which he made to David, just as he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp all the days.” Here “lamp” is metaphorical, symbolizing the Davidic dynasty.
2 Chronicles 21:8 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Jehoram) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
2 Chronicles 21:8 tn Heb “in his days Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah and enthroned a king over them.”
2 Chronicles 21:9 tc Heb “and he arose at night and defeated Edom, who had surrounded him, and the chariot officers.” The Hebrew text as it stands gives the impression that Jehoram was surrounded and launched a victorious nighttime counterattack. Yet v. 10 goes on to state that the Edomite revolt was successful. The translation above assumes an emendation of the Hebrew text. Adding a third masculine singular pronominal suffix to the accusative sign before Edom (reading אֹתוֹ [ʾoto, “him”] instead of just אֶת [ʾet]) and taking Edom as the subject of verbs allows one to translate the verse in a way that is more consistent with the context, which depicts an Israelite defeat, not victory. See also 2 Kgs 8:21.
2 Chronicles 21:10 tn Heb “and Edom rebelled from under the hand of Judah until this day.”
2 Chronicles 21:10 tn Or “from Jehoram’s control”; Heb “from under his hand.” The pronominal suffix may refer to Judah in general or, more specifically, to Jehoram.
2 Chronicles 21:10 tn Heb “he.” This pronoun could refer to Judah, but the context focuses on Jehoram’s misdeeds. See especially v. 11.
2 Chronicles 21:11 tn Heb “and he caused the residents of Jerusalem to commit adultery.” In this context spiritual unfaithfulness to the Lord is in view rather than physical adultery.
2 Chronicles 21:11 tn Heb “and drove Judah away.”
2 Chronicles 21:12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jehoram) has been specified in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
2 Chronicles 21:12 tn Heb “Because you…” In the Hebrew text this lengthy sentence is completed in vv. 14-15. Because of its length and complexity (and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences), the translation has divided it up into several English sentences.
2 Chronicles 21:12 tn Heb “walked in the ways.”
2 Chronicles 21:12 tn Heb “in the ways of.”
2 Chronicles 21:13 tn Heb “and you walked in the way of the kings of Israel and caused Judah and the residents of Jerusalem to commit adultery, like the house of Ahab causes to commit adultery.”
2 Chronicles 21:13 tn Heb “the house of your father.”
2 Chronicles 21:14 tn Heb “to strike with a great striking.”
2 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “and you [will have] a serious illness, an illness of the intestines until your intestines come out because of the illness days upon days.”
2 Chronicles 21:16 tn Heb “the spirit of the Philistines.”
2 Chronicles 21:17 tn Heb “broke it up.”
2 Chronicles 21:17 tn Heb “all the property which was found in the house of the king.”
2 Chronicles 21:18 tn Heb “in his intestines with an illness [for which] there was no healing.”
2 Chronicles 21:19 tn Heb “and it was to days from days, and about the time of the going out of the end for the days, two, his intestines came out with his illness and he died in severe illness.”
2 Chronicles 21:19 tn Heb “and his people did not make for him a fire, like the fire of his fathers.”
2 Chronicles 21:20 tn Heb “and he went without desire.”
2 Chronicles 21:20 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
2 Chronicles 22:1 tn Heb “for all the older [ones] the raiding party that came with the Arabs to the camp had killed.”
2 Chronicles 22:2 tc Heb “forty-two,” but some mss of the LXX and the Syriac along with the parallel passage in 2 Kgs 8:26 read “twenty-two.”
2 Chronicles 22:2 tn Heb “The name of his mother.”
2 Chronicles 22:2 tn The Hebrew term בַּת (bat, “daughter”) can refer, as here, to a granddaughter. See HALOT 165-66 s.v. I בַּת 1.
2 Chronicles 22:3 tn Heb “and also he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab.”
2 Chronicles 22:3 tn Heb “for his mother was his adviser to do evil.”
2 Chronicles 22:4 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
2 Chronicles 22:4 tn That is, the members of Ahab’s royal house.
2 Chronicles 22:5 tn Heb “Jehoram.”Jehoram and Joram are alternate spellings of the Israelite king’s name (also in vv. 6-7). The shorter form is used in these verses to avoid confusion with King Jehoram of Judah, father of Azariah.
2 Chronicles 22:5 tn Heb “Aram” (also in v. 6).
2 Chronicles 22:6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 Chronicles 22:6 tn Heb “which they inflicted [on] him.”
2 Chronicles 22:6 tc Most Hebrew mss read “Azariah.” A few Hebrew mss, the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac read “Ahaziah” (cf. 2 Kgs 8:29).
2 Chronicles 22:6 tn Heb “because he was sick,” presumably referring to the wounds he received in the battle with the Syrians.
2 Chronicles 22:7 tn Heb “From God was the downfall of Ahaziah by going to Joram.”
2 Chronicles 22:7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Ahaziah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 Chronicles 22:7 tn Heb “anointed.”
2 Chronicles 22:7 tn Heb “to cut off the house of Ahab.”
2 Chronicles 22:9 tn Heb “they said.”
2 Chronicles 22:9 tn Heb “and there was no one belonging to the house of Ahaziah to retain strength for kingship.”
2 Chronicles 22:10 tn Heb “she arose and she destroyed all the royal offspring.” The verb קוּם (qum, “arise”) is here used in an auxiliary sense to indicate that she embarked on a campaign to destroy the royal offspring. See M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 125.
2 Chronicles 22:10 tn Heb “house of Judah.”
2 Chronicles 22:11 sn Jehoshabeath is a variant spelling of the name Jehosheba (2 Kgs 11:2).
2 Chronicles 22:11 tn Heb “the king”; the referent (King Jehoram, see later in this verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 Chronicles 22:12 tn Heb “and he was with them in the house of God hiding.”

John 14

Jesus’ Parting Words to His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be distressed.^[a] You believe in God;^[b] believe also in me. ²There are many dwelling places^[c] in my Father’s house.^[d] Otherwise, I would have told you, because^[e] I am going away to make ready^[f] a place for you.^[g] ³And if I go and make ready^[h] a place for you, I will come again and take you^[i] to be with me,^[j] so that where I am you may be too. ⁴And you know the way where I am going.”^[k]

⁵Thomas said,^[l] “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus replied,^[m] “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.^[n] No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you have known me, you will know my Father too.^[o] And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip said,^[p] “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.”^[q] ⁹Jesus replied,^[r] “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known^[s] me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?^[t] The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative,^[u] but the Father residing in me performs^[v] his miraculous deeds.^[w] ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me,^[x] believe because of the miraculous deeds^[y] themselves. ¹²I tell you the solemn truth,^[z] the person who believes in me will perform^[aa] the miraculous deeds^[ab] that I am doing,^[ac] and will perform^[ad] greater deeds^[ae] than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name,^[af] so that the Father may be glorified^[ag] in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Teaching on the Holy Spirit

¹⁵“If you love me, you will obey^[ah] my commandments.^[ai] ¹⁶Then^[aj] I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate^[ak] to be with you forever— ¹⁷the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,^[al] because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides^[am] with you and will be^[an] in you.

¹⁸“I will not abandon^[ao] you as orphans,^[ap] I will come to you.^[aq] ¹⁹In a little while^[ar] the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. ²⁰You will know at that time^[as] that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. ²¹The person who has my commandments and obeys^[at] them is the one who loves me.^[au] The one^[av] who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal^[aw] myself to him.”

²²“Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot)^[ax] said,^[ay] “what has happened that you are going to reveal^[az] yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³Jesus replied,^[ba] “If anyone loves me, he will obey^[bb] my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him.^[bc] ²⁴The person who does not love me does not obey^[bd] my words. And the word^[be] you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

²⁵“I have spoken these things while staying^[bf] with you. ²⁶But the Advocate,^[bg] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you^[bh] everything,^[bi] and will cause you to remember everything^[bj] I said to you.

²⁷“Peace I leave with you;^[bk] my peace I give to you; I do not give it^[bl] to you as the world does.^[bm] Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage.^[bn] ²⁸You heard me say to you,^[bo] ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad^[bp] that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.^[bq] ²⁹I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.^[br] ³⁰I will not speak with you much longer,^[bs] for the ruler of this world is coming.^[bt] He has no power over me,^[bu] ³¹but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know^[bv] that I love the Father.^[bw] Get up, let us go from here.^[bx]

Footnotes

John 14:1 sn The same verb is used to describe Jesus’ own state in John 11:33; 12:27, and 13:21. Jesus is looking ahead to the events of the evening and the next day, his arrest, trials, crucifixion, and death, which will cause his disciples extreme emotional distress.
John 14:1 tn Or “Believe in God.” The translation of the two uses of πιστεύετε (pisteuete) is difficult. Both may be either indicative or imperative, and as L. Morris points out (John [NICNT], 637), this results in a bewildering variety of possibilities. To complicate matters further, the first may be understood as a question: “Do you believe in God? Believe also in me.” Morris argues against the KJV translation which renders the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative on the grounds that for the writer of the Fourth Gospel, faith in Jesus is inseparable from faith in God. But this is precisely the point that Jesus is addressing in context. He is about to undergo rejection by his own people as their Messiah. The disciples’ faith in him as Messiah and Lord would be cast into extreme doubt by these events, which the author makes clear were not at this time foreseen by the disciples. After the resurrection it is this identification between Jesus and the Father which needs to be reaffirmed (cf. John 20:24-29). Thus it seems best to take the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative, producing the translation “You believe in God; believe also in me.”
John 14:2 tn Many interpreters have associated μοναί (monai) with an Aramaic word that can refer to a stopping place or resting place for a traveler on a journey. This is similar to one of the meanings the word can have in secular Greek (Pausanius 10.31.7). Origen understood the use here to refer to stations on the road to God. This may well have been the understanding of the Latin translators who translated μονή (monē) by mansio, a stopping place. The English translation “mansions” can be traced back to Tyndale, but in Middle English the word simply meant “a dwelling place” (not necessarily large or imposing) with no connotation of being temporary. The interpretation put forward by Origen would have been well suited to Gnosticism, where the soul in its ascent passes through stages during which it is gradually purified of all that is material and therefore evil. It is much more likely that the word μονή should be related to its cognate verb μένω (menō), which is frequently used in the Fourth Gospel to refer to the permanence of relationship between Jesus and the Father and/or Jesus and the believer. Thus the idea of a permanent dwelling place, rather than a temporary stopping place, would be in view. Luther’s translation of μοναί by Wohnungen is very accurate here, as it has the connotation of a permanent residence.
John 14:2 sn Most interpreters have understood the reference to my Father’s house as a reference to heaven, and the dwelling places (μονή, monē) as the permanent residences of believers there. This seems consistent with the vocabulary and the context, where in v. 3 Jesus speaks of coming again to take the disciples to himself. However, the phrase in my Father’s house was used previously in the Fourth Gospel in 2:16 to refer to the temple in Jerusalem. The author in 2:19-22 then reinterpreted the temple as Jesus’ body, which was to be destroyed in death and then rebuilt in resurrection after three days. Even more suggestive is the statement by Jesus in 8:35, “Now the slave does not remain (μένω, menō) in the household forever, but the son remains (μένω) forever.” If in the imagery of the Fourth Gospel the phrase in my Father’s house is ultimately a reference to Jesus’ body, the relationship of μονή to μένω suggests the permanent relationship of the believer to Jesus and the Father as an adopted son who remains in the household forever. In this case the “dwelling place” is “in” Jesus himself, where he is, whether in heaven or on earth. The statement in v. 3, “I will come again and receive you to myself,” then refers not just to the parousia, but also to Jesus’ postresurrection return to the disciples in his glorified state, when by virtue of his death on their behalf they may enter into union with him and with the Father as adopted sons. Needless to say, this bears numerous similarities to Pauline theology, especially the concepts of adoption as sons and being “in Christ” which are prominent in passages like Eph 1. It is also important to note, however, the emphasis in the Fourth Gospel itself on the present reality of eternal life (John 5:24; 7:38-39, etc.) and the possibility of worshiping the Father “in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:21-24) in the present age. There is a sense in which it is possible to say that the future reality is present now. See further J. McCaffrey, The House With Many Rooms (AnBib 114).
John 14:2 tc A number of significant mss (P^66c א A B C* D K L W Ψ ƒ¹³ 33 565 579 892 al lat) have ὅτι (hoti) here, while the majority lack it (P^66* C² Θ M). Should the ὅτι be included or omitted? The external evidence is significantly stronger for the longer reading. Most Alexandrian and Western mss favor inclusion (it is a little unusual for the Alexandrian to favor the longer reading), while most Byzantine mss favor omission (again, a little unusual). However, the reading of P^66*, which aligns with the Byzantine, needs to be given some value. At the same time, the scribe of this papyrus was known for freely omitting and adding words, and the fact that the ms was corrected discounts its testimony here. But because the shorter reading is out of character for the Byzantine text, the shorter reading (omitting the ὅτι) may well be authentic. Internally, the question comes down to whether the shorter reading is more difficult or not. And here, it loses the battle, for it seems to be a clarifying omission (so TCGNT 206). R. E. Brown is certainly right when he states: “all in all, the translation without ὅτι makes the best sense” (John [AB], 2:620). But this tacitly argues for the authenticity of the word. Thus, on both external and internal grounds, the ὅτι should be regarded as authentic. tn If the ὅτι (hoti) is included (see tc above), there are no less than four possible translations for this sentence: The sentence could be either a question or a statement, and in addition the ὅτι could either indicate content or be causal. How does one determine the best translation? (1) A question here should probably be ruled out because it would imply a previous statement by Jesus that either there are many dwelling places in his Father’s house (if the ὅτι is causal) or he was going off to make a place ready for them (if the ὅτι indicates content). There is no indication anywhere in the Fourth Gospel that Jesus had made such statements prior to this time. So understanding the sentence as a statement is the best option. (2) A statement with ὅτι indicating content is understandable but contradictory. If there were no dwelling places, Jesus would have told them that he was going off to make dwelling places. But the following verse makes clear that Jesus’ departure is not hypothetical but real—he is really going away. So understanding the ὅτι with a causal nuance is the best option. (3) A statement with a causal ὅτι can be understood two ways: (a) “Otherwise I would have told you” is a parenthetical statement, and the ὅτι clause goes with the preceding “There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house.” This would be fairly awkward syntactically, however; it would be much more natural for the ὅτι clause to modify what directly preceded it. (b) “Otherwise I would have told you” is explained by Jesus’ statement that he is going to make ready a place. He makes a logical, necessary connection between his future departure and the reality of the dwelling places in his Father’s house. To sum up, all the possibilities for understanding the verse with the inclusion of ὅτι present some interpretive difficulties, but last option given seems best: “Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going to make ready a place.” Of all the options it provides the best logical flow of thought in the passage without making any apparent contradictions in the context.
John 14:2 tn Or “to prepare.”
John 14:2 tn Or “If not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” What is the meaning of the last clause with or without the ὅτι? One of the questions that must be answered here is whether or not τόπος (topos) is to be equated with μονή (monē). In Rev 12:8 τόπος is used to refer to a place in heaven, which would suggest that the two are essentially equal here. Jesus is going ahead of believers to prepare a place for them, a permanent dwelling place in the Father’s house (see the note on this phrase in v. 2).
John 14:3 tn Or “prepare.”
John 14:3 tn Or “bring you.”
John 14:3 tn Grk “to myself.”
John 14:4 tc Most mss (P^66* A C³ D Θ Ψ ƒ^1,13 M lat sy sa) read “You know where I am going, and you know the way” (καὶ ὅπου [ἐγὼ] ὑπάγω οἴδατε καὶ τὴν ὁδόν οἴδατε, kai hopou egō hupagō oidate kai tēn hodon oidate). The difference between this reading and the wording in NA²⁸ (supported by P^66c א B C* L Q W 33 579) is the addition of καί before τὴν ὁδόν and οἴδατε after. Either assertion on the part of Jesus would be understandable: “you know the way where I am going” or “you know where I am going and you know the way,” although the shorter reading is a bit more awkward syntactically. In light of this, and in light of the expansion already at hand in v. 5, the longer reading appears to be a motivated reading. The shorter reading is thus preferred because of its superior external and internal evidence.sn Where I am going. Jesus had spoken of his destination previously to the disciples, most recently in John 13:33. Where he was going was back to the Father, and they could not follow him there, but later he would return for them and they could join him then. The way he was going was via the cross. This he had also mentioned previously (e.g., 12:32) although his disciples did not understand at the time (cf. 12:33). As Jesus would explain in v. 6, although for him the way back to the Father was via the cross, for his disciples the “way” to where he was going was Jesus himself.
John 14:5 tn Grk “said to him.”
John 14:6 tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”
John 14:6 tn Or “I am the way, even the truth and the life.”
John 14:7 tc There is a difficult textual problem here: The statement reads either “If you have known (ἐγνώκατε, egnōkate) me, you will know (γνώσεσθε, gnōsesthe) my Father” or “If you had really known (ἐγνώκειτε, egnōkeite) me, you would have known (ἐγνώκειτε ἄν or ἂν ἤδειτε [egnōkeite an or an ēdeite]) my Father.” The division of the external evidence is difficult, but can be laid out as follows: The mss that have the perfect ἐγνώκατε in the protasis (P⁶⁶ [א D* W] 579 it) also have, for the most part, the future indicative γνώσεσθε in the apodosis (P⁶⁶ א D W [579] sa bo), rendering Jesus’ statement as a first-class condition. The mss that have the pluperfect ἐγνώκειτε in the protasis (A B C D¹ L Θ Ψ ƒ^1,13 33 M) also have, for the most part, a pluperfect in the apodosis (either ἂν ἤδειτε in B C* [L] Q Ψ 1 33 565 al, or ἐγνώκειτε ἄν in A C³ Θ ƒ¹³ M), rendering Jesus’ statement a contrary-to-fact second-class condition. The external evidence slightly favors the first-class condition, since there is an Alexandrian-Western alliance supported by P⁶⁶. As well, the fact that the readings with a second-class condition utilize two different verbs with ἄν in different positions suggests that these readings are secondary. However, it could be argued that the second-class conditions are harder readings in that they speak negatively of the apostles (so K. Aland in TCGNT 207); in this case, the ἐγνώκειτε…ἐγνώκειτε ἄν reading should be given preference. Although a decision is difficult, the first-class condition is to be slightly preferred. In this case Jesus promises the disciples that, assuming they have known him, they will know the Father. Contextually this fits better with the following phrase (v. 7b) which asserts that “from the present time you know him and have seen him” (cf. John 1:18).
John 14:8 tn Grk “said to him.”
John 14:8 tn Or “and that is enough for us.”
John 14:9 tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”
John 14:9 tn Or “recognized.”
John 14:10 tn The mutual interrelationship of the Father and the Son (ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν, egō en tō patri kai ho patēr en emoi estin) is something that Jesus expected even his opponents to recognize (cf. John 10:38). The question Jesus asks of Philip (οὐ πιστεύεις, ou pisteueis) expects the answer “yes.” Note that the following statement is addressed to all the disciples, however, because the plural pronoun (ὑμῖν, humin) is used. Jesus says that his teaching (the words he spoke to them all) did not originate from himself, but the Father, who permanently remains (μένων, menōn) in relationship with Jesus, performs his works. One would have expected “speaks his words” here rather than “performs his works”; many of the church fathers (e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom) identified the two by saying that Jesus’ words were works. But there is an implicit contrast in the next verse between words and works, and v. 12 seems to demand that the works are real works, not just words. It is probably best to see the two terms as related but not identical; there is a progression in the idea here. Both Jesus’ words (recall the Samaritans’ response in John 4:42) and Jesus’ works are revelatory of who he is, but as the next verse indicates, works have greater confirmatory power than words.
John 14:10 tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”
John 14:10 tn Or “does.”
John 14:10 tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”sn Miraculous deeds is most likely a reference to the miraculous signs Jesus had performed, which he viewed as a manifestation of the mighty acts of God. Those he performed in the presence of the disciples served as a basis for faith (although a secondary basis to their personal relationship to him; see the following verse).
John 14:11 tn The phrase “but if you do not believe me” contains an ellipsis; the Greek text reads Grk “but if not.” The ellipsis has been filled out (“but if [you do] not [believe me]…”) for the benefit of the modern English reader.
John 14:11 tn Grk “because of the works.”sn In the context of a proof or basis for belief, Jesus is referring to the miraculous deeds (signs) he has performed in the presence of the disciples.
John 14:12 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
John 14:12 tn Or “will do.”
John 14:12 tn Grk “the works.”
John 14:12 tn Or “that I do.”sn See the note on miraculous deeds in v. 11.
John 14:12 tn Or “will do.”
John 14:12 tn Grk “greater works.”sn What are the greater deeds that Jesus speaks of, and how is this related to his going to the Father? It is clear from both John 7:39 and 16:7 that the Holy Spirit will not come until Jesus has departed. After Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit to indwell believers in a permanent relationship, believers would be empowered to perform even greater deeds than those Jesus did during his earthly ministry. When the early chapters of Acts are examined, it is clear that, from a numerical standpoint, the deeds of Peter and the other Apostles surpassed those of Jesus in a single day (the day of Pentecost). On that day more were added to the church than had become followers of Jesus during the entire three years of his earthly ministry. And the message went forth not just in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, but to the farthest parts of the known world. This understanding of what Jesus meant by “greater deeds” is more probable than a reference to “more spectacular miracles.” Certainly miraculous deeds were performed by the apostles as recounted in Acts, but these do not appear to have surpassed the works of Jesus himself in either degree or number.
John 14:13 tn Grk “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13 tn Or “may be praised” or “may be honored.”
John 14:15 tn Or “will keep.”
John 14:15 sn Jesus’ statement If you love me, you will obey my commandments provides the transition between the promises of answered prayer which Jesus makes to his disciples in vv. 13-14 and the promise of the Holy Spirit which is introduced in v. 16. Obedience is the proof of genuine love.
John 14:16 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then” to reflect the implied sequence in the discourse.
John 14:16 tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklētos). Finding an appropriate English translation for παράκλητος is a very difficult task. No single English word has exactly the same range of meaning as the Greek word. “Comforter,” used by some of the older English versions, appears to be as old as Wycliffe. But today it suggests a quilt or a sympathetic mourner at a funeral. “Counselor” is adequate, but too broad, in contexts like “marriage counselor” or “camp counselor.” “Helper” or “Assistant” could also be used, but could suggest a subordinate rank. “Advocate,” the word chosen for this translation, has more forensic overtones than the Greek word does, although in John 16:5-11 a forensic context is certainly present. Because an “advocate” is someone who “advocates” or supports a position or viewpoint and since this is what the Paraclete will do for the preaching of the disciples, it was selected in spite of the drawbacks.
John 14:17 tn Or “cannot receive.”
John 14:17 tn Or “he remains.”
John 14:17 tc Some early and significant witnesses (P^66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ἐστιν (estin, “he is”) instead of ἔσται (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses (P^66c,75vid א A D¹ L Θ Ψ ƒ¹³ 33^vid M as well as several versions and fathers), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ἐστιν is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both P⁶⁶ and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ἐστιν were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.
John 14:18 tn Or “leave.”
John 14:18 tn The entire phrase “abandon you as orphans” could be understood as an idiom meaning, “leave you helpless.”
John 14:18 sn I will come to you. Jesus had spoken in 14:3 of going away and coming again to his disciples. There the reference was both to the parousia (the second coming of Christ) and to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples. Here the postresurrection appearances are primarily in view, since Jesus speaks of the disciples “seeing” him after the world can “see” him no longer in the following verse. But many commentators have taken v. 18 as a reference to the coming of the Spirit, since this has been the topic of the preceding verses. Still, vv. 19-20 appear to contain references to Jesus’ appearances to the disciples after his resurrection. It may well be that another Johannine double meaning is found here, so that Jesus ‘returns’ to his disciples in one sense in his appearances to them after his resurrection, but in another sense he ‘returns’ in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell them.
John 14:19 tn Grk “Yet a little while, and.”
John 14:20 tn Grk “will know in that day.”sn At that time could be a reference to the parousia (second coming of Christ). But the statement in 14:19, that the world will not see Jesus, does not fit. It is better to take this as the postresurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples (which has the advantage of taking in a little while in v. 19 literally).
John 14:21 tn Or “keeps.”
John 14:21 tn Grk “obeys them, that one is the one who loves me.”
John 14:21 tn Grk “And the one.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated to improve the English style.
John 14:21 tn Or “will disclose.”
John 14:22 tn Grk “(not Iscariot).” The proper noun (Judas) has been repeated for clarity and smoothness in English style.sn This is a parenthetical comment by the author.
John 14:22 tn Grk “said to him.”
John 14:22 tn Or “disclose.”sn The disciples still expected at this point that Jesus, as Messiah, was going to reveal his identity as such to the world (cf. 7:4).
John 14:23 tn Grk “answered and said to him.”
John 14:23 tn Or “will keep.”
John 14:23 tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.
John 14:24 tn Or “does not keep.”
John 14:24 tn Or “the message.”
John 14:25 tn Or “while remaining” or “while residing.”
John 14:26 tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklētos). See the note on the word “Advocate” in v. 16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.
John 14:26 tn Grk “that one will teach you.” The words “that one” have been omitted from the translation since they are redundant in English.
John 14:26 tn Grk “all things.”
John 14:26 tn Grk “all things.”
John 14:27 sn Peace I leave with you. In spite of appearances, this verse does not introduce a new subject (peace). Jesus will use the phrase as a greeting to his disciples after his resurrection (20:19, 21, 26). It is here a reflection of the Hebrew shalom as a farewell. But Jesus says he leaves peace with his disciples. This should probably be understood ultimately in terms of the indwelling of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, who has been the topic of the preceding verses. It is his presence, after Jesus has left the disciples and finally returned to the Father, which will remain with them and comfort them.
John 14:27 tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.
John 14:27 tn Grk “not as the world gives do I give to you.”
John 14:27 tn Or “distressed or fearful and cowardly.”
John 14:28 tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”
John 14:28 tn Or “you would rejoice.”
John 14:28 sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).
John 14:29 sn Jesus tells the disciples that he has told them all these things before they happen, so that when they do happen the disciples may believe. This does not mean they had not believed prior to this time; over and over the author has affirmed that they have (cf. 2:11). But when they see these things happen, their level of trust in Jesus will increase and their concept of who he is will expand. The confession of Thomas in 20:28 is representative of this increased understanding of who Jesus is. Cf. John 13:19.
John 14:30 tn Grk “I will no longer speak many things with you.”
John 14:30 sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.
John 14:30 tn Grk “in me he has nothing.”
John 14:31 tn Or “may learn.”
John 14:31 tn Grk “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, thus I do.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to conform to contemporary English style.
John 14:31 sn Some have understood Jesus’ statement Get up, let us go from here to mean that at this point Jesus and the disciples got up and left the room where the meal was served and began the journey to the garden of Gethsemane. If so, the rest of the Farewell Discourse took place en route. Others have pointed to this statement as one of the “seams” in the discourse, indicating that the author used preexisting sources. Both explanations are possible, but not really necessary. Jesus could simply have stood up at this point (the disciples may or may not have stood with him) to finish the discourse before finally departing (in 18:1). In any case it may be argued that Jesus refers not to a literal departure at this point, but to preparing to meet the enemy who is on the way already in the person of Judas and the soldiers with him.

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Jehoram’s Reign

Ahaziah’s Reign

Athaliah is Eliminated

Footnotes

Jesus’ Parting Words to His Disciples

Teaching on the Holy Spirit

Footnotes