Tag Archives: Matthew 26:54

Wonders and False Wonders, Part 1

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Peter described Jesus to the crowd gathered at Pentecost as a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed (ἐποίησεν, a form of ποιέω) among you through him, just as you yourselves know…1 The Greek word translated wonders above was τέρασι(ν), a form of τέρας:

omen, wonder
portent, premonition
a prodigy
feat, accomplishment
foreboding, portentous and amazing event (performed by God)

Now [Jesus] came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die [Table]. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe!”2 Here the word translated wonders was τέρατα (another form of τέρας).

I wrote about Jesus’ complex attitude to signs (σημεῖα, a form of σημεῖον) in another essay and will simply continue with the story here (John 4:49, 50a NET).

“Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” Jesus told him, “Go home; your son will live” [Table].

John concluded this story: Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign when he returned from Judea to Galilee.3 The Greek word translated miraculous sign was σημεῖον. But Jesus had spoken of signs, σημεῖα, a plural form of σημεῖον and wonders.

At the risk of being somewhat arbitrary, I’ll say that the miraculous sign here was that without spells, potions or incantations Jesus healed the official’s son simply by promising that he would live. And so that leaves the wonders (John 4:50b-53 NET):

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home. While he was on his way down, his slaves met him and told him that his son was going to live. So he asked them the time when his condition began to improve, and they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon the fever left him.” Then the father realized that it was the very time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household [Table].

So, a man who believed the word that Jesus spoke to him enough to obey Him and go home had his faith confirmed by the timing of the fulfillment of that word while he was on the way. The pattern seems to hold, though I am hard-pressed to distinguish between signs and wonders (Acts 2:41-47 NET):

So those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added [Table]. They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Reverential awe came over4 everyone, and many wonders (τέρατα, another form of τέρας) and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number5 every day those who were being saved.

The text doesn’t specify the many wonders and miraculous signs that came about διὰ (“through, by, in the midst of”) the apostles. The wonders performed by God are evident, however, in the attitudes and actions described, so uncharacteristic of people generally, now normative for those who have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer [they] who live, but Christ lives in [them]. So the life [they] now live in the body, [they] live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved [them] and gave himself for [them],6 on the cross, yes, but even beyond that through his indwelling Spirit. Though they met in the temple courts, their actions supported the creation of a priesthood of grace virtually overnight, independent of the priesthood of law. And those actions were prompted, not by a lawgiver on a mountain top but, by the Spirit of the living God moving in individual human hearts.

Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.7 For if the message spoken through angels (ἀγγέλων, a form of ἄγγελος; i.e., messengers) proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders (τέρασιν, a form of τέρας) and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.8

Paul complained to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 12:11, 12 NET):

I have become a fool.9 You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison to those “super10-apostles,” even though I am nothing. Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and11 wonders (τέρασιν, a form of τέρας) and powerful deeds.

The signs of an apostle (τὰ…σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου) were performed among you, he wrote. Without specifying exactly what they were, he described them as signs and wonders and powerful deeds. It makes sense at this point to actually look at what the apostles did.

As a disciple called by Jesus Peter had at best a very selective faith in Scripture:

Jesus and Scripture (Matthew 26:31 NET)

Peter (Matthew 26:33 NET)
Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’12 Peter said to him, “If they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away!”

He was willing to argue with both Jesus’ word and the Scripture if they impacted his ego adversely. On the night of Jesus’ arrest Peter flailed with a sword to protect Jesus, no doubt, but also to fulfill his own word that he would never fall away (οὐδέποτε σκανδαλισθήσομαι) and, whether intentionally or not, to prove Jesus’ word and the Scripture false. On Pentecost not that long afterward the apostle Peter deftly handled the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)13 to become one of the fishers of people Jesus promised. Peter quoted the prophet Joel (Acts 2:19 NET):

And I will perform wonders (τέρατα another form of τέρας) in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

I’ve presented Peter’s use of Scripture in its full context in another essay, and discussed some of it in detail in others.14 Here I’ll point out that the Hebrew word in the Masoretic text translated τέρατα in the Septuagint and the New Testament was מֽוֹפְתִ֔ים (môp̄ēṯ). The first occurrence of a form of מוֹפֵת (môp̄ēṯ) follows:

Masoretic Text

Septuagint

Exodus 4:21 (Tanakh)

Exodus 4:21 (NET)

Exodus 4:21 (NETS)

Exodus 4:21 (English Elpenor)
And HaShem said unto Moses: ‘When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders (הַמֹּֽפְתִים֙) which I have put in thy hand; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders (môp̄ēṯ, המפתים) I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. And the Lord said to Moyses, “As you go and return to Egypt, see, all the wonders (τὰ τέρατα) which I put in your hands, you shall perform them before Pharao. But I will harden his heart, and he will not send the people away. And the Lord said to Moses, When thou goest and returnest to Egypt, see– all the miracles (τὰ τέρατα) I have charged thee with, thou shalt work before Pharao: and I will harden his heart, and he shall certainly not send away the people.

The wonders which I have put in thy hand refers to Exodus 4:1-9. I’ll quote Exodus 4:8, 9 where these wonders were described individually as the voice of the sign:

Masoretic Text

Septuagint

Exodus 4:8, 9 (Tanakh)

Exodus 4:8, 9 (NET)

Exodus 4:8, 9 (NETS)

Exodus 4:8, 9 (English Elpenor)
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice (לְקֹ֖ל) of the first sign (הָאֹ֣ת), that they will believe the voice (לְקֹ֖ל) of the latter sign (הָאֹ֥ת). “If they do not believe you or pay attention to [Note 16: Heb “listen to the voice (qôl, לקל) of,”] the former sign (‘ôṯ, האת), then they may believe the latter sign (‘ôṯ, האת) [Note 18: Heb “believe the voice (qôl, לקל) of the latter sign”]. “Now if they should not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign (τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου), they will believe you because of the voice of the last sign (τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου). And if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign (τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου), they will believe thee [because] of the voice of the second sign (τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου).
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs (הָֽאֹת֜וֹת), neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.’ And if they do not believe even these two signs (‘ôṯ, האתות) or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” And it will be if they should not believe you for these two signs (σημείοις) or listen to your voice, you shall take some of the river’s water and pour it on the dry ground, and the water, whatever you take from the river, will be blood on the dry ground.” And it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee for these two signs (σημείοις), and will not hearken to thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou shalt take from the river shall be blood upon the dry land.

So I’ll try to use forms of σημεῖον for the sign, the thing itself, and forms of τέρας for the wonder, the voice of the sign (τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου), the effect it has on the one who witnesses the sign, to believe (Tanakh/KJV/NET) the messenger and ultimately the word of God. (The Hebrew word translated believe was יַֽאֲמִ֣ינוּ (‘āman) in the Masoretic text and the Greek was πιστεύσωσί(ν) in the Septuagint.) The implication seems to be that even Pharaoh would have believed through these wonders, except for the Lord’s promise to Moses: But I will harden his heart.15

After his resurrection Jesus said to his disciples (Luke 24:44-49 NET):

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled” [Table]. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” [Table].

So, the sign here is that Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. The wonder, or the voice of the sign, is the transformation in Peter’s regard for the Scriptures after he received the Holy Spirit, after he was clothed with power from on high. And this transformation is one of the signs of an apostle. It is impossible to imagine an apostle apart from this transformation, yet such a transformation is not exclusively the domain of apostles. It is to be expected in any who are drawn by Jesus, in all who have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer [they] who live, but Christ lives in [them].16

Jesus’ confidence in the Scriptures was unprecedented: “Put your sword back into its sheath,” He said to Peter during his arrest. “Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”17 “How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?”18 [Y]our word is truth,19 He had prayed to his Father. Set them apart in the truth,20 He interceded for his disciples.

And here, I get a glimpse of what false wonders would be: For false messiahs and false prophets will appear, Jesus warned, and perform great signs and wonders (τέρατα, another form of τέρας) to deceive, if possible, even the elect.21 Without specifying exactly what any particular sign would be, Jesus warned that the wonder, the voice of the sign, would not result in confidence in the truth, God’s word, the Scriptures: great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

I’ll continue with this in another essay.

A note (40) in the NET claimed that Acts 2:19 was a quotation from Joel 2:30 (3:3). A table comparing the Greek of Acts 2:19 with that of Joel 2:30 (3:3) in the Septuagint follows.

Acts 2:19 (NET Parallel Greek)

Joel 2:30 (Septuagint BLB)

Joel 3:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ σημεῖα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ

Acts 2:19 (NET)

Joel 2:30 (NETS)

Joel 3:3 (English Elpenor)
And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. I will give portents in the sky and on earth: blood and fire and the vapor of smoke. And I will shew wonders in heaven, and upon the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

Tables comparing Joel 2:30 (3:3); Exodus 4:21; 4:8 and 4:9 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET; and tables comparing Joel 2:30 (3:3); Exodus 4:21; 4:8 and 4:9 in the BLB and Elpenor versions of the Septuagint with the English translations from Hebrew and Greek, and tables comparing the Greek of Acts 2:43; 2:47; Hebrews 2:1; 2 Corinthians 12:11, 12 and Ephesians 6:17 in the NET and KJV follow.

Joel 3:3 (Tanakh)

Joel 2:30 (KJV)

Joel 2:30 (NET)
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth—blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

Joel 2:30 (Septuagint BLB)

Joel 3:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ

Joel 2:30 (NETS)

Joel 3:3 (English Elpenor)
I will give portents in the sky and on earth: blood and fire and the vapor of smoke. And I will shew wonders in heaven, and upon the earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

Exodus 4:21 (Tanakh)

Exodus 4:21 (KJV)

Exodus 4:21 (NET)
And HaShem said unto Moses: ‘When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go. And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

Exodus 4:21 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 4:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶπεν δὲ κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν πορευομένου σου καὶ ἀποστρέφοντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ὅρα πάντα τὰ τέρατα ἃ ἔδωκα ἐν ταῖς χερσίν σου ποιήσεις αὐτὰ ἐναντίον Φαραω ἐγὼ δὲ σκληρυνῶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξαποστείλῃ τὸν λαόν εἶπε δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν· πορευομένου σου καὶ ἀποστρέφοντος εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ὅρα πάντα τὰ τέρατα, ἃ δέδωκα ἐν ταῖς χερσί σου, ποιήσεις αὐτὰ ἐναντίον Φαραώ· ἐγὼ δὲ σκληρυνῶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξαποστείλῃ τὸν λαόν

Exodus 4:21 (NETS)

Exodus 4:21 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord said to Moyses, “As you go and return to Egypt, see, all the wonders which I put in your hands, you shall perform them before Pharao. But I will harden his heart, and he will not send the people away. And the Lord said to Moses, When thou goest and returnest to Egypt, see– all the miracles I have charged thee with, thou shalt work before Pharao: and I will harden his heart, and he shall certainly not send away the people.

Exodus 4:8 (Tanakh)

Exodus 4:8 (KJV)

Exodus 4:8 (NET)
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the former sign, then they may believe the latter sign.

Exodus 4:8 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 4:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ πιστεύσωσίν σοι μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσιν τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ πρώτου πιστεύσουσίν σοι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ ἐσχάτου ἐὰν δὲ μὴ πιστεύσωσί σοι, μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ πρώτου, πιστεύσουσί σοι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ σημείου τοῦ δευτέρου

Exodus 4:8 (NETS)

Exodus 4:8 (English Elpenor)
“Now if they should not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe you because of the voice of the last sign. And if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, they will believe thee [because] of the voice of the second sign.

Exodus 4:9 (Tanakh)

Exodus 4:9 (KJV)

Exodus 4:9 (NET)
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.’ And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. And if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, then take some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

Exodus 4:9 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 4:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσίν σοι τοῖς δυσὶ σημείοις τούτοις μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσιν τῆς φωνῆς σου λήμψῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ ἐκχεεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ ξηρόν καὶ ἔσται τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ ἐὰν λάβῃς ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ αἷμα ἐπὶ τοῦ ξηροῦ καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσί σοι τοῖς δυσὶ σημείοις τούτοις, μηδὲ εἰσακούσωσι τῆς φωνῆς σου, λήψῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ ἐκχεεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ ξηρόν, καὶ ἔσται τὸ ὕδωρ, ὃ ἐὰν λάβῃς ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ, αἷμα ἐπὶ τοῦ ξηροῦ

Exodus 4:9 (NETS)

Exodus 4:9 (English Elpenor)
And it will be if they should not believe you for these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some of the river’s water and pour it on the dry ground, and the water, whatever you take from the river, will be blood on the dry ground.” And it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee for these two signs, and will not hearken to thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou shalt take from the river shall be blood upon the dry land.

Acts 2:43 (NET)

Acts 2:43 (KJV)
Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Acts 2:43 (NET Parallel Greek)

Acts 2:43 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Acts 2:43 (Byzantine Majority Text)
ἐγίνετο δὲ πάσῃ ψυχῇ φόβος, πολλά |τε| τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐγίνετο εγενετο δε παση ψυχη φοβος πολλα τε τερατα και σημεια δια των αποστολων εγινετο εγενετο δε παση ψυχη φοβος πολλα τε τερατα και σημεια δια των αποστολων εγινετο

Acts 2:47 (NET)

Acts 2:47 (KJV)
praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Acts 2:47 (NET Parallel Greek)

Acts 2:47 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Acts 2:47 (Byzantine Majority Text)
αἰνοῦντες τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἔχοντες χάριν πρὸς ὅλον τὸν λαόν. ὁ δὲ κύριος προσετίθει τοὺς σῳζομένους καθ᾿ ἡμέραν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό αινουντες τον θεον και εχοντες χαριν προς ολον τον λαον ο δε κυριος προσετιθει τους σωζομενους καθ ημεραν τη εκκλησια αινουντες τον θεον και εχοντες χαριν προς ολον τον λαον ο δε κυριος προσετιθει τους σωζομενους καθ ημεραν τη εκκλησια

Hebrews 2:1 (NET)

Hebrews 2:1 (KJV)
Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Hebrews 2:1 (NET Parallel Greek)

Hebrews 2:1 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Hebrews 2:1 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Διὰ τοῦτο δεῖ περισσοτέρως προσέχειν ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἀκουσθεῖσιν, μήποτε παραρυῶμεν δια τουτο δει περισσοτερως ημας προσεχειν τοις ακουσθεισιν μηποτε παραρρυωμεν δια τουτο δει περισσοτερως ημας προσεχειν τοις ακουσθεισιν μηποτε παραρρυωμεν

2 Corinthians 12:11, 12 (NET)

2 Corinthians 12:11, 12 (KJV)
I have become a fool. You yourselves forced me to do it, for I should have been commended by you. For I lack nothing in comparison to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

2 Corinthians 12:11 (NET Parallel Greek)

2 Corinthians 12:11 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

2 Corinthians 12:11 (Byzantine Majority Text)
Γέγονα ἄφρων, ὑμεῖς με ἠναγκάσατε. ἐγὼ γὰρ ὤφειλον ὑφ᾿ ὑμῶν συνίστασθαι· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὑστέρησα τῶν ὑπερλίαν ἀποστόλων εἰ καὶ οὐδέν εἰμι γεγονα αφρων καυχωμενος υμεις με ηναγκασατε εγω γαρ ωφειλον υφ υμων συνιστασθαι ουδεν γαρ υστερησα των υπερ λιαν αποστολων ει και ουδεν ειμι γεγονα αφρων καυχωμενος υμεις με ηναγκασατε εγω γαρ ωφειλον υφ υμων συνιστασθαι ουδεν γαρ υστερησα των υπερ λιαν αποστολων ει και ουδεν ειμι
Indeed, the signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance by signs and wonders and powerful deeds. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

2 Corinthians 12:12 (NET Parallel Greek)

2 Corinthians 12:12 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

2 Corinthians 12:12 (Byzantine Majority Text)
τὰ μὲν σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου κατειργάσθη ἐν ὑμῖν ἐν πάσῃ ὑπομονῇ, σημείοις |τε| καὶ τέρασιν καὶ δυνάμεσιν τα μεν σημεια του αποστολου κατειργασθη εν υμιν εν παση υπομονη εν σημειοις και τερασιν και δυναμεσιν τα μεν σημεια του αποστολου κατειργασθη εν υμιν εν παση υπομονη εν σημειοις και τερασιν και δυναμεσιν

Ephesians 6:17 (NET)

Ephesians 6:17 (KJV)
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God). And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Ephesians 6:17 (NET Parallel Greek)

Ephesians 6:17 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)

Ephesians 6:17 (Byzantine Majority Text)
καὶ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου δέξασθε καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστιν ρῆμα θεοῦ και την περικεφαλαιαν του σωτηριου δεξασθε και την μαχαιραν του πνευματος ο εστιν ρημα θεου και την περικεφαλαιαν του σωτηριου δεξασθαι και την μαχαιραν του πνευματος ο εστιν ρημα θεου

1 Acts 2:22 (NET) Table

2 John 4:46-48 (NET)

3 John 4:54 (NET) Table

6 Galatians 2:20 (NET)

7 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had παραρυῶμεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had παραρρυωμεν (KJV: we should let [them] slip).

8 Hebrews 2:1-4 (NET)

9 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καυχωμενος (KJV: in glorying) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

10 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὑπερλίαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υπερ λιαν (KJV: very chiefest).

12 A note (44) in the NET claimed that Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7. The table comparing the Greek of Jesus’ quotation with that of the Septuagint makes it obvious that He did not quote the Septuagint verbatim.

13 Ephesians 6:17b (NET)

15 Exodus 4:21b (NET)

16 Galatians 2:20a (NET)

17 John 18:11 (NET) Table

18 Matthew 26:54 (NET)

19 John 17:17b (NET) Table

20 John 17:17a (NET) Table

21 Matthew 24:24 (NET)

Who Am I? Part 12

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Jesus said, I always do those things that please him[1] (literally: “I the pleasing things do always”).

“How?” I ask.  I couldn’t even say, “I always lie.”

The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works,[2] Jesus replied.

But I say, Paul wrote, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.[3]

I’ve written that I became an atheist during my prodigal years.  That is technically correct according to the definition that pops up in Google: “a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods.”  I stopped believing in my god of punishment for a few years, and I certainly didn’t believe in the existence of any other gods.  But I was by no means a practicing atheist.

To become a practicing atheist is at least as difficult as becoming a do-it-yourself-Christian.  Atheists exist in a world where God the Father is making Jesus’ enemies a footstool for [his] feet;[4] God the Holy Spirit is proving the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;[5] and God the Son promised to draw all…to myself.[6]  The practicing atheist must be ever-vigilant to withstand his relentless love while striving to make this world the place where the omnipresent God is not.  The atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche lamented, “I am afraid we are not rid of God because we still have faith in grammar.”[7]

It’s probably more meaningful to say that my free will became relatively unfettered from God for a time.  Since I didn’t study the Bible in English, much less in Greek, I didn’t know anything about ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ.  I didn’t see the connection between ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ and θέλημα.  I was clueless that the noun θέλημα related to the verb θέλω: “I want.”  But with my own free will relatively unfettered from God I was about to get a crash course in I want.

The following Gospel harmony provides a glimpse into Jesus’ free will as I want:

Matthew 26:36-39a (NET)

 Mark 14:32-35 (NET) Luke 22:39-41 (NET)

John 18:1 (NET)
When he had said these things (John 13:31-17:26),
Then Jesus went with them Then they went Then Jesus went out and made his way, as he customarily did, to the Mount of Olives, and the[8] disciples followed him. Jesus went out with his disciples
across the[9] Kidron Valley.   There was an orchard there,
to a place called Gethsemane,[10] to a place called Gethsemane,[11]
When he came to the place,
and he and his disciples went into it.
and he said to the disciples, and Jesus said to his disciples, he said to them,
“Sit here while I go over there and pray.” “Sit here while I pray.”
“Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”
He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he became anguished and distressed.  Then he[12] said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death.  Remain here and stay awake with me.” He took Peter, James,[13] and John[14] with him,[15] and became very troubled and distressed.  He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death.  Remain here and stay alert.”
Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, Going a little farther, he threw[16] himself to the ground and prayed He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed,
that if it were possible the hour would pass from him.

Jesus’ will here, what He wanted, was not to be tortured to death.  My Father, if possible, let this cup pass[17] from me![18] He prayed according to Matthew’s Gospel narrative.  Abba, Father, all things are possible for you, Mark’s Gospel narrative clarified.  Take this cup away from me.[19]  This is perfectly intelligible to me.

I want to live, not to die.  If I must die, I want that death to be as easy as possible.  Viewed this way Jesus’ expressed a fundamental aspect of the human will.  But viewed in the context of his own life and words, I get a very different picture.  He had already stated quite publicly (John 12:27, 28a NET):

“Now my soul is greatly distressed.  And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour’?  No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.”

And then privately, alone in prayer with his Father, He did exactly that: He prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him.[20]  This is so pathetically human I can hear the pre-echo of Paul’s lament: Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?[21]  Jesus’ prayer was more nuanced, however, than I’ve made it seem.  His free will was more constrained by the will of his Father.

Matthew 26:39b (NET)

 Mark 14:36 (NET)

Luke 22:42 (NET)
He said,
“My Father, if possible, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
“Father, if you are willing,
let this cup pass from me!  Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Take this cup away from me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will.” take this cup away[22] from me.  Yet not my will but yours be done.”

Jesus’ will was subordinate to his Father’s will (letter C of the throne diagram).  Father, if you are willing (εἰ βούλει), He prayed before his request in Luke’s Gospel narrative.  Yet not my will (πλὴν μὴ τὸ θέλημα μου), followed his request, but yours be done (ἀλλὰ τὸ σὸν γινέσθω).  Matthew’s and Mark’s Gospel narratives had the following after Jesus’ request:

Matthew 26:39c (NET)

Mark 14:36c (NET)
Yet not what I will, but what you will. Yet not what I will, but what you will.

Matthew 26:39c (NET Parallel Greek)

Mark 14:36c (NET Parallel Greek)
πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλ᾿ ὡς σύ ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τί ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλὰ τί σύ

Though I didn’t study the Bible, this story was unavoidable as Easter approached.  I don’t recall it being presented as a Gospel harmony.  We were Protestant.  Visual aids were not generally used upstairs in gownup church.  I do remember flipping back and forth between Gospel accounts during sermons.  That’s how I knew they “needed” harmonizing.

As a boy I found it embarrassing, even a little disconcerting, how much Jesus feared death.  I’m sure preachers tried to explain how it wasn’t a fear of death, but that just seemed like a cover for their own embarrassment over Jesus’ lack of machismo.  Besides, Jesus was so perfect, it was all going to work out okay in the end—for Him.  What follows always seemed like the point of the story to me.

Matthew 26:40, 41 (NET)

Mark 14:37, 38 (NET)
Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.  He said to Peter, Then he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,
“Simon, are you sleeping?
“So, couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you will not fall[23] into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I thought I needed to be stronger than Peter and the other disciples, stronger even than Jesus perhaps:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

   To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

   Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;[24]

[Jesus] did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man.[25]  For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.[26]  But I missed completely that when Jesus said, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, He referred primarily to Himself.  He wasn’t chiding his disciples so much as empathizing with them, as he continued to wrestle in prayer with the weakness of his own flesh.

Matthew 26:42 (NET)

 Mark 14:39 (NET)

Luke 22:43 ,44 (NET)
He went away a second time and prayed, He went away again and prayed the same thing.
Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
“My Father, if this cup[27] cannot be taken away[28] unless I drink it, your will must be done.”

An argument could be made that the angel from heaven didn’t appear until Jesus’ third prayer session.  I placed this appearance in the second because I know what comes next.  We are taken from a scene of Jesus in anguish praying more earnestly with sweat…like drops of blood to a scene where Jesus is terrifyingly calm.  These scenes are separated not by decades, nor years, not months, nor weeks, not even days: It was only a matter of moments before Jesus asked Peter and the other disciples: How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?[29]

Despite my attempt to add a few moments here the angel may not have appeared before Jesus prayed: My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done.  The clause your will must be done (γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημα σου) struck me as I consider free will in general and Jesus’ free will in particular.  The subject, your will, is τὸ θέλημα σου.  The NET translators chose must be done for the verb γενηθήτω, a passive imperative form of γίνομαι.  I laughed out loud at a passive imperative.

It was clear that must was intended to convey the imperative aspect and be done the passive aspect.  But I couldn’t grasp whether the imperative aspect should hold sway (your will must be done by me), or the passive aspect (your will must be done to me).  Gary Gagliardi’s insight on Christ’s Words — The Mysteries of Jesus’s Greek Revealed was helpful here:

The word translated as “be” means “to become,” that is, to enter into a new state. In Greek, especially as used by Jesus, it is the opposite of “being,” which is existence in the current state. It is in a form that doesn’t exist in English, the 3rd person command in the passive. In translation a 3rd person command is usually translated with a leading “let”, so “let your.”

Mr. Gagliardi’s translation, “let your desire come into being,” seemed like a perfect solution until I tried to make it more concrete with a simpler command: one in authority says, “I want you to wash the dishes.”  “Let your desire come into being,” rings true if the one under authority says it on the way to washing the dishes.  But if the one under authority simply stands there, or sits there, and says, “Let your desire come into being,” I have a fairly practical demonstration of James’ maxim (James 2:17 KJV):

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

The translation alone for the Greek word ἑαυτήν (NET: itself) seems to strengthen the connection to a later statement: You see[30] that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone (μόνον, a form of μόνος; KJV: only).[31]  Jesus presented this same issue to the chief priests and elders of the people as a question (Matthew 21:28-31a NET):

What do you think?  A man had two sons.  He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today’ [Table].  The boy answered, ‘I will (θέλω) not.’  But later he had a change of heart and went.  The father went to the other son and said the same thing.  This boy answered, ‘I will, sir (ἐγώ, κύριε),’ but did not go.  Which of the two did (ἐποίησεν, a form of ποιέω) his father’s will (θέλημα) [Table]?

The works are so integrated into the faith we would probably call it faithworks if we were physicists.  But who does these faithworks?  Do I do them as continuous acts of my own free will or do they come from God?  I expressed my current bias clearly at the beginning of this essay: The Father that dwelleth in me, Jesus said, he doeth the works.[32]

The scene of Jesus’ anguish in prayer continued:

Matthew 26:43-46 (NET)

 Mark 14:40-42 (NET)

Luke 22:45, 46 (NET)
When he got up from prayer,
He came again and found[33] them sleeping; When he came[34] again he found them sleeping; he came to the disciples and found them sleeping,
exhausted from grief.
they could not keep their eyes open. they could not keep their eyes open.[35]
. And they did not know what to tell him.
So he said to them, “Why are you sleeping?  Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation!”
So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same thing once more.[36]
Then he came to the[37] disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting?
Enough of that!
Look, the hour is approaching, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Get up, let us go.  Look!  My betrayer is approaching!” The hour has come.  Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Get up, let us go.  Look!  My betrayer is approaching!”

And that abruptly we are in a new scene: Jesus is back, large and in charge, and terrifyingly calm.  It is probably time to call terrifyingly calm what it actually is: the peace (εἰρήνη) of God that surpasses all understanding,[38] an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit.  Jesus, strengthened by an angel from heaven, prayed in anguish as the human response exemplified by his disciples was to sleep.  Jesus exhibited the peace of God that surpasses all understanding when the human response exemplified by his disciples was fight (Matthew 26:51-54; Mark 14:47-49; Luke 22:49-52; John 18:10, 11) or flight (Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:50-52).

It becomes more and more impossible for me to believe that Jesus subordinated his will—“I want not to be tortured to death”—to his Father’s will by an act of his own free will, which was—“I want not to be tortured to death” at that moment. The apparent choices, willpower or the indwelling Spirit of God, are listed in a tabular form:

Willpower

The Indwelling Spirit of God
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

 The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

But that’s Jesus.  What about me?  For it is God which worketh in you, Paul wrote to those who believe Jesus, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.[39]

The Greek word translated worketh is ἐνεργῶν (a form of ἐνεργέω).  The word translated to will is θέλειν (a form of θέλω).  And the word translated to do is ἐνεργεῖν (another form of ἐνεργέω).

To conclude I’ll consider the passive imperative γενηθήτω again, not as a bad joke but as a source of real insight.  I’m more confident that your will must be done by the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  But there is an aspect of your will must be done to me as well here:

Matthew 26:45b, 46 (NET)

Mark 14:41b, 42 (NET)
Look, the hour is approaching, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners…My betrayer is approaching!” The hour has come.  Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners…My betrayer is approaching!”

The Greek word translated betrayed is παραδίδοται (a form of παραδίδωμι).  The same word was translated will be handed over when Jesus told his disciples, You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over (παραδίδοται) to be crucified.[40]  It was translated is delivered in the KJV when Jesus taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered (παραδίδοται) into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third[41] day.[42]

Though the emphasis above may be on the betrayer (παραδιδούς, another form of παραδίδωμι) Judas Iscariot, Jesus was handed over and delivered by God the Father long before Judas was born: How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?[43]  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten (μονογενῆ, a form of μονογενής) Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.[44]  Yet none of this was contrary to Jesus’ own free will (John 10:17, 18 NET).

This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. [45]  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again.  This commandment I received from my Father.

This leads me to a third aspect: your will must be done through me.  Whether this aspect is implicit in the passive imperative γενηθήτω or not, it is revealed in this story.  These three aspects are difficult for me to hold in my mind simultaneously as one whole (not unlike the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit).  Those who believe have God’s promise to guide us through this and every faithwork.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 55:10, 11 (Tanakh) Isaiah 55:10, 11 (NET) Isaiah 55:10, 11 (NETS)

Isaiah 55:10, 11 (English Elpenor)
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat. For as rain or snow comes down from heaven and will not return until it has soaked the earth and brought forth and blossomed and given seed to the sower and bread for food, For as rain shall come down, or snow, from heaven, and shall not return until it have saturated the earth, and it bring forth, and bud, and give seed to the sower, and bread for food:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.  No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” so shall my word be, whatever goes out from my mouth; it shall not return until whatever I have willed (ἠθέλησα) is fulfilled, and I will prosper your ways and my commandments. so shall my word be, whatever shall proceed out of my mouth, it shall by no means turn back, until all the things which I willed (ἠθέλησα) shall have been accomplished; and I will make thy[46] ways prosperous, and [will effect] my commands.

Tables comparing Isaiah 55:10 and 55:11 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Isaiah 55:10 and 55:11 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Matthew 26:36; 26:38, 39; Mark 14:32, 33; 14:35; Luke 22:39; John 18:1; Luke 22:42; Mark 14:38; Matthew 26:42; James 2:24; Matthew 26:43-45; Mark 14:40 and 9:31 in the NET and KJV follow.

Isaiah 55:10 (Tanakh)

Isaiah 55:10 (KJV)

Isaiah 55:10 (NET)
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: The rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return, but instead water the earth and make it produce and yield crops, and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

Isaiah 55:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 55:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὡς γὰρ ἐὰν καταβῇ ὑετὸς ἢ χιὼν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποστραφῇ ἕως ἂν μεθύσῃ τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐκτέκῃ καὶ ἐκβλαστήσῃ καὶ δῷ σπέρμα τῷ σπείροντι καὶ ἄρτον εἰς βρῶσιν ὡς γὰρ ἂν καταβῇ ὁ ὑετὸς ἢ χιὼν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποστραφῇ, ἕως ἂν μεθύσῃ τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐκτέκῃ καὶ ἐκβλαστήσῃ καὶ δῷ σπέρμα τῷ σπείραντι καὶ ἄρτον εἰς βρῶσιν

Isaiah 55:10 (NETS)

Isaiah 55:10 (English Elpenor)
For as rain or snow comes down from heaven and will not return until it has soaked the earth and brought forth and blossomed and given seed to the sower and bread for food, For as rain shall come down, or snow, from heaven, and shall not return until it have saturated the earth, and it bring forth, and bud, and give seed to the sower, and bread for food:

Isaiah 55:11 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 55:11 (KJV)

Isaiah 55:11 (NET)
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.  No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.”

Isaiah 55:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 55:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
οὕτως ἔσται τὸ ῥῆμά μου ὃ ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματός μου οὐ μὴ ἀποστραφῇ ἕως ἂν συντελεσθῇ ὅσα ἠθέλησα καὶ εὐοδώσω τὰς ὁδούς σου καὶ τὰ ἐντάλματά μου οὕτως ἔσται τὸ ῥῆμά μου, ὃ ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματός μου, οὐ μὴ ἀποστραφῇ, ἕως ἂν τελεσθῇ ὅσα ἂν ἠθέλησα καὶ εὐοδώσω τὰς ὁδούς μου καὶ τὰ ἐντάλματά μου

Isaiah 55:11 (NETS)

Isaiah 55:11 (English Elpenor)
so shall my word be, whatever goes out from my mouth; it shall not return until whatever I have willed is fulfilled, and I will prosper your ways and my commandments. so shall my word be, whatever shall proceed out of my mouth, it shall by no means turn back, until all the things which I willed shall have been accomplished; and I will make thy ways prosperous, and [will effect] my commands.

Matthew 26:36 (NET)

Matthew 26:36 (KJV)
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Τότε ἔρχεται μετ᾿ αὐτῶν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς χωρίον λεγόμενον Γεθσημανὶ καὶ λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς· καθίσατε αὐτοῦ ἕως [οὗ] ἀπελθὼν ἐκεῖ προσεύξωμαι τοτε ερχεται μετ αυτων ο ιησους εις χωριον λεγομενον γεθσημανη και λεγει τοις μαθηταις καθισατε αυτου εως ου απελθων προσευξωμαι εκει τοτε ερχεται μετ αυτων ο ιησους εις χωριον λεγομενον γεθσημανη και λεγει τοις μαθηταις καθισατε αυτου εως ου απελθων προσευξωμαι εκει

Matthew 26:38, 39 (NET)

Matthew 26:38, 39 (KJV)
Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death.  Remain here and stay awake with me.” Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
τότε λέγει αὐτοῖς· περίλυπος ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ἕως θανάτου· μείνατε ὧδε καὶ γρηγορεῖτε μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοτε λεγει αυτοις περιλυπος εστιν η ψυχη μου εως θανατου μεινατε ωδε και γρηγορειτε μετ εμου τοτε λεγει αυτοις ο ιησους περιλυπος εστιν η ψυχη μου εως θανατου μεινατε ωδε και γρηγορειτε μετ εμου
Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me!  Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ προελθὼν μικρὸν ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ προσευχόμενος καὶ λέγων· πάτερ μου, εἰ δυνατόν ἐστιν, παρελθάτω ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο· πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλ᾿ ὡς σύ και προελθων μικρον επεσεν επι προσωπον αυτου προσευχομενος και λεγων πατερ μου ει δυνατον εστιν παρελθετω απ εμου το ποτηριον τουτο πλην ουχ ως εγω θελω αλλ ως συ και προσελθων μικρον επεσεν επι προσωπον αυτου προσευχομενος και λεγων πατερ μου ει δυνατον εστιν παρελθετω απ εμου το ποτηριον τουτο πλην ουχ ως εγω θελω αλλ ως συ

Mark 14:32, 33 (NET)

Mark 14:32, 33 (KJV)
Then they went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς χωρίον οὗ τὸ ὄνομα Γεθσημανὶ καὶ λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ· καθίσατε ὧδε ἕως προσεύξωμαι και ερχονται εις χωριον ου το ονομα γεθσημανη και λεγει τοις μαθηταις αυτου καθισατε ωδε εως προσευξωμαι και ερχονται εις χωριον ου το ονομα γεθσημανη και λεγει τοις μαθηταις αυτου καθισατε ωδε εως προσευξωμαι
He took Peter, James, and John with him, and became very troubled and distressed. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ παραλαμβάνει τὸν Πέτρον καὶ [τὸν] Ἰάκωβον καὶ [τὸν] Ἰωάννην μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἤρξατο ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδημονεῖν και παραλαμβανει τον πετρον και τον ιακωβον και ιωαννην μεθ εαυτου και ηρξατο εκθαμβεισθαι και αδημονειν και παραλαμβανει τον πετρον και ιακωβον και ιωαννην μεθ εαυτου και ηρξατο εκθαμβεισθαι και αδημονειν

Mark 14:35 (NET)

Mark 14:35 (KJV)
Going a little farther, he threw himself to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ προελθὼν μικρὸν ἔπιπτεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ προσηύχετο ἵνα εἰ δυνατόν ἐστιν παρέλθῃ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα και προελθων μικρον επεσεν επι της γης και προσηυχετο ινα ει δυνατον εστιν παρελθη απ αυτου η ωρα και προσελθων μικρον επεσεν επι της γης και προσηυχετο ινα ει δυνατον εστιν παρελθη απ αυτου η ωρα

Luke 22:39 (NET)

Luke 22:39 (KJV)
Then Jesus went out and made his way, as he customarily did, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐπορεύθη κατὰ τὸ ἔθος εἰς τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, ἠκολούθησαν δὲ αὐτῷ |καὶ| οἱ μαθηταί και εξελθων επορευθη κατα το εθος εις το ορος των ελαιων ηκολουθησαν δε αυτω και οι μαθηται αυτου και εξελθων επορευθη κατα το εθος εις το ορος των ελαιων ηκολουθησαν δε αυτω και οι μαθηται αυτου

John 18:1 (NET)

John 18:1 (KJV)
When he had said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley.  There was an orchard there, and he and his disciples went into it. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Ταῦτα εἰπὼν Ἰησοῦς ἐξῆλθεν σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ πέραν τοῦ χειμάρρου |τοῦ| Κεδρὼν ὅπου ἦν κῆπος, εἰς ὃν εἰσῆλθεν αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ταυτα ειπων ο ιησους εξηλθεν συν τοις μαθηταις αυτου περαν του χειμαρρου των κεδρων οπου ην κηπος εις ον εισηλθεν αυτος και οι μαθηται αυτου ταυτα ειπων ο ιησους εξηλθεν συν τοις μαθηταις αυτου περαν του χειμαρρου των κεδρων οπου ην κηπος εις ον εισηλθεν αυτος και οι μαθηται αυτου

Luke 22:42 (NET)

Luke 22:42 (KJV)
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me.  Yet not my will but yours be done.” Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
λέγων· πάτερ, εἰ βούλει παρένεγκε τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ· πλὴν μὴ τὸ θέλημα μου ἀλλὰ τὸ σὸν γινέσθω λεγων πατερ ει βουλει παρενεγκειν το ποτηριον τουτο απ εμου πλην μη το θελημα μου αλλα το σον γενεσθω λεγων πατερ ει βουλει παρενεγκειν το ποτηριον τουτο απ εμου πλην μη το θελημα μου αλλα το σον γενεσθω

Mark 14:38 (NET)

Mark 14:38 (KJV)
Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.  The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
γρηγορεῖτε καὶ προσεύχεσθε, ἵνα μὴ ἔλθητε εἰς πειρασμόν· τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα πρόθυμον ἡ δὲ σὰρξ ἀσθενής γρηγορειτε και προσευχεσθε ινα μη εισελθητε εις πειρασμον το μεν πνευμα προθυμον η δε σαρξ ασθενης γρηγορειτε και προσευχεσθε ινα μη εισελθητε εις πειρασμον το μεν πνευμα προθυμον η δε σαρξ ασθενης

Matthew 26:42 (NET)

Matthew 26:42 (KJV)
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done.” He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
πάλιν ἐκ δευτέρου ἀπελθὼν προσηύξατο |λέγων|· πάτερ μου, εἰ οὐ δύναται τοῦτο παρελθεῖν ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὸ πίω, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημα σου παλιν εκ δευτερου απελθων προσηυξατο λεγων πατερ μου ει ου δυναται τουτο το ποτηριον παρελθειν απ εμου εαν μη αυτο πιω γενηθητω το θελημα σου παλιν εκ δευτερου απελθων προσηυξατο λεγων πατερ μου ει ου δυναται τουτο το ποτηριον παρελθειν απ εμου εαν μη αυτο πιω γενηθητω το θελημα σου

James 2:24 (NET)

James 2:24 (KJV)
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον ορατε τοινυν οτι εξ εργων δικαιουται ανθρωπος και ουκ εκ πιστεως μονον ορατε τοινυν οτι εξ εργων δικαιουται ανθρωπος και ουκ εκ πιστεως μονον

Matthew 26:43-45 (NET)

Matthew 26:43-45 (KJV)
He came again and found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἐλθὼν πάλιν εὗρεν αὐτοὺς καθεύδοντας, ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ βεβαρημένοι και ελθων ευρισκει αυτους παλιν καθευδοντας ησαν γαρ αυτων οι οφθαλμοι βεβαρημενοι και ελθων ευρισκει αυτους παλιν καθευδοντας ησαν γαρ αυτων οι οφθαλμοι βεβαρημενοι
So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same thing once more. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἀφεὶς αὐτοὺς πάλιν ἀπελθὼν προσηύξατο ἐκ τρίτου τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον εἰπὼν πάλιν και αφεις αυτους απελθων παλιν προσηυξατο εκ τριτου τον αυτον λογον ειπων και αφεις αυτους απελθων παλιν προσηυξατο εκ τριτου τον αυτον λογον ειπων
Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is approaching, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
τότε ἔρχεται πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· καθεύδετε [τὸ] λοιπὸν καὶ ἀναπαύεσθε· ἰδοὺ ἤγγικεν ἡ ὥρα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδίδοται εἰς χεῖρας ἁμαρτωλῶν τοτε ερχεται προς τους μαθητας αυτου και λεγει αυτοις καθευδετε το λοιπον και αναπαυεσθε ιδου ηγγικεν η ωρα και ο υιος του ανθρωπου παραδιδοται εις χειρας αμαρτωλων τοτε ερχεται προς τους μαθητας αυτου και λεγει αυτοις καθευδετε το λοιπον και αναπαυεσθε ιδου ηγγικεν η ωρα και ο υιος του ανθρωπου παραδιδοται εις χειρας αμαρτωλων

Mark 14:40 (NET)

Mark 14:40 (KJV)
When he came again he found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open.  And they did not know what to tell him. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ πάλιν ἐλθὼν εὗρεν αὐτοὺς καθεύδοντας, ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ καταβαρυνόμενοι, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν τί ἀποκριθῶσιν αὐτῷ και υποστρεψας ευρεν αυτους παλιν καθευδοντας ησαν γαρ οι οφθαλμοι αυτων βεβαρημενοι και ουκ ηδεισαν τι αυτω αποκριθωσιν και υποστρεψας ευρεν αυτους παλιν καθευδοντας ησαν γαρ οι οφθαλμοι αυτων βεβαρημενοι και ουκ ηδεισαν τι αυτω αποκριθωσιν

Mark 9:31 (NET)

Mark 9:31 (KJV)
for he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐδίδασκεν γὰρ τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔλεγεν |αὐτοῖς| ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδίδοται εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσιν αὐτόν, καὶ ἀποκτανθεὶς μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἀναστήσεται εδιδασκεν γαρ τους μαθητας αυτου και ελεγεν αυτοις οτι ο υιος του ανθρωπου παραδιδοται εις χειρας ανθρωπων και αποκτενουσιν αυτον και αποκτανθεις τη τριτη ημερα αναστησεται εδιδασκεν γαρ τους μαθητας αυτου και ελεγεν αυτοις οτι ο υιος του ανθρωπου παραδιδοται εις χειρας ανθρωπων και αποκτενουσιν αυτον και αποκτανθεις τη τριτη ημερα αναστησεται

[1] John 8:29b (NET)

[2] John 14:10b (KJV)

[3] Galatians 5:16 (NET)

[4] Hebrews 1:13; Luke 20:43; Acts 2:35 (NET)

[5] John 16:8 (NET)

[6] John 12:32 (NET)

[7] Quoted from “Nietzsche, Grammar & God,” by Timothy T.C. McGhee, on Timothy T. C. McGhee online.

[8] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτου (KJV: his) here.  The NET parallel Geek text and NA28 did not.

[9] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article τοῦ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had των.

[10] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 Gethsemane was spelled Γεθσημανὶ, and γεθσημανη in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[11] In the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 Gethsemane was spelled Γεθσημανὶ, and γεθσημανη in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[12] The Byzantine Majority Text had ο ιησους here.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[13] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article τὸν preceding James.  The Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article τὸν preceding John.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[15] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μεθ εαυτου.

[16] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἔπιπτεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had επεσεν (KJV: fell).

[17] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had παρελθάτω here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had παρελθετω.

[18] Matthew 26:39b (NET)

[19] Mark 14:36a (NET)

[20] Mark 14:35b (NET)

[21] Romans 7:24 (NET)

[22] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had παρένεγκε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had παρενεγκειν (KJV: remove).

[23] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἔλθητε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εισελθητε (KJV: ye enter).

[24] If, Rudyard Kipling.  This poem was a favorite admonition of my Dad’s.

[25] John 2:25 (NET)

[26] Hebrews 4:15 (NET)

[27] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had το ποτηριον here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[28] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had απ εμου (KJV: from me) following be taken away (KJV: pass away).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[29] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[30] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τοινυν (KJV: then) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[31] James 2:24 (NET)

[32] John 14:10b (KJV)

[33] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εὗρεν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ευρισκει.

[34] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐλθὼν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had υποστρεψας (KJV: when he returned).

[35] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had καταβαρυνόμενοι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had βεβαρημενοι (KJV: heavy).

[36] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had πάλιν here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[37] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτου (KJV: his) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[38] Philippians 4:7 (NET)

[39] Philippians 2:13 (KJV) Table

[40] Matthew 26:2 (NET)

[41] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τη τριτη here, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had μετὰ τρεῖς (NET: after three).

[42] Mark 9:31 (KJV)

[43] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[44] John 3:16 (KJV) Table

[45] Who Am I? Part 11

[46] The Greek is μου here though the parallel English is thy.

Patterns of Evidence: Exodus

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Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, A Filmmaker’s Journey by Timothy P. Mahoney was Mom’s coffee table book this Thanksgiving.  I have a bit of history with my mother’s coffee table books.  This time I even asked her if she leaves them out for my benefit.  (She said, “No.”)

I can relate to the need to pursue this kind of project.  If there is something dissuading you from believing the Bible it’s best to take Jesus by the hand and hit it head on.  With a history background I’m a little more inured apparently to the historical dabbling of archaeologists than Mr. Mahoney was.  My bias toward historical documents has afforded me a measure of protection here.

Mr. Mahoney’s book is the companion to a film of the same name.  It’s a good film.  He described it in an interview: “Is there a pattern of evidence at any time in the archaeology of Egypt and Israel that matches the events of the Exodus and the Conquest as recorded in the Bible?”[1]  I won’t steal his thunder.  He and his investors deserve to make their money back.  The companion book was more detailed and much more troubling to me.

The confessions he elicited from Jews (on camera) without torture or duress of any kind disturbed me.  Had you asked me I would have said yes, not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants.[2]  But I was clearly not prepared to have my nose rubbed in it, like some naughty puppy that has peed the carpet.

Mr. Mahoney interviewed a Jewish anthropologist in his museum workroom:

Anthropologist: I always have been Jewish, I always will be Jewish, and I believe in the tradition of Judaism.  Do I think of the Bible as the word of God?  No (Luke 24:25-27), I don’t….[3]

Mahoney: Do you believe that the Exodus occurred as it is written in the Old Testament—do you believe it was a miraculous event with God intervening?

Anthropologist: No, I don’t.  Do I believe the event may have happened?  Yep.  Sure I do.  But do I believe that there was a miraculous event with God intervening?  I don’t believe it… (Exodus 3:1-22)  But I’m willing to be shown.[4]

He interviewed a Jewish archaeologist in the hill country of Israel.

Mahoney: So was there an Exodus?

Archaeologist1: My easy answer to you, as an archaeologist, it didn’t happen.  Not in the way its written down in the Bible…If we didn’t have the Bible, we would never, as archaeologists or as Egyptologists, be able to say this happened….[5]

I’m Jewish, and I like to sit down at a Seder meal and enjoy recounting the Exodus.  But that’s a tradition.  That makes me who I am culturally.  As an archaeologist, we do not see this happening as a one-off event….[6]

Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, Jesus said to the Pharisees and the experts in the law.  And you do many things like this.[7]  Jesus’ actual point here was some specific legal wrangling about corban (κορβᾶν).  And you do many things like this, opens it up in my mind to the kind of mental gymnastics cited above.

Mr. Mahoney interviewed another Jewish archaeologist in his workroom.

Archaeologist2: Exodus did not happen in the way it is described in the text of the Bible on the background of the 13th century BC….[8]

This same pattern of traditional thinking informed his view of the Hebrew Bible.

Archaeologist2: We are dealing with traditions (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).  Let’s say that the author of this or that part of the Hebrew Bible sits in Jerusalem.  And people have traditions.  Grandpa says this and Grandma says another story, and there is one tradition of this village and another tradition of that family, that clan and this tribe and so on and so forth…They collected all sorts of stories, memories, myths, tales, you know.  And they put them together in such a way that transmits an idea….[9]

Mahoney: Do you believe in celebrating Passover?

Archaeologist2: When I sit at a Passover meal and we read the Haggadah with the family, that evening, it’s all history from A to Z.  Perfect history…about all those many generations of my forefathers who were sitting to the same table at Passover at the same time and reciting the Haggadah….

Mahoney: What would you say to those people who are concerned with the idea that these stories didn’t happen as they are written?

Archaeologist2: I would tell them that it is not important…I think that it is more important to understand the meaning of Exodus, the moral of Exodus, for our civilization, for humanity, for mankind, for understanding the biblical text and the authors….[10]

“As I have mentioned before,” Mr. Mahoney wrote, this particular archaeologist’s “work and ideas greatly influenced” a Jewish Rabbi “to write his controversial Passover sermon.”[11]  Michael Medved asked this Rabbi about that sermon:

Rabbi: I said that the Exodus certainly didn’t happen the way the Bible depicts it, assuming that it was a historical event in any description….

Medved: Why did you say that?

Rabbi: I said it for two reasons.  One was because I knew that these students and others would go off to college and hear people talk about biblical archaeology and comparative religion, and I wanted them to know that that was not a frightening topic….[12]

This Rabbi regarded the Exodus as fiction:

Rabbi: The extent to which the Exodus story has a historical core is very hard to say, but my deeper conviction about it is that it’s a story that whether it was true, it is true.  And those are two different things…there are things that aren’t facts that can be truths….[13]

Medved: What did you want people to feel, not to think, but to feel about the Exodus?

Rabbi: I wanted them to feel that their faith was unshakable, that it didn’t matter what the conclusions were of archaeologists, scientists and historians….[14]

Medved: What does [Passover] mean if we weren’t delivered from Egypt?

Rabbi: Whether or not people were delivered then, does that affect my ability to empathize with what slavery is like now?[15]

Mr. Mahoney interviewed a Jewish politician in the Knesset who seemed to echo the Rabbi’s emphasis on slavery:

Moses was the greatest revolutionary of all time.  Remember that in antiquity there were grand empires that were based on one principal: slavery (Deuteronomy 15:12-18).  Moses challenged that twice.  He challenged it by taking his people, who were slaves in bondage in Egypt, freeing them, and taking them to their promised land.  But Moses also challenged the empires of the world by providing a moral code for mankind that said it is not the king or the emperor who decides the law.  There is a higher law (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).  These were absolutely revolutionary ideas.[16]

If the reason given for celebrating the Passover was: for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt,[17] a feast to HaShem,[18] then staying home to celebrate it “to empathize with what slavery is like now” is almost as disobedient as going out and doing something else instead.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Exodus 12:14, 17 (Tanakh) Exodus 12:14, 17 (NET) Exodus 12:14, 17 (NETS)

Exodus 12:14, 17 (Elpenor English)
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to HaShem; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. “‘This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance. And this day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.  You shall celebrate it as a perpetual precept. And this day shall be to you a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord through all your generations; ye shall keep it a feast for a perpetual ordinance.
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance. And you shall keep this commandment.  For on this day I will bring your host out of the land of Egypt, and you shall make this day throughout your generations a perpetual precept. And ye shall keep this commandment, for on this day will I bring out your force out of the land of Egypt; and ye shall make this day a perpetual ordinance for you throughout your generations.

Mr. Mahoney interviewed another Jewish archaeologist in his teaching lab.

Archaeologist3: …as I used to tell my students, archaeology is about 10 percent data and 90 percent interpretation.  And this is why I’d say it is controversial in many aspects and open to different opinions….[19]

This confession proved to be more important than it appeared at first.  Mr. Mahoney, a filmmaker, did an admirable job of demonstrating from archaeological data and a few documentary fragments where the events of Exodus in the Bible fit sequentially into that archaeological data.  He went on to demonstrate that Jewish archaeologists (among others) reject this correlation in favor of their own interpretations of the data.  In other words, they reject the Hebrew scriptures to cling to their faith in their own works, their own interpretations as archaeologists.  You can’t make this stuff up.

The interview continued:

Mahoney: You believe the Exodus and the Conquest are legendary stories?  You don’t see them in the archaeology, is that right?

Archaeologist3: No, we don’t see them at all.  We see something different.  Many times people tell us absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but the point is, as I used to say, paradoxically, the more information we have on biblical matters, the more contradictions we’ve found…we have hundreds of sites now of different periods and millions of objects which indicate an archaeological reality.  And this reality says the Israelites did not come from outside the land of Canaan.  They did not conquer the land.  They simply evolved from within the local community to a new phase of economic and social organization, which later developed into the state of Israel.  So, the process was entirely different than described in the Bible….[20]

The Exodus story is a very important and interesting legend about the people of Israel, but it has no real historical basis….[21]

So Israelites are merely Canaanites with delusions of grandeur?  Why do I, a natural born Gentile Christian turned atheist, have more confidence in the Hebrew scriptures than a Jewish anthropologist, Jewish archaeologists, a Rabbi or a Jewish politician?  Jesus.

Jesus is dragging me out of my Gentile-Christian-turned-atheist-ness to Himself (John 12:32).  His own confidence in the Hebrew scriptures directed his actions toward their fulfillment: How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?[22] He asked Peter.  Does this mean that I am inspired to faith by Jesus’ faith?

Well, okay, sure.  But I’m also inspired to courage, determination and some faith at the climax of Avengers: Endgame when Captain America (Chris Evans), bruised, fallen, all but defeated, tightens the strap of his broken shield on his arm and stands again to face Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his armies, alone if necessary.  The trouble with this kind of inspiration is that it can only awaken the courage, determination or faith already latent within me.

In Jesus I am born from above and filled with his own Holy Spirit just as He promised.  My faith is not my faith[23] but his (it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me[24]), the same faith that flowed into and through Him from the same Spirit when He asked: How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?  Jesus also said, Do not be afraid[25] of those who kill[26] the body but cannot kill the soul.[27]

Archaeologists cannot kill the body.  This is not to say that an individual archaeologist is incapable of murderer, just that archaeologists as archaeologists have no authority beyond the grades handed down in their classrooms.  The entire field of archaeology, that interpretive work of archaeologists, is a “finite province of meaning” relative to the “paramount reality” of most people’s everyday lives.  Most people are unlikely to hear, in fact most people do not hear, about most of the interpretations of data uncovered by archaeologists, unless those interpretations prove useful to Satan, who deceives the whole world.

Given the limited authority archaeologists actually have over others it may seem like overkill to apply Jesus’ prohibition to them: Do not be afraid of archaeologists.  But I actually agree with the Rabbi that archaeology is “not a frightening topic.”  When I understand Jesus’ prohibition as a negation of the definition I gleaned from Deuteronomy of the the fear of the Lord—Do not have a heart to hear and do whatsoever archaeologists shall speak—I am free to choose what I will hear with what measure of faith.

Anyone interested in archaeology should take the Jewish archaeologist’s instruction to his students to heart: “archaeology is about 10 percent data and 90 percent interpretation.”  Every student is free to distinguish that germ of data from the mass of interpretation and judge that interpretation accordingly, based on all that student’s knowledge, including the Bible as the word of God.

Answers to test questions in school are not assertions of truth a student must believe.  They are simply a measure of a student’s proficiency taking notes and repeating what a teacher has said.  A student is not forsworn by recalling what a teacher has said and writing it down accurately on a test.  All rights to one’s own thoughts and beliefs are fully retained, even after an archaeology test.

Archaeology, archaeologists’ interpretations of archaeological data, is no reason to let Satan rob you of your opportunity to know…the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent,[28] to be born from above (John 3:5-7), to receive his Holy Spirit, to be bouyed up and carried along by a continuous stream of God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control[29] here and now.

Jesus said: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him….[30]  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, He promised, will draw all…to myself.[31]  Paul wrote: So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[32]  For God has consigned all…to disobedience so that he may show mercy to…all.[33]

When I hear these things I tighten the strap of the shield of faith on my arm.  Do you?  Or are you hurting yourself by kicking against the goads?[34]

Tables comparing Exodus 12:17 and 12:14 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing Exodus 12:17 and 12:14 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  A Table comparing Matthew 10:28 in the NET and KJV follows those.

Exodus 12:17 (Tanakh)

 Exodus 12:17 (KJV)

Exodus 12:17 (NET)
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your regiments out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

Exodus 12:17 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 12:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ φυλάξεσθε τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ ἐξάξω τὴν δύναμιν ὑμῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ ποιήσετε τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην εἰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν νόμιμον αἰώνιον καὶ φυλάξετε τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην· ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ ἐξάξω τὴν δύναμιν ὑμῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ποιήσετε τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην εἰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν νόμιμον αἰώνιον

Exodus 12:17 (NETS)

Exodus 12:17 (English Elpenor)
And you shall keep this commandment.  For on this day I will bring your host out of the land of Egypt, and you shall make this day throughout your generations a perpetual precept. And ye shall keep this commandment, for on this day will I bring out your force out of the land of Egypt; and ye shall make this day a perpetual ordinance for you throughout your generations.

Exodus 12:14 (Tanakh)

 Exodus 12:14 (KJV)

Exodus 12:14 (NET)
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to HaShem; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. “‘This day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance.

Exodus 12:14 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 12:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἡμέρα ὑμῗν αὕτη μνημόσυνον καὶ ἑορτάσετε αὐτὴν ἑορτὴν κυρίῳ εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν νόμιμον αἰώνιον ἑορτάσετε αὐτήν καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἡμέρα ὑμῖν αὕτη μνημόσυνον· καὶ ἑορτάσετε αὐτὴν ἑορτὴν Κυρίῳ εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν· νόμιμον αἰώνιον ἑορτάσετε αὐτήν

Exodus 12:14 (NETS)

Exodus 12:14 (English Elpenor)
And this day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.  You shall celebrate it as a perpetual precept. And this day shall be to you a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord through all your generations; ye shall keep it a feast for a perpetual ordinance.

Matthew 10:28 (NET)

Matthew 10:28 (KJV)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ μὴ |φοβεῖσθε| ἀπὸ τῶν |ἀποκτεννόντων| τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι· φοβεῖσθε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ και μη φοβηθητε απο των αποκτεινοντων το σωμα την δε ψυχην μη δυναμενων αποκτειναι φοβηθητε δε μαλλον τον δυναμενον και ψυχην και σωμα απολεσαι εν γεεννη και μη φοβεισθε απο των αποκτενοντων το σωμα την δε ψυχην μη δυναμενων αποκτειναι φοβηθητε δε μαλλον τον δυναμενον και την ψυχην και το σωμα απολεσαι εν γεεννη

[1] “Timothy Mahoney Interview on Patterns of Evidence,” July 21, 2015, TheBestSchools

[2] Romans 9:6b, 7a (NET)

[3] “Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, A Filmmaker’s Journey,” by Timothy P. Mahoney; with Steven Law; St. Louis Park: MN, Thinking Man Media, 2015, p. 38

[4] ibid, pp. 38-39

[5] ibid, p. 51

[6] ibid, p. 52

[7] Mark 7:13 (NET)

[8] “Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, A Filmmaker’s Journey,” by Timothy P. Mahoney; with Steven Law; St. Louis Park: MN, Thinking Man Media, 2015, p. 55

[9] ibid, pp. 56-57

[10] ibid, p. 173

[11] ibid, p. 173

[12] ibid, p. 42

[13] ibid, p. 43

[14] ibid, pp. 173, 174

[15] ibid, p. 174

[16] ibid, p. 66

[17] Exodus 12:17b (Tanakh)

[18] Exodus 12:14 (Tanakh) The Hebrew word translated Hashem was לַֽיהֹוָ֑ה (Yehovah).

[19] “Patterns of Evidence: Exodus, A Filmmaker’s Journey,” by Timothy P. Mahoney; with Steven Law; St. Louis Park: MN, Thinking Man Media, 2015, pp. 59, 60

[20] ibid, pp. 60, 61

[21] ibid, p. 61

[22] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[23] The Greek word translated faithfulness in Galatians 5:22 (NET) was πίστις.

[24] Galatians 2:20b (NET)

[25] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had φοβεῖσθε here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had φοβηθητε (KJV: fear).

[26] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀποκτεννόντων here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had αποκτεινοντων and the Byzantine Majority Text had αποκτενοντων.

[27] Matthew 10:28a (NET)

[28] John 17:3 (NET)

[29] Galatians 5:22b-23a (NET) Table

[30] John 6:44a (NET) Table

[31] John 12:32 (NET) NET note (67): Grk “all.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for stylistic reasons and for clarity (cf. KJV “all men”).  I removed people for accuracy: καγὼ ἐὰν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.  There is no word limiting this drawing to people in the Greek text.

[32] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[33] Romans 11:32 (NET) NET note (24): Grk “to all”; “them” has been supplied for stylistic reasons. Here again I removed people and them: συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ.  I wrote about τοὺς πάντας in another essay.  For God was pleased to have all (πᾶν) his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things (τὰ πάντα) to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Colossians 1:19, 20 NET).

[34] Acts 26:14b (NET) Table

Psalm 22, Part 4

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This is a continuing look into Psalm 22 as the music in Jesus’ heart as He endured the cross.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:12 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:12 (NET) Psalm 21:13 (NETS)

Psalm 21:13 (Elpenor English)
Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan (בָשָׁ֣ן) have beset me round. Many bulls surround me; powerful bulls of Bashan (Bashan, בשן) hem me in. Many bull calves encircled me; fat (πίονες) bulls surrounded me; Many bullocks have compassed me: fat (πίονες) bulls have beset me round.

The bulls of Bashan have been decoded as religious leaders, demons or a combination of people and spirit entities.  What caught my attention was that strong bulls (‘abbiyr, אַבִּירֵ֖י; NET: powerful bulls) of Bashan was fat bulls in the Septuagint.  It reminded me of the Song of Moses:

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Deuteronomy 32:12-15 (Tanakh) Deuteronomy 32:12-15 (NET) Deuteronomy 32:12-15 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 32:12-15 (Elpenor English)
HaShem alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with Him. The Lord alone was guiding him [his people, Jacob], no foreign god was with him. the Lord alone was leading them, and no foreign god was with them. the Lord alone led them, there was no strange god with them.
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he did eat the fruitage of the field; and He made him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the flinty rock; He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land, and he ate of the produce of the fields.  He provided honey for him from the cliffs, and olive oil from the hardest of rocks, He made them ascend onto the strength of the land, fed them with the produce of the fields; they sucked honey from a rock and oil from solid rock, He brought them up on the strength of the land; he fed them with the fruits of the fields; they sucked honey out of the rock, and oil out of the solid rock.
Curd of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed (בְּנֵֽ) of Bashan (בָשָׁן֙), and he-goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape thou drankest foaming wine. butter from the herd and milk from the flock, along with the fat of lambs, rams and goats of (ben, בני) Bashan (Bashan, בשן), along with the best of the kernels of wheat; and from the juice of grapes you drank wine. butter of cows and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams; of the sons (υἱῶν) of bulls (ταύρων) and of goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat–and they drank wine, blood of grapes. Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams, of calves (υἱῶν ταύρων) and kids, with fat of kidneys of wheat; and he drank wine, the blood of the grape.
But Jeshurun waxed fat (וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ן), and kicked–thou didst wax fat (שָׁמַ֖נְתָּ), thou didst grow thick, thou didst become gross–and he forsook G-d who made him, and contemned the Rock of his salvation. But Jeshurun became fat (shaman, וישמן) and kicked; you got fat (shaman, שמנת), thick, and stuffed!  Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt. And Iakob ate (ἔφαγεν) and was filled (ἐνεπλήσθη), and the beloved one kicked.  He grew fat (ἐλιπάνθη); he became heavy; he became broad!  And he abandoned God who made him, and he departed from God his savior. So Jacob ate (ἔφαγεν) and was filled (ἐνεπλήσθη), and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat (ἐλιπάνθη), he became thick and broad: then he forsook the God that made him, and departed from God his Saviour.

Though my assumption in these essays is that Jesus preferred the Hebrew version of Psalm 22, I still use the Greek version of the Septuagint to confirm or question the originality of the Masoretic text.  In other words, what Hebrew did Jesus prefer?  The table below of all the other occurrences of בָשָׁ֣ן causes me to question the originality of Bashan (בָשָׁ֣ן) in Psalm 22:12.  A subset of those occurrences with identical consonants follows.

Reference Hebrew – Chabad.org Tanakh NET BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Psalm 22:12 בָשָׁ֣ן Bashan Bashan πίονες πίονες
Deuteronomy 32:14 בָשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan ταύρων ταύρων
Psalm 68:15 (68:16) (67:16) בָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan πῗον πῖον
בָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan πῗον πῖον
Isaiah 33:9 בָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Γαλιλαία Γαλιλαία
Ezekiel 39:18 בָשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan ἐστεατωμένοι ἐστεατωμένοι
Micah 7:14 בָשָׁ֛ן Bashan Bashan Βασανῗτιν Βασανῖτιν
Nahum 1:4 בָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασανῗτις Βασανῖτις
Zechariah 11:2 בָשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδος Βασανίτιδος

Only four occurrences were translated as place names in the Septuagint.  The translation ταύρων (a form of ταῦρος) in Deuteronomy 32:14 makes me very suspicious of the originality of בָשָׁן֙ (Bashan) there.  But the translations πῖον (a form of πίων) and ἐστεατωμένοι (a form of στεατόω) give me pause.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 68:15 (Tanakh) Psalm 68:15 (NET) Psalm 67:16 (NETS)

Psalm 67:16 (Elpenor English)
The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan (בָּשָׁ֑ן); an high hill as the hill of Bashan (בָּשָֽׁן). The mountain of Bashan (Bashan, בשן) is a towering mountain; the mountain of Bashan (Bashan, בשן) is a mountain with many peaks. O mountain of God, fertile (πῗον) mountain; O curdled mountain, fertile (πῗον) mountain! The mountain of God is a rich (πῖον) mountain; a swelling mountain, a rich (πῖον) mountain.

Here I could accept that the rabbis translated the meaning of Bashan for an audience that may not make that connection from a proper name.  Ezekiel 39:18 was a bit more difficult.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Ezekiel 39:18 (Tanakh) Ezekiel 39:18 (NET) Ezekiel 39:18 (NETS)

Ezekiel 39:18 (Elpenor English)
Ye [every feathered fowl and every beast of the field, 39:17] shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan (בָשָׁ֖ן). You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan (Bashan, בשן). You shall eat the flesh of giants and drink the blood of rulers of the earth, rams and calves and goats.  And all the bull calves have been fattened (ἐστεατωμένοι). Ye shall eat the flesh of mighty men, and ye shall drink the blood of princes of the earth, rams, and calves and goats, and they are all fatted (ἐστεατωμένοι) calves.

Did the rabbis translate בָשָׁ֖ן (Bashan) and מְרִיאֵ֥י (meriy’, Tanakh: fatlings, NET: fattened animals) ἐστεατωμένοι (a form of στεατόω)?  Or was בָשָׁ֖ן (Bashan) not part of the original Hebrew they had at their disposal when they translated.  In other words, בָשָׁ֖ן (Bashan) may have been added by the Masoretes in both verses, Psalm 22:12 and Ezekiel 39:18.  On the other hand if the rabbis translated both Hebrew words ἐστεατωμένοι in Ezekiel 39:18 I could entertain the possibility that they translated בָשָׁ֖ן (Bashan) πίονες (a form of πίων) in Psalm 22:12.

While adding בָשָׁ֖ן (Bashan) to Psalm 22:12 makes some sense to me—to deflect comparison with the prophecy of Deuteronomy 32:12-15—it seems to implicate אַבִּירֵ֖י (‘abbiyr; Tanakh: strong bulls; NET: powerful bulls) as well.  I made a table of all the other occurrences of אַבִּירֵ֖י (‘abbiyr).  The first thing I noticed is that strong bulls (Tanakh, KJV) and powerful bulls (NET) was a choice made by the English translators of Psalm 22:12 and was not repeated elsewhere.  An example follows.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 68:30 (Tanakh) Psalm 68:30 (NET) Psalm 67:31 (NETS)

Psalm 67:31 (Elpenor English)
Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls (אַבִּירִ֨ים), with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Sound your battle cry against the wild beast of the reeds, and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls (‘abbiyr, אבירים).  They humble themselves and offer gold and silver as tribute.  God scatters the nations that like to do battle. Rebuke the wild animals of the reeds; the gathering of the bulls (ταύρων) is among the heifers of the peoples in order that those tested by silver not be shut out.  Scatter nations that want wars. Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed: let the crowd of bulls (ταύρων) with the heifers of the nations [be rebuked], so that they who have been proved with silver may not be shut out: scatter thou the nations that wish for wars.

A subset of those occurrences of אַבִּירֵ֖י (‘abbiyr) with identical consonants follows.

Reference

Chabad.org

 Tanakh NET BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Psalm 22:12 אַבִּירֵ֖י strong bulls powerful bulls ταῦροι ταῦροι
Psalm 76:5 (76:6) (75:6) אַבִּ֬ירֵי stouthearted bravehearted[1] ἀσύνετοι ἀσύνετοι
Isaiah 46:12 אַבִּ֣ירֵי stouthearted stubborn ἀπολωλεκότες ἀπολωλεκότες
Lamentations 1:15 אַבִּירַ֤י mighty men mighty ones ἰσχυρούς ἰσχυρούς

Clearly, אַבִּירֵ֖י (‘abbiyr) is fairly flexible and was translated according to context.  So I went the other way and searched πίονες (a form of πίων) in the Septuagint.  It occurred one other time in the same psalm.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:29 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:29 (NET) Psalm 21:30 (NETS)

Psalm 21:30 (Elpenor English)
All they that be fat (דִּשְׁנֵי) upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. All the thriving people (dashen, דשני) of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives. All the fat ones (πίονες) of the earth ate and did obeisance; all who descend into the earth shall fall down before him.  And my soul lives for him, All the fat ones (πίονες) of the earth have eaten and worshipped: all that go down to the earth shall fall down before him: my soul also lives to him.

So I searched דִּשְׁנֵי (dashen) in the Masoretic text.  It occurred two other times.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 92:14 (Tanakh) Psalm 92:14 (NET) Psalm 91:15, 16a (NETS)

Psalm 91:15 (Elpenor English)
They [Those that be planted in the house of the LORD, 92:13] shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat (דְּשֵׁנִ֖ים) and flourishing; They bear fruit even when they are old; they are filled with vitality (dashen, דשנים) and have many leaves. In prosperous (πίονι) old age they will still increase, and they will be living in comfort, (16) to declare Then shall they be increased in a fine (πίονι) old age; and they shall be prosperous; that they may declare

Here again דְּשֵׁנִ֖ים (dashen) was translated πίονι (another form of πίων) in the Septuagint.  I was becoming more confident that the Hebrew Jesus preferred in Psalm 22:12 was דשן (dashen) rather than בשן (Bashan), until I came to the final occurrence.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 30:23 (Tanakh) Isaiah 30:23 (NET) Isaiah 30:23 (NETS)

Isaiah 30:23 (Elpenor English)
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat (דָשֵׁ֖ן) and plenteous (וְשָׁמֵ֑ן): in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. He will water the seed you plant in the ground, and the ground will produce crops in abundance.  [NET note 52: Heb “and he will give rain for your seed that you plant in the ground, and food {will be} the produce of the ground, and it will be rich (dashen, דשן) and abundant (shamen, ושמן).”]  At that time your cattle will graze in wide pastures. Then there will be rain for the seed of your land, and the bread of the produce of your land will be plenteous and rich (λιπαρός).  And on that day your cattle will graze in a fertile (πίονα) and spacious place; Then shall there be rain to the seed of thy land; and the bread of the fruit of thy land shall be plenteous and rich (λιπαρός): and thy cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile (πίονα) and spacious place.

Here I assume that דָשֵׁ֖ן (dashen) was translated λιπαρός, even though that reverses the word order of the Masoretic text.  The Greek word πίονα (another form of πίων) doesn’t appear to have any counterpart in the Hebrew of the Masoretic text.  Its English translation fertile is the meaning of בשן (Bashan).

So if the Masoretes changed דשן (dashen) to בשן (Bashan) in Psalm 22:12 it was so clever and subtle a change as to be almost unnecessary, except to hide the connection between the fat bulls that surrounded Jesus as He was crucified and the fat ones of the earth who have eaten and worshipped in that portion of the psalm which described the joy set out for him.

The translators of the NET offered sufficient notes to reveal their understanding of Psalm 22:29.  They recognized that all meant all:[2]

Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings—the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.

They acknowledged that the text says that all will worship the Lord:[3]

The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the Lord.

But they did not join in with those who heard it in faith:[4]

Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the Lord will receive universal worship. The mood is one of wishful thinking and anticipation; this is not prophecy in the strict sense.

I can accept no longer that Jesus, as He died on the cross meditating on this psalm, thought it was “wishful thinking.”  I believe the One who frightened his disciples, saying—How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?[5]—received this psalm as the word of God, a promise made explicitly to Him (Hebrews 12:2b NET Table).

For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame…

The two tables mentioned above follow:

Reference Chabad. org Tanakh NET BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Numbers 21:33 הַבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
הַבָּשָׁ֨ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Numbers 32:33 הַבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Deuteronomy 1:4 הַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 3:1 הַבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
הַבָּשָׁ֨ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 3:3 הַבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 3:4 בַּבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Deuteronomy 3:10 בַּבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
הַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Deuteonomy 3:11 הַבָּשָׁ֗ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 3:13 הַבָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
הַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 3:14 הַבָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 4:43 בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 4:47 הַבָּשָׁ֗ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Deuteronomy 29:7 (29:6) הַבָּשָׁ֧ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Deuteronomy 32:14 בָשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan ταύρων ταύρων
Deuteronomy 33:22 הַבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Joshua 9:10 הַבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Joshua 12:4 הַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Joshua 12:5 הַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Joshua 13:11 הַבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασανῗτιν Βασανίτιν
Joshua 13:12 בַּבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
Joshua 13:30 הַבָּשָׁ֜ן Bashan Bashan Βασανι Βασανὶ
הַבָּשָׁ֗ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
Joshua 13:31 בַּבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
Joshua 17:1 וְהַבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
Joshua 17:5 וְהַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan n/a n/a
Joshua 20:8 בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
Joshua 21:6 בַבָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Joshua 21:27 בַּבָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
Joshua 22:7 בַּבָּשָׁן֒ Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδι Βασανίτιδι
1 Kings (3 Kings) 4:13 בַּבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
1 Kings 4:19 (3 Kings 4:18) הַבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
2 Kings 10:33 וְהַבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασαν
1 Chronicles 5:11 הַבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
1 Chronicles 5:12 בַּבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
1 Chronicles 5:16 בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
1 Chronicles 5:23 מִבָּשָׁ֞ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
1 Chronicles 6:62 (6:47) בַּבָּשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
1 Chronicles 6:71 (6:56) בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Nehemiah 9:22 הַבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Psalm 68:15 (68:16) (67:16) בָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan πῗον πῖον
בָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan πῗον πῖον
Psalm 68:22 (68:23) (67:23) מִבָּשָׁ֣ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Psalm 135:11 (134:11) הַבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Psalm 136:20 (135:20) הַבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασάν
Isaiah 2:13 הַבָּשָֽׁן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Isaiah 33:9 בָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Γαλιλαία Γαλιλαία
Jeremiah 22:20 וּבַבָּשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan Βασαν Βασὰν
Jeremiah 50:19 (27:19) וְהַבָּשָׁ֑ן Bashan Bashan n/a n/a
Exekiel 27:6 מִבָּ֔שָׁן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδος Βασανίτιδος
Ezekiel 39:18 בָשָׁ֖ן Bashan Bashan ἐστεατωμένοι ἐστεατωμένοι
Amos 4:1 הַבָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδος Βασανίτιδος
Micah 7:14 בָשָׁ֛ן Bashan Bashan Βασανῗτιν Βασανῖτιν
Nahum 1:4 בָּשָׁן֙ Bashan Bashan Βασανῗτις Βασανῖτις
Zechariah 11:2 בָשָׁ֔ן Bashan Bashan Βασανίτιδος Βασανίτιδος
Reference

Chabad.org

 Tanakh NET BLB Septuagint Elpenor
Judges 5:22 אַבִּירָֽיו mighty ones stallions δυνατῶν ἰσχυροὶ
1 Samuel 21:7 (21:8) אַבִּ֥יר the chiefest who was in charge νέμων νέμων
Job 24:22 אַבִּירִ֣ים the mighty the mighty ἀδυνάτους ἀδυνάτους
Job 34:20 אַ֜בִּ֗יר the mighty The mighty ἀδυνάτων ἀδυνάτων
Psalm 50:13 (49:13) אַבִּירִ֑ים bulls bulls ταύρων ταύρων
Psalm 68:30 (68:31) (67:31) אַבִּירִ֨ים bulls bulls ταύρων ταύρων
Psalm 76:5 (76:6) (75:6) אַבִּ֬ירֵי stouthearted bravehearted ἀσύνετοι ἀσύνετοι
Psalm 78:25 (77:25) אַ֖בִּירִים angels’ mighty ones ἀγγέλων ἀγγέλων
Isaiah 10:13 כַּאבִּ֖יר valiant man mighty conqueror ἰσχὺν ἰσχὺν
Isaiah 34:7 אַבִּירִ֑ים bulls[6] strong[7] ταῦροι ταῦροι
Isaiah 46:12 אַבִּ֣ירֵי stouthearted stubborn ἀπολωλεκότες ἀπολωλεκότες
Jeremiah 8:16 אַבִּירָ֔יו strong ones stallions ἱππασίας ἵππων ἱππασίας ἵππων
Jeremiah 46:15 (26:15) אַבִּירֶ֑יךָ valiant men soldiers Ἆπις ὁ μόσχος ὁ ἐκλεκτός σου Απις ὁ μόσχος ὁ ἐκλεκτός σου
Jeremiah 47:3 (29:3) אַבִּירָ֔יו strong horses horses ὁρμῆς ὁρμῆς
Jeremiah 50:11 (27:11) כָּֽאַבִּרִֽים bulls stallion ταῦροι ταῦροι
Lamentations 1:15 אַבִּירַ֤י mighty men mighty ones ἰσχυρούς ἰσχυρούς

Tables comparing Psalm 22:12; Deuteronomy 32:12; 32:13; 32:14; 32:15; Psalm 68:15; Ezekiel 39:18; Psalm 68:30; 22:29; 92:14 and Isaiah 30:23 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing Psalm 22:12 (21:13); Deuteronomy 32:12; 32:13; 32:14; 32:15; Psalm 68:15 (67:16); Ezekiel 39:18; Psalm 68:30 (67:31); 22:29 (21:30); 92:14 (91:15) and Isaiah 30:23 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Psalm 22:12 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:12 (KJV)

Psalm 22:12 (NET)
Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. Many bulls surround me; powerful bulls of Bashan hem me in.

Psalm 22:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί, ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με

Psalm 21:13 (NETS)

Psalm 21:13 (English Elpenor)
Many bull calves encircled me; fat bulls surrounded me; Many bullocks have compassed me: fat bulls have beset me round.

Deuteronomy 32:12 (Tanakh)

 Deuteronomy 32:12 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 32:12 (NET)
HaShem alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with Him. So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. The Lord alone was guiding him, no foreign god was with him.

Deuteronomy 32:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 32:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
κύριος μόνος ἦγεν αὐτούς καὶ οὐκ ἦν μετ᾽ αὐτῶν θεὸς ἀλλότριος Κύριος μόνος ἦγεν αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐκ ἦν μετ᾿ αὐτῶν θεὸς ἀλλότριος

Deuteronomy 32:12 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 32:12 (English Elpenor)
the Lord alone was leading them, and no foreign god was with them. the Lord alone led them, there was no strange god with them.

Deuteronomy 32:13 (Tanakh)

 Deuteronomy 32:13 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 32:13 (NET)
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he did eat the fruitage of the field; and He made him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the flinty rock; He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land, and he ate of the produce of the fields.  He provided honey for him from the cliffs, and olive oil from the hardest of rocks,

Deuteronomy 32:13 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 32:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀνεβίβασεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς γῆς ἐψώμισεν αὐτοὺς γενήματα ἀγρῶν ἐθήλασαν μέλι ἐκ πέτρας καὶ ἔλαιον ἐκ στερεᾶς πέτρας ἀνεβίβασεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς γῆς, ἐψώμισεν αὐτοὺς γενήματα ἀγρῶν· ἐθήλασαν μέλι ἐκ πέτρας καὶ ἔλαιον ἐκ στερεᾶς πέτρας

Deuteronomy 32:13 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 32:13 (English Elpenor)
He made them ascend onto the strength of the land, fed them with the produce of the fields; they sucked honey from a rock and oil from solid rock, He brought them up on the strength of the land; he fed them with the fruits of the fields; they sucked honey out of the rock, and oil out of the solid rock.

Deuteronomy 32:14 (Tanakh)

 Deuteronomy 32:14 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 32:14 (NET)
Curd of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape thou drankest foaming wine. Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. butter from the herd and milk from the flock, along with the fat of lambs, rams and goats of Bashan, along with the best of the kernels of wheat; and from the juice of grapes you drank wine.

Deuteronomy 32:14 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 32:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
βούτυρον βοῶν καὶ γάλα προβάτων μετὰ στέατος ἀρνῶν καὶ κριῶν υἱῶν ταύρων καὶ τράγων μετὰ στέατος νεφρῶν πυροῦ καὶ αἷμα σταφυλῆς ἔπιον οἶνον βούτυρον βοῶν καὶ γάλα προβάτων μετὰ στέατος ἀρνῶν καὶ κριῶν, υἱῶν ταύρων καὶ τράγων, μετὰ στέατος νεφρῶν πυροῦ, καὶ αἷμα σταφυλῆς ἔπιον οἶνον

Deuteronomy 32:14 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 32:14 (English Elpenor)
butter of cows and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams; of the sons of bulls and of goats, with fat of kidneys of wheat—and they drank wine, blood of grapes. Butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with the fat of lambs and rams, of calves and kids, with fat of kidneys of wheat; and he drank wine, the blood of the grape.

Deuteronomy 32:15 (Tanakh)

 Deuteronomy 32:15 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 32:15 (NET)
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked–thou didst wax fat, thou didst grow thick, thou didst become gross–and he forsook G-d who made him, and contemned the Rock of his salvation. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. But Jeshurun became fat and kicked; you got fat, thick, and stuffed!  Then he deserted the God who made him, and treated the Rock who saved him with contempt.

Deuteronomy 32:15 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 32:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔφαγεν Ιακωβ καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη καὶ ἀπελάκτισεν ὁ ἠγαπημένος ἐλιπάνθη ἐπαχύνθη ἐπλατύνθη καὶ ἐγκατέλιπεν θεὸν τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπέστη ἀπὸ θεοῦ σωτῆρος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔφαγεν ᾿Ιακὼβ καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη, καὶ ἀπελάκτισεν ὁ ἠγαπημένος, ἐλιπάνθη, ἐπαχύνθη, ἐπλατύνθη· καὶ ἐγκατέλιπε τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπέστη ἀπὸ Θεοῦ σωτῆρος αὐτοῦ

Deuteronomy 32:15 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 32:15 (English Elpenor)
And Iakob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked.  He grew fat; he became heavy; he became broad!  And he abandoned God who made him, and he departed from God his savior. So Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat, he became thick and broad: then he forsook the God that made him, and departed from God his Saviour.

Psalm 68:15 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 68:15 (KJV)

Psalm 68:15 (NET)
The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. The mountain of Bashan is a towering mountain; the mountain of Bashan is a mountain with many peaks.

Psalm 68:15 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 67:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὄρος τοῦ θεοῦ ὄρος πῗον ὄρος τετυρωμένον ὄρος πῗον ὄρος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὄρος πῖον, ὄρος τετυρωμένον, ὄρος πῖον

Psalm 67:16 (NETS)

Psalm 67:16 (English Elpenor)
O mountain of God, fertile mountain; O curdled mountain, fertile mountain! The mountain of God is a rich mountain; a swelling mountain, a rich mountain.

Ezekiel 39:18 (Tanakh)

 Ezekiel 39:18 (KJV)

Ezekiel 39:18 (NET)
Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan.

Ezekiel 39:18 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 39:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
κρέα γιγάντων φάγεσθε καὶ αἷμα ἀρχόντων τῆς γῆς πίεσθε κριοὺς καὶ μόσχους καὶ τράγους καὶ οἱ μόσχοι ἐστεατωμένοι πάντες κρέα γιγάντων φάγεσθε καὶ αἷμα ἀρχόντων τῆς γῆς πίεσθε, κριοὺς καὶ μόσχους καὶ τράγους, καὶ οἱ μόσχοι ἐστεατωμένοι πάντες

Ezekiel 39:18 (NETS)

Ezekiel 39:18 (English Elpenor)
You shall eat the flesh of giants and drink the blood of rulers of the earth, rams and calves and goats.  And all the bull calves have been fattened. Ye shall eat the flesh of mighty men, and ye shall drink the blood of princes of the earth, rams, and calves and goats, and they are all fatted calves.

Psalm 68:30 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 68:30 (KJV)

Psalm 68:30 (NET)
Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Sound your battle cry against the wild beast of the reeds, and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls.  They humble themselves and offer gold and silver as tribute.  God scatters the nations that like to do battle.

Psalm 68:30 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 67:31 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπιτίμησον τοῗς θηρίοις τοῦ καλάμου ἡ συναγωγὴ τῶν ταύρων ἐν ταῗς δαμάλεσιν τῶν λαῶν τοῦ μὴ ἀποκλεισθῆναι τοὺς δεδοκιμασμένους τῷ ἀργυρίῳ διασκόρπισον ἔθνη τὰ τοὺς πολέμους θέλοντα ἐπιτίμησον τοῖς θηρίοις τοῦ καλάμου· ἡ συναγωγὴ τῶν ταύρων ἐν ταῖς δαμάλεσι τῶν λαῶν τοῦ ἐγκλεισθῆναι τοὺς δεδοκιμασμένους τῷ ἀργυρίῳ· διασκόρπισον ἔθνη τὰ τοὺς πολέμους θέλοντα

Psalm 67:31 (NETS)

Psalm 67:31 (English Elpenor)
Rebuke the wild animals of the reeds; the gathering of the bulls is among the heifers of the peoples in order that those tested by silver not be shut out.  Scatter nations that want wars. Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed: let the crowd of bulls with the heifers of the nations [be rebuked], so that they who have been proved with silver may not be shut out: scatter thou the nations that wish for wars.

Psalm 22:29 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:29 (KJV)

Psalm 22:29 (NET)
All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. All the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives.

Psalm 22:29 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:30 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἔφαγον καὶ προσεκύνησαν πάντες οἱ πίονες τῆς γῆς ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ προπεσοῦνται πάντες οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ ἔφαγον καὶ προσεκύνησαν πάντες οἱ πίονες τῆς γῆς, ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ προπεσοῦνται πάντες οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς γῆν. καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ

Psalm 21:30 (NETS)

Psalm 21:30 (English Elpenor)
All the fat ones of the earth ate and did obeisance; all who descend into the earth shall fall down before him.  And my soul lives for him, All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and worshipped: all that go down to the earth shall fall down before him: my soul also lives to him.

Psalm 92:14 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 92:14 (KJV)

Psalm 92:14 (NET)
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; They bear fruit even when they are old; they are filled with vitality and have many leaves.

Psalm 92:14, 15a (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 91:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἔτι πληθυνθήσονται ἐν γήρει πίονι καὶ εὐπαθοῦντες ἔσονται (15) τοῦ ἀναγγεῗλαι ἔτι πληθυνθήσονται ἐν γήρει πίονι καὶ εὐπαθοῦντες ἔσονται τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι

Psalm 91:15, 16a (NETS)

Psalm 91:15 (English Elpenor)
In prosperous old age they will still increase, and they will be living in comfort, (16) to declare Then shall they be increased in a fine old age; and they shall be prosperous; that they may declare

Isaiah 30:23 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 30:23 (KJV)

Isaiah 30:23 (NET)
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. He will water the seed you plant in the ground, and the ground will produce crops in abundance.  At that time your cattle will graze in wide pastures.

Isaiah 30:23 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 30:23 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τότε ἔσται ὁ ὑετὸς τῷ σπέρματι τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ὁ ἄρτος τοῦ γενήματος τῆς γῆς σου ἔσται πλησμονὴ καὶ λιπαρός καὶ βοσκηθήσεταί σου τὰ κτήνη τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τόπον πίονα καὶ εὐρύχωρον τότε ἔσται ὁ ὑετὸς τῷ σπέρματι τῆς γῆς σου, καὶ ὁ ἄρτος τοῦ γεννήματος τῆς γῆς σου ἔσται πλησμονὴ καὶ λιπαρός· καὶ βοσκηθήσεταί σου τὰ κτήνη τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τόπον πίονα καὶ εὐρύχωρον

Isaiah 30:23 (NETS)

Isaiah 30:23 (English Elpenor)
Then there will be rain for the seed of your land, and the bread of the produce of your land will be plenteous and rich.  And on that day your cattle will graze in a fertile and spacious place; Then shall there be rain to the seed of thy land; and the bread of the fruit of thy land shall be plenteous and rich: and thy cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile and spacious place.

[1] A note (9) in the NET reads: “Heb ‘strong of heart.’  In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).”  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἀσύνετοι (a form of ἀσύνετος; NETS: stupid; English Elpenor: simple ones) here, and ἀπολωλεκότες (a form of ἀπόλλυμι, ἀπόλλω, ἀπολλύω; NETS: have ruined [your heart]; English Elpenor: senseless [ones]) in Isaiah 46:12.

[2] From note 69 on Psalm 22:29 (NET).

[3] From note 67 on Psalm 22:29 (NET).

[4] Hebrews 4:2b Table The following quote is from note 68 on Psalm 22:29 (NET).

[5] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[6] In the Tanakh on Chabad.org אַבִּירִ֑ים (‘abbiyr) was translated fat bulls.

[7] A note (17) in the NET acknowledged that the Hebrew clause was “and bulls along with strong ones.”

Psalm 22, Part 3

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This is a continuing consideration of Psalm 22 as the music in Jesus’ heart as He endured the cross.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Psalm 22:11 (Tanakh) Psalm 22:11 (NET) Psalm 21:12 (NETS)

Psalm 21:12 (Elpenor English)
Be not far (תִּרְחַ֣ק) from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Do not remain far away (rachaq, תרחק) from me, for trouble is near and I have no one to help me. Do not keep away (ἀποστῇς) from me, because affliction is near, because there is no one to help. Stand not aloof (ἀποστῇς) from me; for affliction is near; for there is no helper.

I was curious if I could determine whether remain in the NET translation of תִּרְחַ֣ק (rachaq) owed anything to the theory that God the Father had forsaken God the Son in some more secretive way than to the cross.  Where Be not far from me sounds like a plea to stay close, Do not remain far away sounds to me like a plea to return from a distance.  But of the seven occurrences of the exact form תרחק (rachaq) five where translated do…remain far away.  The only occurrence that was not negated was translated Keep your distance.

Reference

 NET Parallel Hebrew NET Septuagint BLB

Septuagint Elpenor
Psalm 22:11 (21:12) תרחק Do…remain far away ἀποστῇς ἀποστῇς
Psalm 22:19 (21:20) תרחק do…remain far away μακρύνῃς μακρύνῃς
Psalm 35:22 (34:22) תרחק do…remain far away ἀποστῇς ἀποστῇς
Psalm 38:21 (37:22) תרחק do…remain far away ἀποστῇς ἀποστῇς
Psalm 71:12 (70:12) תרחק do…remain far away μακρύνῃς μακρύνῃς
Exodus 23:7 תרחק Keep your distance ἀποστήσῃ ἀποστήσῃ
Isaiah 46:13 תרחק is…far away n/a n/a

The clause in question in the Masoretic text of Isaiah 46:13 [Table] is not corroborated by the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 46:13 (Tanakh) Isaiah 46:13 (NET) Isaiah 46:13 (NETS)

Isaiah 46:13 (Elpenor English)
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. I am bringing my deliverance near, it is not far away; I am bringing my salvation near, it does not wait.  I will save Zion; I will adorn Israel with my splendor. I brought near my righteousness, and I will not delay the salvation that comes from me; I have provided salvation in Sion to Israel for glorying. I have brought near my righteousness, and I will not be slow with the salvation that is from me: I have given salvation in Sion to Israel for glory.

Until Jesus’ crucifixion the typical expectation for the end (τέλος) of my one dear Son; in him I take great delight[1] was not that He would be executed as a criminal.  I’m taking my concept of “typical expectation” from Jesus’ use of δοκεῖτε (a form of δοκέω; NET: you think) in answer to those who informed Him about the manner of death of some Galileans (Luke 13:1-5 NET):

Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.  He[2] answered them, “Do you think (δοκεῖτε, a form of δοκέω) these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?[3]  No, I tell you!  But unless you repent, you will all perish as well![4]  Or those eighteen[5] who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think (δοκεῖτε, a form of δοκέω) they[6] were worse offenders than all the[7] others who live in[8] Jerusalem?  No, I tell you!  But unless you repent you will all perish as well!”[9]

The rulers in Jerusalem had done everything in their power to engineer Jesus’ crucifixion to discredit (Luke 19:29-40) Him with the people, as was prophesied by Isaiah:

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 53:4b, 5 (Tanakh) Isaiah 53:4b, 5 (NET) Isaiah 53:4b, 5 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:4b, 5 (Elpenor English)
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. we accounted him to be in trouble and calamity and ill-treatment. we accounted him to be in trouble, and in suffering [by God]*, and in affliction.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed. But he was wounded because of our acts of lawlessness and has been weakened because of our sins; upon him was the discipline of our peace; by his bruise we were healed. But he was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; [and] by his bruises we were healed.

After Jesus’ death, more to the point after his resurrection, his death became the foundational assumption of new (Romans 7:1-6) eternal life in the Spirit (Galatians 2:20, 21 NET):

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

Job is the primary example of suffering for righteousness’ sake (1 Peter 3:13-17) in the Old Testament.  If I accept Psalm 22 as Christ’s meditation enduring the cross, it is interesting to contrast Job’s attitude toward God with that of the Son of God toward his Father.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Job 13:21 (Tanakh) Job 13:21 (NET) Job 13:21 (NETS)

Job 13:21 (Elpenor English)
Withdraw thine hand far (הַרְחַ֑ק) from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Remove your hand far (rachaq, הרחק) from me and stop making me afraid with your terror. withdraw (ἀπέχου) your hand from me, and let fear of you not terrify me. Withhold (ἀπέχου) [thine] hand from me: and let not thy fear terrify me.

Psalm 22:11 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:11 (NET) Psalm 21:12 (NETS)

Psalm 21:12 (Elpenor English)
Be not far (תִּרְחַ֣ק) from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Do not remain far away (rachaq, תרחק) from me, for trouble is near and I have no one to help me. Do not keep away (ἀποστῇς) from me, because affliction is near, because there is no one to help. Stand not aloof (ἀποστῇς) from me; for affliction is near; for there is no helper.

This is why the Father loves me, Jesus said, because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again.  This commandment I received from my Father.[10]  He knew that it pleased the LORD to bruise him.[11]  Or did He?

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 53:10-12 (Tanakh) Isaiah 53:10-12 (NET) Isaiah 53:10-12 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:10-12 (Elpenor English)
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him. And the Lord desires to cleanse him from his blow.  If you offer for sin, you shall see a long-lived offspring.  And the Lord wishes to take away The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke.  If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed: (11a) the Lord also is pleased to take away from
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.  “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins. from the pain of his soul, to show him light and fill him with understanding, to justify a righteous one who is well subject to many, and he himself shall bear their sins. (11b) the travail of his soul, to shew him light, and to form [him] with understanding; to justify the just one who serves many well; and he shall bear their sins.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.” Therefore he shall inherit many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because his soul was given over to death, and he was reckoned among the lawless, and he bore the sins of many, and because of their sins he was given over. Therefore he shall inherit many, and he shall divide the spoils of the mighty; because his soul was delivered to death: and he was numbered among the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and was delivered because of their iniquities.

I plan to look at all the differences between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint here.  What caught my attention first, however, was how this prophecy fared so well at the hands of the Masoretes, whose “ultimate goal was to uphold the traditions of the Jewish people.  The Masoretes had to decipher the authentic word of God and eliminate the dissimilarities.”[12]

So I clicked the “Show” button on Rashi’s Commentary on The Complete Jewish Bible online at Chabad.org.  The answer became apparent:

Rashi’s Commentary to verse 3 – Despised and rejected by men: was he.  So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob” ; (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper,” he said concerning the house of Jacob.  יַשְׂכִּיל is an expression of prosperity.  Comp. (I Sam. 18:14) “And David was successful (מַשְׂכִּיל) in all his ways.”

Rashi’s Commentary to verse 4 – Indeed, he bore our illnesses: Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places.  But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering.  The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore.

The massacre of Jews during the People’s Crusade of 1096 deeply affected Rashi (RAbbi SHlomo Yitzhaki).  He “wrote several Selichot (penitential poems) mourning the slaughter and the destruction of the region’s great yeshivot.”[13]  “The Hebrew chronicles portray the Rhineland Jews [whether massacred by crusaders in 1096 directly or compelled to suicide] as martyrs who willingly sacrificed themselves in order to honour God and to preserve their own honour.”[14]

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Isaiah 53:10a (Tanakh) Isaiah 53:10a (NET) Isaiah 53:10a (NETS)

Isaiah 53:10a (Elpenor English)
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise (דַּכְּאוֹ֙) him; he hath put him to grief (הֶֽחֱלִ֔י): Though the Lord desired to crush (daka’, דכאו) him and make him ill (chalah, החלי), And the Lord desires to cleanse (καθαρίσαι) him from his blow (πληγῆς). The Lord also is pleased to purge (καθαρίσαι) him from his stroke (πληγῆς).

I cross-referenced the occurrences of חָלָה (châlâh) in the Masoretic text with the occurrences of πληγῆς (a form of πληγή)] in the Septuagint, searching for some correlation.  In the account of Ahab’s death (1 Kings 22:34-39) after being struck by an arrow the king said, I’m wounded (החליתי, another form of châlâh).[15]  King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel bled to death from that wound (makkah, המכה), translated πληγῆς in the Septuagint.  It was enough to persuade me that the rabbis interpreted החלי (another form of châlâh) as a noun in Isaiah 53:10a.

A table of all the occurrences of καθαρίσαι (a form of καθαρίζω) and the Hebrew words it translated follows.

Reference

 Septuagint BLB Septuagint Elpenor NET Parallel Hebrew

Chabad.org
Leviticus 13:7 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι tohorah, לטהרתו לְטָֽהֳרָת֑וֹ
Leviticus 13:59 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι taher, לטהרו לְטַֽהֲר֖וֹ
Leviticus 14:23 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι tohorah, לטהרתו לְטָֽהֳרָת֖וֹ
Leviticus 16:30 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι taher, לטהר לְטַהֵ֣ר
2 Chronicles 29:15 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι taher, לטהר לְטַהֵ֖ר
2 Chronicles 34:3 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι taher, לטהר לְטַהֵ֔ר
2 Chronicles 34:8 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι taher, לטהר לְטַהֵ֥ר
Isaiah 53:10 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι daka’, דכאו דַּכְּאוֹ֙
Ezekiel 39:14 καθαρίσαι καθαρίσαι taher, לטהרה לְטַֽהֲרָ֑הּ

Isaiah 53:10 stands out as an outlier and causes me to wonder if the original Hebrew had more to do with the Day of Atonement.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Leviticus 16:30 (Tanakh) Leviticus 16:30 (NET) Leviticus 16:30 (NETS)

Leviticus 16:30 (Elpenor English)
For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse (לְטַהֵ֣ר) you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before HaShem. for on this day atonement is to be made for you to cleanse (taher, לטהר) you from all your sins; you must be clean before the Lord. For on this day he shall make atonement for you, to cleanse (καθαρίσαι) you from all your sins before the Lord, and you shall be clean. For in this day he shall make an atonement for you, to cleanse (καθαρίσαι) you from all your sins before the Lord, and ye shall be purged.

If so, I would consider The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke an oblique reference to Jesus’ resurrection.  On the other hand, I might consider that the rabbis understood דַּכְּאוֹ֙ (daka’; Tanakh: bruise; NET: crush) as something similar to what happened when young King Josiah began to purge Judah of idolatry.

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
2 Chronicles 34:3, 8 (Tanakh) 2 Chronicles 34:3, 8 (NET) 2 Supplements 34:3, 8 (NETS)

2 Chronicles 34:3, 8 (Elpenor English)
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge (לְטַהֵ֔ר) Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David.  In his twelfth year he began ridding (taher, לטהר) Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images. And in the eighth year of his reign—and he was still a lad—he began to seek the Lord, God of Dauid his father.  And in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge (καθαρίσαι) Ioudas and Ierousalem of the high places and the groves and the smelted items. And in the eighth year of his reign, and he [being] yet a youth, he began to seek the Lord God of his father David: and in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge (καθαρίσαι) Juda and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the ornaments for the altars, and the molten images.
Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged (לְטַהֵ֥ר) the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. In the eighteenth year of his reign, he continued his policy of purifying (taher, לטהר) the land and the temple.  He sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the city official, and Joah son of Joahaz the secretary to repair the temple of the Lord his God. And in the eighteenth year of his reign—in order to purge (καθαρίσαι) the land and the house—he sent out Saphan son of Eselias and Maasias ruler of the city and Iouach son of Ioachaz, his recorder, to repair the house of the Lord, his God. And in the eighteenth year of his reign, after having cleansed (καθαρίσαι) the land, and the house, he sent Saphan the son of Ezelias, and Maasa prefect of the city, and Juach son of Joachaz his recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

Rashi’s commentary reads: 

And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill: The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he made him ill.

I’m uncertain[16] if the translators of the Septuagint understood this as a reference to “all Israel” or as a reference to the Messiah whose appearance was prophesied.  The Masoretes, understanding him as “all Israel” and believing “he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering,” may have preserved the original Hebrew here better than the Rabbis who translated the Septuagint.

None of this, however, justifies Christian crusaders[17] (or anyone else for that matter) extorting, robbing or killing Jews (From Rhineland massacres, Background):

A relevant perspective on the extent of the era’s antisemitism was recorded 40 years afterward by Jewish historian Solomon bar Simson. He stated that Godfrey of Bouillon swore

to go on this journey only after avenging the blood of the crucified one by shedding Jewish blood and completely eradicating any trace of those bearing the name ‘Jew,’ thus assuaging his own burning wrath.[8]

Emperor Henry IV (after being notified of the pledge by Kalonymus Ben Meshullam, the Jewish leader in Mainz) issued an order prohibiting such an action. Godfrey claimed he never really intended to kill Jews, but the community in Mainz and Cologne sent him a collected bribe of 500 silver marks.[9]

…On top of the general Catholic suspicion of Jews at the time, when the thousands of French members of the People’s Crusade arrived at the Rhine, they had run out of provisions.[12] To restock their supplies, they began to plunder Jewish food and property while attempting to force them to convert to Catholicism.[12]

Not all crusaders who had run out of supplies resorted to murder; some, like Peter the Hermit, used extortion instead. While no sources claim he preached against the Jews, he carried a letter with him from the Jews of France to the community at Trier. The letter urged them to supply provisions to Peter and his men. The Solomon bar Simson Chronicle records that they were so terrified by Peter’s appearance at the gates that they readily agreed to supply his needs.[9]

Still, I’m deeply affected that this periodic[18] share in his sufferings[19] coupled with the belief that such suffering atoned for all the nations may have contributed to the preservation of his word and thus the redemption of the nations: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.[20]

Tables comparing Psalm 22:11; Isaiah 53:4; 53:5; Job 13:21; Isaiah 53:10; 53:11; 53:12; Leviticus 16:30; 2 Chronicles 34:3 and 34:8 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing Psalm 22:11 (21:12); Isaiah 53:4; 53:5; Job 13:21; Isaiah 53:10; 53:11; 53:12; Leviticus 16:30; 2 Chronicles (Supplements) 34:3 and 34:8 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and a table comparing Luke 13:2-5 in the NET and KJV follow.

Psalm 22:11 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 22:11 (KJV)

Psalm 22:11 (NET)
Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Do not remain far away from me, for trouble is near and I have no one to help me.

Psalm 22:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 21:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ ὅτι θλῗψις ἐγγύς ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βοηθῶν μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι θλῖψις ἐγγύς, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βοηθῶν

Psalm 21:12 (NETS)

Psalm 21:12 (English Elpenor)
Do not keep away from me, because affliction is near, because there is no one to help. Stand not aloof from me; for affliction is near; for there is no helper.

Isaiah 53:4 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 53:4 (KJV)

Isaiah 53:4 (NET)
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.

Isaiah 53:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 53:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
οὗτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται καὶ ἡμεῗς ἐλογισάμεθα αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐν πόνῳ καὶ ἐν πληγῇ καὶ ἐν κακώσει οὗτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐλογισάμεθα αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐν πόνῳ καὶ ἐν πληγῇ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐν κακώσει

Isaiah 53:4 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:4 (English Elpenor)
This one bears our sins and suffers pain for us, and we accounted him to be in trouble and calamity and ill-treatment. He bears our sins, and is pained for us: yet we accounted him to be in trouble, and in suffering [by God]*, and in affliction.

Isaiah 53:5 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)

Isaiah 53:5 (NET)
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.

Isaiah 53:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 53:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
αὐτὸς δὲ ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν καὶ μεμαλάκισται διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν παιδεία εἰρήνης ἡμῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῗς ἰάθημεν αὐτὸς δὲ ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν καὶ μεμαλάκισται διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν· παιδεία εἰρήνης ἡμῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν. τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν

Isaiah 53:5 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:5 (English Elpenor)
But he was wounded because of our acts of lawlessness and has been weakened because of our sins; upon him was the discipline of our peace; by his bruise we were healed. But he was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; [and] by his bruises we were healed.

Job 13:21 (Tanakh)

 Job 13:21 (KJV)

Job 13:21 (NET)
Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Remove your hand far from me and stop making me afraid with your terror.

Job 13:21 (Septuagint BLB)

Job 13:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τὴν χεῗρα ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἀπέχου καὶ ὁ φόβος σου μή με καταπλησσέτω τὴν χεῖρα ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἀπέχου, καὶ ὁ φόβος σου μή με καταπλησσέτω

Job 13:21 (NETS)

Job 13:21 (English Elpenor)
withdraw your hand from me, and let fear of you not terrify me. Withhold [thine] hand from me: and let not thy fear terrify me.

Isaiah 53:10 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 53:10 (KJV)

Isaiah 53:10 (NET)
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

Isaiah 53:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 53:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ κύριος βούλεται καθαρίσαι αὐτὸν τῆς πληγῆς ἐὰν δῶτε περὶ ἁμαρτίας ἡ ψυχὴ ὑμῶν ὄψεται σπέρμα μακρόβιον καὶ βούλεται κύριος ἀφελεῗν καὶ Κύριος βούλεται καθαρίσαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πληγῆς. ἐὰν δῶτε περὶ ἁμαρτίας, ἡ ψυχὴ ὑμῶν ὄψεται σπέρμα μακρόβιον· καὶ βούλεται Κύριος ἀφελεῖν

Isaiah 53:10 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:10, 11a (English Elpenor)
And the Lord desires to cleanse him from his blow.  If you offer for sin, you shall see a long-lived offspring.  And the Lord wishes to take away The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke. If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed: (11a) the Lord also is pleased to take away from

Isaiah 53:11 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 53:11 (KJV)

Isaiah 53:11 (NET)
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.  “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.

Isaiah 53:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 53:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀπὸ τοῦ πόνου τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ δεῗξαι αὐτῷ φῶς καὶ πλάσαι τῇ συνέσει δικαιῶσαι δίκαιον εὖ δουλεύοντα πολλοῗς καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν αὐτὸς ἀνοίσει ἀπὸ τοῦ πόνου τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, δεῖξαι αὐτῷ φῶς καὶ πλάσαι τῇ συνέσει, δικαιῶσαι δίκαιον εὖ δουλεύοντα πολλοῖς, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν αὐτὸς ἀνοίσει

Isaiah 53:11 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:11b (English Elpenor)
from the pain of his soul, to show him light and fill him with understanding, to justify a righteous one who is well subject to many, and he himself shall bear their sins. the travail of his soul, to shew him light, and to form [him] with understanding; to justify the just one who serves many well; and he shall bear their sins.

Isaiah 53:12 (Tanakh)

 Isaiah 53:12 (KJV)

Isaiah 53:12 (NET)
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”

Isaiah 53:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Isaiah 53:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς κληρονομήσει πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν μεριεῗ σκῦλα ἀνθ᾽ ὧν παρεδόθη εἰς θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τοῗς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη καὶ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνήνεγκεν καὶ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν παρεδόθη διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς κληρονομήσει πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν μεριεῖ σκῦλα, ἀνθ᾿ ὧν παρεδόθη εἰς θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη· καὶ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνήνεγκε καὶ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν παρεδόθη

Isaiah 53:12 (NETS)

Isaiah 53:12 (English Elpenor)
Therefore he shall inherit many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because his soul was given over to death, and he was reckoned among the lawless, and he bore the sins of many, and because of their sins he was given over. Therefore he shall inherit many, and he shall divide the spoils of the mighty; because his soul was delivered to death: and he was numbered among the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and was delivered because of their iniquities.

Leviticus 16:30 (Tanakh)

 Leviticus 16:30 (KJV)

Leviticus 16:30 (NET)
For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before HaShem. For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. for on this day atonement is to be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins; you must be clean before the Lord.

Leviticus 16:30 (Septuagint BLB)

Leviticus 16:30 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ ὑμῶν καθαρίσαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν ἔναντι κυρίου καὶ καθαρισθήσεσθε ἐν γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ ὑμῶν, καθαρίσαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν ἔναντι Κυρίου, καὶ καθαρισθήσεσθε

Leviticus 16:30 (NETS)

Leviticus 16:30 (English Elpenor)
For on this day he shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord, and you shall be clean. For in this day he shall make an atonement for you, to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord, and ye shall be purged.

2 Chronicles 34:3 (Tanakh)

 2 Chronicles 34:3 (KJV)

2 Chronicles 34:3 (NET)
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David.  In his twelfth year he began ridding Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images.

2 Chronicles 34:3 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Chronicles 34:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀγδόῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ἔτι παιδάριον ἤρξατο τοῦ ζητῆσαι κύριον τὸν θεὸν Δαυιδ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ἤρξατο τοῦ καθαρίσαι τὸν Ιουδαν καὶ τὴν Ιερουσαλημ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλσεων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν χωνευτῶν καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀγδόῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ -καὶ αὐτὸς ἔτι παιδάριον- ἤρξατο τοῦ ζητῆσαι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν Δαυὶδ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ἤρξατο τοῦ καθαρίσαι τὸν ᾿Ιούδαν καὶ τὴν ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑψηλῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλσεων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν περιβωμίων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν χωνευτῶν

2 Supplements 34:3 (NETS)

2 Chronicles 34:3 (English Elpenor)
And in the eighth year of his reign—and he was still a lad—he began to seek the Lord, God of Dauid his father.  And in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge Ioudas and Ierousalem of the high places and the groves and the smelted items. And in the eighth year of his reign, and he [being] yet a youth, he began to seek the Lord God of his father David: and in the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge Juda and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the ornaments for the altars, and the molten images.

2 Chronicles 34:8 (Tanakh)

 2 Chronicles 34:8 (KJV)

2 Chronicles 34:8 (NET)
Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. In the eighteenth year of his reign, he continued his policy of purifying the land and the temple.  He sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the city official, and Joah son of Joahaz the secretary to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

2 Chronicles 34:8 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Chronicles 34:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ τοῦ καθαρίσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸν οἶκον ἀπέστειλεν τὸν Σαφαν υἱὸν Εσελια καὶ τὸν Μαασιαν ἄρχοντα τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὸν Ιουαχ υἱὸν Ιωαχαζ τὸν ὑπομνηματογράφον αὐτοῦ κραταιῶσαι τὸν οἶκον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτοῦ Καὶ ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ τοῦ καθαρίσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸν οἶκον ἀπέστειλε τὸν Σαφὰν υἱὸν ᾿Εσελία καὶ τὸν Μαασὰ ἄρχοντα τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὸν ᾿Ιουὰχ υἱὸν ᾿Ιωάχαζ τὸν ὑπομνηματογράφον αὐτοῦ κραταιῶσαι τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ

2 Supplements 34:8 (NETS)

2 Chronicles 34:8 (English Elpenor)
And in the eighteenth year of his reign—in order to purge the land and the house—he sent out Saphan son of Eselias and Maasias ruler of the city and Iouach son of Ioachaz, his recorder, to repair the house of the Lord, his God. And in the eighteenth year of his reign, after having cleansed the land, and the house, he sent Saphan the son of Ezelias, and Maasa prefect of the city, and Juach son of Joachaz his recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

Luke 13:2-5 (NET)

Luke 13:2-5 (KJV)
He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· δοκεῖτε ὅτι οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι οὗτοι ἁμαρτωλοὶ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς Γαλιλαίους ἐγένοντο, ὅτι ταῦτα πεπόνθασιν και αποκριθεις ο ιησους ειπεν αυτοις δοκειτε οτι οι γαλιλαιοι ουτοι αμαρτωλοι παρα παντας τους γαλιλαιους εγενοντο οτι τοιαυτα πεπονθασιν και αποκριθεις ο ιησους ειπεν αυτοις δοκειτε οτι οι γαλιλαιοι ουτοι αμαρτωλοι παρα παντας τους γαλιλαιους εγενοντο οτι τοιαυτα πεπονθασιν
No, I tell you!  But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐχί, λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐὰν μὴ μετανοῆτε πάντες ὁμοίως ἀπολεῖσθε ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ εαν μη μετανοητε παντες ωσαυτως απολεισθε ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ εαν μη μετανοητε παντες ωσαυτως απολεισθε
Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἢ ἐκεῖνοι οἱ δεκαοκτὼ ἐφ᾿ οὓς ἔπεσεν ὁ πύργος ἐν τῷ Σιλωὰμ καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτούς, δοκεῖτε ὅτι αὐτοὶ ὀφειλέται ἐγένοντο παρὰ πάντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Ἰερουσαλήμ η εκεινοι οι δεκα και οκτω εφ ους επεσεν ο πυργος εν τω σιλωαμ και απεκτεινεν αυτους δοκειτε οτι ουτοι οφειλεται εγενοντο παρα παντας ανθρωπους τους κατοικουντας εν ιερουσαλημ η εκεινοι οι δεκα και οκτω εφ ους επεσεν ο πυργος εν τω σιλωαμ και απεκτεινεν αυτους δοκειτε οτι ουτοι οφειλεται εγενοντο παρα παντας ανθρωπους τους κατοικουντας εν ιερουσαλημ
No, I tell you!  But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
οὐχί, λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐὰν μὴ |μετανοῆτε| πάντες ὡσαύτως ἀπολεῖσθε ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ εαν μη μετανοητε παντες ομοιως απολεισθε ουχι λεγω υμιν αλλ εαν μη μετανοητε παντες ομοιως απολεισθε

[1] Matthew 3:17b (NET)

[2] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ο ιησους (KJV: Jesus) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[3] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ταῦτα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had τοιαυτα (KJV: such things).

[4] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὁμοίως here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ωσαυτως (KJV: likewise).

[5] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had δεκαοκτὼ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δεκα και οκτω (literally: “ten and eight”).

[6] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had αὐτοὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουτοι.

[7] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τοὺς here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[8] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εν here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[9] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ωσαυτως here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ὁμοίως (KJV: likewise).

[10] John 10:17, 18 (NET)

[11] Isaiah 53:10a (Tanakh)

[12] “Jewish Concepts: Masoretic Text,” Jewish Virtual Library: Anything you need to know from Anti-Semitism to Zionism

[13] Rashi

[14] Rhineland massacres

[15] This was translated τέτρωμαι (a form of τιτρώσκω) in the Septuagint.

[16] The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus knew that Messiah is coming, Herod asked the chief priests and experts in the law…where the Christ was to be born (Matthew 2:4 NET) but None of the rulers of this age understood [the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery], Paul wrote believers in Corinth.  If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8 NET).  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled? (Matthew 26:54 NET)

[17] From Rhineland massacres, Background: Many crusaders had to go into debt in order to purchase weaponry and equipment for the expedition; as Western Catholicism strictly forbade usury, many crusaders inevitably found themselves indebted to Jewish moneylenders.  Having armed themselves by assuming the debt, the crusaders rationalized the killing of Jews as an extension of their Catholic mission.[6]

[18] From Rhineland massacres, Background: There had not been so broad a movement against Jews by Catholics since the seventh century’s mass expulsions and forced conversions.  While there had been a number of regional persecutions of Jews by Catholics, such as the one in Metz in 888, a plot against Jews in Limoges in 992, a wave of anti-Jewish persecution by Christian millenarian movements (which believed that Jesus was immediately to descend from Heaven) in the year 1000, and the threat of expulsion from Trier in 1066; these are all viewed “in the traditional terms of governmental outlawry rather than unbridled popular attacks.”[7]  Also many movements against Jews (such as forced conversions by King Robert the Pious of France, Richard II, Duke of Normandy, and Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor around 1007–1012) had been quashed either by Roman Catholicism’s papacy or its bishops.[7]

[19] Romans 8:17; Philippians 3:10, 11; 1 Peter 4:13

[20] Isaiah 53:10a (Tanakh)

To Make Holy, Part 6

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The next form of ἁγιάζω I want to consider is found in Jesus’ prayer to his Father: Set them apart (ἁγίασον, a form of ἁγιάζω) in the truth; your word is truth.[1]  But I’m making a slow pilgrimage through his prayer because I believe I can know his holiness here.  Jesus prayed (John 17:7, 8 NET):

Now they understand that everything you have given me comes from you, because I have given them the words you have given me.  They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

The Greek words translated understand were ἔγνωκαν and ἔγνωσαν respectively, forms of γινώσκω.  None of the rulers of this age understood (ἔγνωκεν, another form of γινώσκω) [the wisdom of God], Paul wrote believers in Corinth.  If they had known (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.[2]

Paul may have meant that—if they had understood—the demonic rulers (ἀρχόντων, a form of ἄρχων) or their human followers would not have crucified Jesus so that the scriptures that say it must happen this way[3] would have failed,[4] rather than that these rulers would have embraced Jesus as Lord (yehôvâh) and Christ (mâshı̂yach).  Still I think there is much to be gained by contrasting the disciples understanding to its negation.  Righteous Father, Jesus prayed, even if the world does not know (ἔγνω, another form of γινώσκω) you, I know (ἔγνων, another form of γινώσκω) you, and these men know (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) that you sent me.[5]

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard [Jesus’] parables, they realized (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) that he was speaking about them.[6]  But they didn’t understand that the Father had sent Jesus.  Now they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) that he told this parable against them.  So they left him and went away.[7]  Then the experts in the law and the chief priests wanted to arrest him that very hour, because they realized (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) he had told this parable against them.  But they were afraid of the people.[8]

John recorded the suspicion of some of the residents of Jerusalem, who in a sense forced their rulers’ hand to prove that they did not secretly regard Jesus as the Christ: Then some of the residents of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?  Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him.  Do the ruling authorities really know (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) that this man is the Christ?[9]

The following table contrasts those who did not understand that the Father sent Jesus and those who did:

John 8:25-27 (NET) John 16:1-4a (NET)
So they said to him, “Who are you?”  Jesus[10] replied, “What I have told you from the beginning. “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away.
I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him I speak[11] to the world.” They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
(They did not understand [ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω] that he was telling them about his Father.) They will do[12] these things because they have not known (ἔγνωσαν, a form of γινώσκω) the Father or me.
But I have told you these things so that when their[13] time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

Jesus explained why his disciples’ understanding differed from that of most in Israel: I have given them the words you have given me.  Even this may become clearer with contrast (Matthew 13:10-17 NET Table):

Then the disciples came to [Jesus] and said,[14] “Why do you speak to them in parables?”  He replied, “You have been given the opportunity to know (γνῶναι, another form of γινώσκω) the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not.  For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance.  But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand (συνίουσιν, a form of συνίημι).  And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will listen carefully yet will never understand (συνῆτε, another form of συνίημι), you will look closely yet will never comprehend.  For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand (συνῶσιν, another form of συνίημι) with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

“But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear.[15]  For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see[16] it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Jesus’ disciples were not only given the words Jesus’ Father gave to Him: They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  The Greek word translated accepted was ἔλαβον (a form of λαμβάνω).  John had described Jesus as follows (John 1:10-13 NET):

He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize (ἔγνω, another form of γινώσκω) him.  He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive (παρέλαβον, a form of παραλαμβάνω) him.  But to all who have received (ἔλαβον, a form of λαμβάνω) him – those who believe in his name – he has given the right to become God’s children – children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.

John also recorded Jesus’ description of his own death and resurrection (John 10:17, 18 NET):

This is why the Father loves me – because I lay down my life, so that I may take (λάβω, another form of λαμβάνω) it back again.  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take (λαβεῖν, another form of λαμβάνω) it back again.  This commandment I received (ἔλαβον, a form of λαμβάνω) from my Father.

Though accepted and received may sound passive[17] in English, I think this translation is a matter of politeness.  All three Greek forms of λαμβάνω above (λάβω, λαβεῖν and ἔλαβον) are active verbs: So they took (ἔλαβον, a form of λαμβάνω) branches of palm trees;[18] they took (ἔλαβον, a form of λαμβάνω) his clothes and made four shares[19] and they took (ἔλαβον, a form of λαμβάνω) Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices.[20]  Jesus’ disciples took the words (ρήματα, a form of ῥῆμα) He gave them and kept (τετήρηκαν, a form of τηρέω) them: and they have kept thy word (λόγον, a form of λόγος).[21]  I feel justified equating the words (ρήματα) they took with the word (λόγον) they kept because Jesus also prayed: I have given them your word (λόγον, a form of λόγος).[22]

I found two passive forms of λαμβάνω in the New Testament for contrast.  The first is admittedly subtle (1 Timothy 4:1-5 NET):

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.  They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received[23] (μετάλημψιν) with thanksgiving by those who believe and know[24] the truth.  For every creation of God is good and no food [literally, nothing] is to be rejected if it is received (λαμβανόμενον, another form of λαμβάνω) with thanksgiving.  For it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

The translations of the noun μετάλημψιν to be received and the passive verb λαμβανόμενον is received confused me some, not that I have a better translation of μετάλημψιν to offer.  Perhaps the passiveness with which this food is received is clarified by Paul’s teaching to believers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:25-29a NET).

Eat anything that is sold in the marketplace without questions of conscience, for the earth and its abundance are the Lord’s.  If[25] an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you want to go, eat whatever is served without asking questions of conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This is from a sacrifice,”[26] do not eat, because of the one who told you and because of conscience –[27] I do not mean yours but the other person’s.

The second example is more explicit, contrasting a passive form λαμβανόμενος directly with an active form λαμβάνει.

Hebrews 5:1 (NET) Hebrews 5:4 (NET)
For every high priest is taken (λαμβανόμενος, another form of λαμβάνω) from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. And no one assumes (λαμβάνει, another form of λαμβάνω; KJV: taketh) this honor on his own initiative, but only when called[28] to it by God, as in fact[29] Aaron[30] was.

Jesus’ disciples actively took the words He gave them as they were, words from the Father, and really understand, Jesus prayed, that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  I admit I’ve wasted too much time wondering what esoteric words the Father knew and gave to Jesus and Jesus knew and gave to his disciples, blind to the fact that they are Jesus’ understanding, given by the Holy Spirit, while studying the Hebrew scriptures.  These words are what Jesus learned as He increased in[31] wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people.[32]  And his understanding of these words, are recorded in the Gospel narratives of the New Testament.

Tables comparing the Greek of Matthew 13:14b with Isaiah 6:9b, and Matthew 13:15 with Isaiah 6:10 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables of Luke 20:19; John 7:26; 8:25, 26; 16:3, 4; Matthew 13:10; 13:16, 17; John 12:13; 19:23; 19:40; 17:6; 1 Timothy 4:3; 1 Corinthians 10:27, 28; Hebrews 5:4 and Luke 2:52 comparing the NET and KJV follow.

Matthew 13:14b (NET Parallel Greek) Isaiah 6:9b (Septuagint BLB) Isaiah 6:9b (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε
Matthew 13:14b (NET) Esaias 6:9b (NETS) Isaiah 6:9 (English Elpenor)
‘You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend. ‘You will listen by listening, but you will not understand, and looking you will look, but you will not perceive.’ Ye shall hear indeed, but ye shall not understand; and ye shall see indeed, but ye shall not perceive.
Matthew 13:15 (NET Parallel Greek) Isaiah 6:10 (Septuagint BLB) Isaiah 6:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν βαρέως ἤκουσαν καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν, μήποτε ἴδωσιν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσιν καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσιν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσιν καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου καὶ τοῗς ὠσὶν αὐτῶν βαρέως ἤκουσαν καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν μήποτε ἴδωσιν τοῗς ὀφθαλμοῗς καὶ τοῗς ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσιν καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσιν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσιν καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν αὐτῶν βαρέως ἤκουσαν καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν μήποτε ἴδωσι τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσι καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσι, καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσι, καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς
Matthew 13:15 (NET) Esaias 6:10 (NETS) Isaiah 6:10 (English Elpenor)
For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ For this people’s heart has grown fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and they have shut their eyes so that they might not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them.” For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
Luke 20:19 (NET) Luke 20:19 (KJV)
Then the experts in the law and the chief priests wanted to arrest him that very hour, because they realized he had told this parable against them.  But they were afraid of the people. And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ ἐζήτησαν οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς ἐπιβαλεῖν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν τὰς χεῖρας ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν τὸν λαόν, ἔγνωσαν γὰρ ὅτι πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἶπεν τὴν παραβολὴν ταύτην και εζητησαν οι αρχιερεις και οι γραμματεις επιβαλειν επ αυτον τας χειρας εν αυτη τη ωρα και εφοβηθησαν τον λαον εγνωσαν γαρ οτι προς αυτους την παραβολην ταυτην ειπεν και εζητησαν οι αρχιερεις και οι γραμματεις επιβαλειν επ αυτον τας χειρας εν αυτη τη ωρα και εφοβηθησαν εγνωσαν γαρ οτι προς αυτους την παραβολην ταυτην ειπεν
John 7:26 (NET) John 7:26 (KJV)
Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to him.  Do the ruling authorities really know that this man is the Christ? But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ἴδε παρρησίᾳ λαλεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ λέγουσιν. μήποτε ἀληθῶς ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἄρχοντες ὅτι οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ χριστός και ιδε παρρησια λαλει και ουδεν αυτω λεγουσιν μηποτε αληθως εγνωσαν οι αρχοντες οτι ουτος εστιν αληθως ο χριστος και ιδε παρρησια λαλει και ουδεν αυτω λεγουσιν μηποτε αληθως εγνωσαν οι αρχοντες οτι ουτος εστιν αληθως ο χριστος
John 8:25, 26 (NET) John 8:25, 26 (KJV)
So they said to him, “Who are you?”  Jesus replied, “What I have told you from the beginning. Then said they unto him, Who art thou?  And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ· σὺ τίς εἶ; εἶπεν αὐτοῖς |ὁ| Ἰησοῦς· τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν ελεγον ουν αυτω συ τις ει και ειπεν αυτοις ο ιησους την αρχην ο τι και λαλω υμιν ελεγον ουν αυτω συ τις ει και ειπεν αυτοις ο ιησους την αρχην ο τι και λαλω υμιν
I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
πολλὰ ἔχω περὶ ὑμῶν λαλεῖν καὶ κρίνειν, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ πέμψας με ἀληθής ἐστιν, καγὼ ἃ ἤκουσα παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα λαλῶ εἰς τὸν κόσμον πολλα εχω περι υμων λαλειν και κρινειν αλλ ο πεμψας με αληθης εστιν καγω α ηκουσα παρ αυτου ταυτα λεγω εις τον κοσμον πολλα εχω περι υμων λαλειν και κρινειν αλλ ο πεμψας με αληθης εστιν καγω α ηκουσα παρ αυτου ταυτα λεγω εις τον κοσμον
John 16:3, 4 (NET) John 16:3, 4 (KJV)
They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ ταῦτα ποιήσουσιν ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὸν πατέρα οὐδὲ ἐμέ και ταυτα ποιησουσιν υμιν οτι ουκ εγνωσαν τον πατερα ουδε εμε και ταυτα ποιησουσιν οτι ουκ εγνωσαν τον πατερα ουδε εμε
But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

“I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you.

 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἡ ὥρα αὐτῶν μνημονεύητε αὐτῶν ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν.  Ταῦτα δὲ ὑμῖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον, ὅτι μεθ᾿ ὑμῶν ἤμην αλλα ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν ινα οταν ελθη η ωρα μνημονευητε αυτων οτι εγω ειπον υμιν ταυτα δε υμιν εξ αρχης ουκ ειπον οτι μεθ υμων ημην αλλα ταυτα λελαληκα υμιν ινα οταν ελθη η ωρα μνημονευητε αυτων οτι εγω ειπον υμιν ταυτα δε υμιν εξ αρχης ουκ ειπον οτι μεθ υμων ημην
Matthew 13:10 (NET) Matthew 13:10 (KJV)
Then the disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· διὰ τί ἐν παραβολαῖς λαλεῖς αὐτοῖς και προσελθοντες οι μαθηται ειπον αυτω δια τι εν παραβολαις λαλεις αυτοις και προσελθοντες οι μαθηται ειπον αυτω δια τι εν παραβολαις λαλεις αυτοις
Matthew 13:16, 17 (NET) Matthew 13:16, 17 (KJV)
“But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὑμῶν δὲ μακάριοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ὅτι βλέπουσιν καὶ τὰ ὦτα |ὑμῶν| ὅτι ἀκούουσιν υμων δε μακαριοι οι οφθαλμοι οτι βλεπουσιν και τα ωτα υμων οτι ακουει υμων δε μακαριοι οι οφθαλμοι οτι βλεπουσιν και τα ωτα υμων οτι ακουει
For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν ἰδεῖν ἃ βλέπετε καὶ οὐκ εἶδαν, καὶ ἀκοῦσαι ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν αμην γαρ λεγω υμιν οτι πολλοι προφηται και δικαιοι επεθυμησαν ιδειν α βλεπετε και ουκ ειδον και ακουσαι α ακουετε και ουκ ηκουσαν αμην γαρ λεγω υμιν οτι πολλοι προφηται και δικαιοι επεθυμησαν ιδειν α βλεπετε και ουκ ειδον και ακουσαι α ακουετε και ουκ ηκουσαν
John 12:13 (NET) John 12:13 (KJV)
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him.  They began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἔλαβον τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων καὶ ἐξῆλθον εἰς ὑπάντησιν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐκραύγαζον ὡσαννά· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου, [καὶ] ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ελαβον τα βαια των φοινικων και εξηλθον εις υπαντησιν αυτω και εκραζον ωσαννα ευλογημενος ο ερχομενος εν ονοματι κυριου ο βασιλευς του ισραηλ ελαβον τα βαια των φοινικων και εξηλθον εις υπαντησιν αυτω και εκραζον ωσαννα ευλογημενος ο ερχομενος εν ονοματι κυριου βασιλευς του ισραηλ
John 19:23 (NET) John 19:23 (KJV)
Now when the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and made four shares, one for each soldier, and the tunic remained.  (Now the tunic was seamless, woven from top to bottom as a single piece.) Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Οἱ οὖν στρατιῶται, ὅτε ἐσταύρωσαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ἔλαβον τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐποίησαν τέσσαρα μέρη, ἑκάστῳ στρατιώτῃ μέρος, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα. (ἦν δὲ ὁ χιτὼν ἄραφος, ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντὸς δι᾿ ὅλου.) οι ουν στρατιωται οτε εσταυρωσαν τον ιησουν ελαβον τα ιματια αυτου και εποιησαν τεσσαρα μερη εκαστω στρατιωτη μερος και τον χιτωνα ην δε ο χιτων αρραφος εκ των ανωθεν υφαντος δι ολου οι ουν στρατιωται οτε εσταυρωσαν τον ιησουν ελαβον τα ιματια αυτου και εποιησαν τεσσαρα μερη εκαστω στρατιωτη μερος και τον χιτωνα ην δε ο χιτων αραφος εκ των ανωθεν υφαντος δι ολου
John 19:40 (NET) John 19:40 (KJV)
Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial customs. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἔλαβον οὖν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἔδησαν αὐτὸ ὀθονίοις μετὰ τῶν ἀρωμάτων, καθὼς ἔθος ἐστὶν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐνταφιάζειν ελαβον ουν το σωμα του ιησου και εδησαν αυτο οθονιοις μετα των αρωματων καθως εθος εστιν τοις ιουδαιοις ενταφιαζειν ελαβον ουν το σωμα του ιησου και εδησαν αυτο εν οθονιοις μετα των αρωματων καθως εθος εστιν τοις ιουδαιοις ενταφιαζειν
John 17:6 (NET) John 17:6 (KJV)
“I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world.  They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Ἐφανέρωσα σου τὸ ὄνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις οὓς ἔδωκας μοι ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου. σοὶ ἦσαν καμοὶ αὐτοὺς ἔδωκας καὶ τὸν λόγον σου τετήρηκαν εφανερωσα σου το ονομα τοις ανθρωποις ους δεδωκας μοι εκ του κοσμου σοι ησαν και εμοι αυτους δεδωκας και τον λογον σου τετηρηκασιν εφανερωσα σου το ονομα τοις ανθρωποις ους δεδωκας μοι εκ του κοσμου σοι ησαν και εμοι αυτους δεδωκας και τον λογον σου τετηρηκασιν
1 Timothy 4:3 (NET) 1 Timothy 4:3 (KJV)
They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάλημψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν κωλυοντων γαμειν απεχεσθαι βρωματων α ο θεος εκτισεν εις μεταληψιν μετα ευχαριστιας τοις πιστοις και επεγνωκοσιν την αληθειαν κωλυοντων γαμειν απεχεσθαι βρωματων α ο θεος εκτισεν εις μεταληψιν μετα ευχαριστιας τοις πιστοις και επεγνωκοσιν την αληθειαν
1 Corinthians 10:27, 28 (NET) 1 Corinthians 10:27, 28 (KJV)
If an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you want to go, eat whatever is served without asking questions of conscience. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
εἴ τις καλεῖ ὑμᾶς τῶν ἀπίστων καὶ θέλετε πορεύεσθαι, πᾶν τὸ παρατιθέμενον ὑμῖν ἐσθίετε μηδὲν ἀνακρίνοντες διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν ει δε τις καλει υμας των απιστων και θελετε πορευεσθαι παν το παρατιθεμενον υμιν εσθιετε μηδεν ανακρινοντες δια την συνειδησιν ει δε τις καλει υμας των απιστων και θελετε πορευεσθαι παν το παρατιθεμενον υμιν εσθιετε μηδεν ανακρινοντες δια την συνειδησιν
But if someone says to you, “This is from a sacrifice,” do not eat, because of the one who told you and because of conscience – But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof:
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ἐὰν δέ τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ· τοῦτο ἱερόθυτον ἐστιν, μὴ ἐσθίετε δι᾿ ἐκεῖνον τὸν μηνύσαντα καὶ τὴν συνείδησιν εαν δε τις υμιν ειπη τουτο ειδωλοθυτον εστιν μη εσθιετε δι εκεινον τον μηνυσαντα και την συνειδησιν του γαρ κυριου η γη και το πληρωμα αυτης εαν δε τις υμιν ειπη τουτο ειδωλοθυτον εστιν μη εσθιετε δι εκεινον τον μηνυσαντα και την συνειδησιν του γαρ κυριου η γη και το πληρωμα αυτης
Hebrews 5:4 (NET) Hebrews 5:4 (KJV)
And no one assumes this honor on his own initiative, but only when called to it by God, as in fact Aaron was. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ οὐχ ἑαυτῷ τις λαμβάνει τὴν τιμὴν ἀλλὰ καλούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καθώσπερ καὶ Ἀαρών και ουχ εαυτω τις λαμβανει την τιμην αλλα ο καλουμενος υπο του θεου καθαπερ και ο ααρων και ουχ εαυτω τις λαμβανει την τιμην αλλα καλουμενος υπο του θεου καθαπερ και ααρων
Luke 2:52 (NET) Luke 2:52 (KJV)
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
NET Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ Ἰησοῦς προέκοπτεν [ἐν τῇ] σοφίᾳ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ χάριτι παρὰ θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις και ιησους προεκοπτεν σοφια και ηλικια και χαριτι παρα θεω και ανθρωποις και ιησους προεκοπτεν σοφια και ηλικια και χαριτι παρα θεω και ανθρωποις

[1] John 17:17 (NET)

[2] 1 Corinthians 2:8 (NET)

[3] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[4] It occurs to me that this is another oblique reference to the partial hardening of Israel which played such an integral role in the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

[5] John 17:25 (NET)

[6] Matthew 21:45 (NET)

[7] Mark 12:12 (NET)

[8] Luke 20:19 (NET) The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had τὸν λαόν (KJV: the people) here.  The Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[9] John 7:25, 26 (NET) The Stephanus Text Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αληθως (KJV: very) preceding Christ.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[10] The Stephanus Text Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και (KJV: And) at the beginning of this clause.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[11] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had λαλῶ here, where the Stephanus Text Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had λεγω.

[12] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had υμιν following do (KJV: unto you).  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[13] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had αὐτῶν here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not (KJV: the).

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εἶπαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ειπον.

[15] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀκούουσιν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ακουει.

[16] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had εἶδαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ειδον.

[17] The Greek lexicon online lists the English translations of passive forms of λαμβάνω as follows: “to assume (consequences for), to attain (distinction), to be given, to be subjected to, to receive, to receive into one’s care, to undergo, experience.”

[18] John 12:13a (NET)

[19] John 19:23b (NET)

[20] John 19:40a (NET)

[21] John 17:6b (KJV)

[22] John 17:14a (NET)

[23] The NET Parallel Greek text and NA28 had μετάλημψιν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μεταληψιν.

[24] The NET Parallel Greek text had ἐπεγνωκόσι here, where where the Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had ἐπεγνωκόσιν.

[25] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε (not translated in the KJV) near the beginning of this clause.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[26] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἱερόθυτον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ειδωλοθυτον (KJV: sacrifice unto idols).

[27] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had του γαρ κυριου η γη και το πληρωμα αυτης (KJV: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[28] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article ο preceding called.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[29] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had καθώσπερ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καθαπερ (KJV: as was).

[30] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had the article ο preceding Aaron.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[31] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐν τῇ here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[32] Luke 2:52 (NET)

Atonement, Part 7

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This is a continuation of yehôvâh’s (יהוה) instruction to Moses: They[1] are to eat those things by which atonement (kâphar, כפר; Septuagint: ἡγιάσθησαν, a form of ἁγιάζω) was made to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else may eat them, for they are holy.[2]  The atonement of Aaron and his sons continued:

Exodus 29:19-21 (NET)

Leviticus 8:22-24, 30 (NET)
You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head, Then he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination (millûʼ, המלאים; Septuagint: τελειώσεως, a form of τελείωσις), and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram
and you are to kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and then splash the blood all around on the altar. and he slaughtered it.  Moses then took some of its blood and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
Next he brought Aaron’s sons forward, and Moses put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on their right thumbs, and on the big toes of their right feet, and Moses splashed the rest of the blood against the altar’s sides.
You are to take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on his sons’ garments with him, so that he may be holy (qâdash, וקדש; Septuagint: ἁγιασθήσεται, another form of ἁγιάζω), he and his garments along with his sons and his sons’ garments. Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him.  So he consecrated (qâdash, ויקדש; Septuagint: ἡγίασεν, another form of ἁγιάζω) Aaron, his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

I plan to reserve any further consideration of forms of ἁγιάζω for another series of essays.  The ram of ordination (NETS: “ram of validation”), המלאים (millûʼ), translated τελειώσεως (a form of τελείωσις) in the Septuagint, is another matter.  So if perfection (τελείωσις) had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood, Jesus taught his disciples, for on that basis the people received the law – what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order?[3]

If Aaron and his sons were “validated” by a ram of ordination, how was the high priest (ἀρχιερέα, a form of ἀρχιερεύς) of the new covenant (διαθήκην καινήν) perfected?  During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able[4] to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion (εὐλαβείας, a form of εὐλάβεια).  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered.  And by being perfected in this way, he became the source (αἴτιος) of eternal salvation to all who obey him, and he was designated (προσαγορευθεὶς, a form of προσαγορεύω) by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.[5]

The Greek word translated perfected was τελειωθεὶς (a form of τελειόω), the verb from which the noun τελείωσις was derived.  The Greek word translated suffered was ἔπαθεν (a form of πάσχω).  Contrary to my customary practice I’ll begin the investigation of what Jesus suffered with its negation ἔπαθεν οὐδὲν because it offers a concise vignette of the religious mind (Acts 28:3-6 NET):

When Paul had gathered a[6] bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out[7] because of[8] the heat and fastened itself on his hand.  When the local people saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer!  Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself has not allowed him to live!”  However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered (ἔπαθεν, a form of πάσχω) no (οὐδὲν, a form of οὐδείς) harm.  But they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly drop dead.  So after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Admittedly, this was the pagan religious mind.  In fact, sophisticated Greek pagans may have thought that these local people (βάρβαροι, a form of βάρβαρος; i.e., “barbarians”) were beneath them.  Still, Isaiah prophesied that Israel would share part of this same religious mind when it came to the Messiah: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.[9]  The synoptic Gospel narratives bear this out:

Matthew 27:39-44 (NET) Mark 15:29-32 (NET)

Luke 23:35-39 (NET)
Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!  If you are God’s Son, come down from the cross!”  In the same way even[10] the chief priests – together with the experts in the law and elders – were mocking him: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself!  He[11] is the king of Israel!  If he comes down now from the cross, we will believe in[12] him![13]  He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!”  The robbers who were crucified with[14] him also spoke abusively to him.[15] Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down[16] from the cross!”  In the same way even[17] the chief priests – together with the experts in the law – were mocking him among themselves: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself!  Let the Christ, the king of Israel,[18] come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!”[19]  Those who were crucified with[20] him also spoke abusively to him. The people also stood there watching, but the rulers[21] ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others.  Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”  The soldiers also mocked[22] him, coming up and[23] offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”  There was also an inscription[24] over him,[25] “This is[26] the king of the Jews.”  One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t[27] you the Christ?  Save yourself and us!”[28]

Jesus’ disconcerting answer—How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?[29]—offered to his disciples was not repeated here.  Even after his resurrection most in Israel were still too hardened (Romans 11:25-32) to regard Jesus as yehôvâh (Zechariah 12:7-10), the Son of God (Romans 1:2-4) or even the Messiah (Isaiah 53:7-12).

The bodies of those animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp.  Therefore, to sanctify the people by his own blood, Jesus also suffered (ἔπαθεν, a form of πάσχω) outside the camp.  We must go out to him, then, outside the camp, bearing the abuse (ὀνειδισμὸν, a form of ὀνειδισμός) he experienced.  For here we have no lasting city (Hebrews 11:8-10), but we seek the city that is to come.  Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, acknowledging his name.  And do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.[30]

Peter wrote (1 Peter 2:13-25; 3:13-22; 4:12-19 NET):

Be subject[31] to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme or to governors as those he commissions to punish[32] wrongdoers and praise those who do good.  For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.  Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves.  Honor all people, love[33] the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.  For this finds God’s favor, if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering (πάσχων, another form of πάσχω) unjustly.  For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it?  But if you do good and suffer (πάσχοντες, another form of πάσχω) and so endure, this finds favor with God.  For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered (ἔπαθεν, a form of πάσχω) for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps.  He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.  When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered (πάσχων, another form of πάσχω), he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness.  By his[34] wounds you were healed.  For you were going astray[35] like sheep but[36] now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls…

For who is going to harm you if you are devoted[37] to what is good?  But in fact, if you happen to suffer (πάσχοιτε, another form of πάσχω) for doing what is right, you are blessed.  But do not be terrified of them or be shaken.  But set Christ[38] apart as Lord in your hearts and[39] always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.  Yet[40] do it with courtesy and respect,[41] keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse[42] you.  For it is better to suffer (πάσχειν, another form of πάσχω) for doing good, if God wills[43] it, than for doing evil.

Because Christ also suffered (ἔπαθεν, a form of πάσχω) once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you[44] to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit.  In it he went and preached to the spirits in prison, after they were disobedient long ago when[45] God patiently waited[46] in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed.  In the ark a few,[47] that is eight souls, were delivered through water.  And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you[48] – not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to him…

Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings (παθήμασιν, a form of πάθημα) of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice and be glad.  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of God, rests on you.[49]  But let none of you suffer (πασχέτω, another form of πάσχω) as a murderer or thief or criminal or as a troublemaker.[50]  But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name.[51]  For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house of God.  And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?  And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and sinners?  So then let those who suffer (πάσχοντες, another form of πάσχω) according to the will of God entrust their[52] souls to a faithful[53] Creator as they do good.

In a world populated by sinful people there is no shortage of injustices and indignities.  Sinful people do not love their neighbors as themselves.  Thankfully, most are petty injustices and petty indignities because most of us are petty people, seeking only to live out our lives in relative peace and security.  Very few have the ambition to dominate (Matthew 20:25-28) others on a grand scale, and even fewer are effectual enough as people to pull it off.

When the One who calls us by his grace is pleased to reveal his Son in us, we trust in Jesus, are born from above, children of God, filled with and led by his Holy Spirit (Numbers 11:29).  Then God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control strives within us to curtail the petty injustices and indignities we inflict on others.  How are we perfected?  We greet others’ petty injustices and indignities with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that wells up within us like a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.[54]  What if the injustice or indignity we face is not so petty?

Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.[55]  Jesus hung naked on a cross, obedient to death.  He didn’t have to.  He could’ve come down any time He wanted, any time it got too much, any time He had had enough of sinners’ abuse.  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled? He asked Peter rhetorically.  And that response in word and deed (done in God) is the living image of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.[56]

Each of us who who believes has Scripture to fulfill by the grace of God (Galatians 2:16-21 NET):

[W]e know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.  And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because[57] by the works of the law no one will be justified.  But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin?  Absolutely not!  But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate[58] that I am one who breaks God’s law.  For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

It bears mentioning in this #MeToo moment that I have no interest in, or intention to, silence women or inhibit them from reporting crimes.  I recall being so deeply moved by Abel Ferrara’s and Zoë Lund’s fictional nun in Bad Lieutenant because her confession was so unexpected in such a dark tale.  All political posturing aside, it is important that teenage boys understand that pinning a young woman to a bed to grope her is assault not love (1 Corinthians 13:4-13).

Tables of Acts 28:3; Matthew 27:41, 42; Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:30-32; Luke 23:35, 36; Luke 23:38, 39; 1 Peter 2:13, 14; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 2:24, 25; 1 Peter 3:13; 1 Peter 3:15-18; 1 Peter 3:20, 21; 1 Peter 4:14-16; 1 Peter 4:19; Galatians 2:16 and 18 in the NET and KJV follow.

Acts 28:3 (NET)

Acts 28:3 (KJV)
When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Συστρέψαντος δὲ τοῦ Παύλου φρυγάνων τι πλῆθος καὶ ἐπιθέντος ἐπὶ τὴν πυράν, ἔχιδνα ἀπὸ τῆς θέρμης ἐξελθοῦσα καθῆψεν τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ συστρεψαντος δε του παυλου φρυγανων πληθος και επιθεντος επι την πυραν εχιδνα εκ της θερμης εξελθουσα καθηψεν της χειρος αυτου συστρεψαντος δε του παυλου φρυγανων πληθος και επιθεντος επι την πυραν εχιδνα εκ της θερμης διεξελθουσα καθηψεν της χειρος αυτου
Matthew 27:41, 42 (NET)

Matthew 27:41, 42 (KJV)
In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law and elders – were mocking him: Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁμοίως |καὶ| οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς ἐμπαίζοντες μετὰ τῶν γραμματέων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων ἔλεγον ομοιως δε και οι αρχιερεις εμπαιζοντες μετα των γραμματεων και πρεσβυτερων ελεγον ομοιως δε και οι αρχιερεις εμπαιζοντες μετα των γραμματεων και πρεσβυτερων και φαρισαιων ελεγον
“He saved others, but he cannot save himself!  He is the king of Israel!  If he comes down now from the cross, we will believe in him! He saved others; himself he cannot save.  If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται σῶσαι· βασιλεὺς Ἰσραήλ ἐστιν, καταβάτω νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ πιστεύσομεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν αλλους εσωσεν εαυτον ου δυναται σωσαι ει βασιλευς ισραηλ εστιν καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου και πιστευσομεν αυτω αλλους εσωσεν εαυτον ου δυναται σωσαι ει βασιλευς ισραηλ εστιν καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου και πιστευσομεν επ αυτω
Matthew 27:44 (NET)

Matthew 27:44 (KJV)
The robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Τὸ δ᾿ αὐτὸ καὶ οἱ λῃσταὶ οἱ συσταυρωθέντες σὺν αὐτῷ ὠνείδιζον αὐτόν το δ αυτο και οι λησται οι συσταυρωθεντες αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτω το δ αυτο και οι λησται οι συσταυρωθεντες αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον
Mark 15:30-32 (NET)

Mark 15:30-32 (KJV)
save yourself and come down from the cross!” Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
σῶσον σεαυτὸν καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ σωσον σεαυτον και καταβα απο του σταυρου σωσον σεαυτον και καταβα απο του σταυρου
In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law – were mocking him among themselves: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς ἐμπαίζοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους μετὰ τῶν γραμματέων ἔλεγον· ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται σῶσαι ομοιως δε και οι αρχιερεις εμπαιζοντες προς αλληλους μετα των γραμματεων ελεγον αλλους εσωσεν εαυτον ου δυναται σωσαι ομοιως και οι αρχιερεις εμπαιζοντες προς αλληλους μετα των γραμματεων ελεγον αλλους εσωσεν εαυτον ου δυναται σωσαι
Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!”  Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.  And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

Net Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ χριστὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰσραὴλ καταβάτω νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ, ἵνα ἴδωμεν καὶ πιστεύσωμεν. καὶ οἱ συνεσταυρωμένοι σὺν αὐτῷ ὠνείδιζον αὐτόν ο χριστος ο βασιλευς του ισραηλ καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου ινα ιδωμεν και πιστευσωμεν και οι συνεσταυρωμενοι αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον ο χριστος ο βασιλευς του ισραηλ καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου ινα ιδωμεν και πιστευσωμεν αυτω και οι συνεσταυρωμενοι αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον
Luke 23:35, 36 (NET)

Luke 23:35, 36 (KJV)
The people also stood there watching, but the rulers ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others.  Let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one!” And the people stood beholding.  And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

Net Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ εἱστήκει ὁ λαὸς θεωρῶν. ἐξεμυκτήριζον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες λέγοντες· ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, σωσάτω ἑαυτόν, εἰ οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ ἐκλεκτός και ειστηκει ο λαος θεωρων εξεμυκτηριζον δε και οι αρχοντες συν αυτοις λεγοντες αλλους εσωσεν σωσατω εαυτον ει ουτος εστιν ο χριστος ο του θεου εκλεκτος και ειστηκει ο λαος θεωρων εξεμυκτηριζον δε και οι αρχοντες συν αυτοις λεγοντες αλλους εσωσεν σωσατω εαυτον ει ουτος εστιν ο χριστος ο του θεου εκλεκτος
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,

Net Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
ἐνέπαιξαν δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται προσερχόμενοι, ὄξος προσφέροντες αὐτῷ ενεπαιζον δε αυτω και οι στρατιωται προσερχομενοι και οξος προσφεροντες αυτω ενεπαιζον δε αυτω και οι στρατιωται προσερχομενοι και οξος προσφεροντες αυτω
Luke 23:38, 39 (NET)

Luke 23:38, 39 (KJV)
There was also an inscription over him, “This is the king of the Jews.” And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Net Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
ἦν δὲ καὶ ἐπιγραφὴ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ· ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων οὗτος ην δε και επιγραφη γεγραμμενη επ αυτω γραμμασιν ελληνικοις και ρωμαικοις και εβραικοις ουτος εστιν ο βασιλευς των ιουδαιων ην δε και επιγραφη γεγραμμενη επ αυτω γραμμασιν ελληνικοις και ρωμαικοις και εβραικοις ουτος εστιν ο βασιλευς των ιουδαιων
One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ?  Save yourself and us!” And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

Net Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
Εἷς δὲ τῶν κρεμασθέντων κακούργων ἐβλασφήμει αὐτὸν |λέγων|· οὐχὶ σὺ εἶ ὁ χριστός; σῶσον σεαυτὸν καὶ ἡμᾶς εις δε των κρεμασθεντων κακουργων εβλασφημει αυτον λεγων ει συ ει ο χριστος σωσον σεαυτον και ημας εις δε των κρεμασθεντων κακουργων εβλασφημει αυτον λεγων ει συ ει ο χριστος σωσον σεαυτον και ημας
1 Peter 2:13, 14 (NET)

1 Peter 2:13, 14 (KJV)
Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
῾Υποτάγητε πάσῃ ἀνθρωπίνῃ κτίσει διὰ τὸν κύριον, εἴτε βασιλεῖ ὡς ὑπερέχοντι υποταγητε ουν παση ανθρωπινη κτισει δια τον κυριον ειτε βασιλει ως υπερεχοντι υποταγητε ουν παση ανθρωπινη κτισει δια τον κυριον ειτε βασιλει ως υπερεχοντι
or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Net Parallel Greek

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Byzantine Majority Text
εἴτε ἡγεμόσιν ὡς δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πεμπομένοις εἰς ἐκδίκησιν κακοποιῶν ἔπαινον δὲ ἀγαθοποιῶν ειτε ηγεμοσιν ως δι αυτου πεμπομενοις εις εκδικησιν μεν κακοποιων επαινον δε αγαθοποιων ειτε ηγεμοσιν ως δι αυτου πεμπομενοις εις εκδικησιν κακοποιων επαινον δε αγαθοποιων
1 Peter 2:17 (NET)

1 Peter 2:17 (KJV)
Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king. Honour all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honour the king.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
πάντας τιμήσατε, τὴν ἀδελφότητα ἀγαπᾶτε, τὸν θεὸν φοβεῖσθε, τὸν βασιλέα τιμᾶτε παντας τιμησατε την αδελφοτητα αγαπατε τον θεον φοβεισθε τον βασιλεα τιματε παντας τιμησατε την αδελφοτητα αγαπησατε τον θεον φοβεισθε τον βασιλεα τιματε

1 Peter 2:24, 25 (NET)

1 Peter 2:24, 25 (KJV)
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness.  By his wounds you were healed. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὃς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν αὐτὸς ἀνήνεγκεν ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον, ἵνα ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενόμενοι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν, οὗ τῷ μώλωπι ἰάθητε ος τας αμαρτιας ημων αυτος ανηνεγκεν εν τω σωματι αυτου επι το ξυλον ινα ταις αμαρτιαις απογενομενοι τη δικαιοσυνη ζησωμεν ου τω μωλωπι αυτου ιαθητε ος τας αμαρτιας ημων αυτος ανηνεγκεν εν τω σωματι αυτου επι το ξυλον ινα ταις αμαρτιαις απογενομενοι τη δικαιοσυνη ζησωμεν ου τω μωλωπι αυτου ιαθητε
For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἦτε γὰρ ὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενοι, ἀλλὰ ἐπεστράφητε νῦν ἐπὶ τὸν ποιμένα καὶ ἐπίσκοπον τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν ητε γαρ ως προβατα πλανωμενα αλλ επεστραφητε νυν επι τον ποιμενα και επισκοπον των ψυχων υμων ητε γαρ ως προβατα πλανωμενα αλλ επεστραφητε νυν επι τον ποιμενα και επισκοπον των ψυχων υμων

1 Peter 3:13 (NET)

1 Peter 3:13 (KJV)
For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good? And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ τίς ὁ κακώσων ὑμᾶς ἐὰν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ζηλωταὶ γένησθε και τις ο κακωσων υμας εαν του αγαθου μιμηται γενησθε και τις ο κακωσων υμας εαν του αγαθου μιμηται γενησθε
1 Peter 3:15-18 (NET)

1 Peter 3:15-18 (KJV)
But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
κύριον δὲ τὸν Χριστὸν ἁγιάσατε ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν, ἕτοιμοι ἀεὶ πρὸς ἀπολογίαν παντὶ τῷ αἰτοῦντι ὑμᾶς λόγον περὶ τῆς ἐν ὑμῖν ἐλπίδος κυριον δε τον θεον αγιασατε εν ταις καρδιαις υμων ετοιμοι δε αει προς απολογιαν παντι τω αιτουντι υμας λογον περι της εν υμιν ελπιδος μετα πραυτητος και φοβου κυριον δε τον θεον αγιασατε εν ταις καρδιαις υμων ετοιμοι δε αει προς απολογιαν παντι τω αιτουντι υμας λογον περι της εν υμιν ελπιδος μετα πραυτητος και φοβου
Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀλλὰ μετὰ πραΰτητος καὶ φόβου, συνείδησιν ἔχοντες ἀγαθήν, ἵνα ἐν ᾧ καταλαλεῖσθε καταισχυνθῶσιν οἱ ἐπηρεάζοντες ὑμῶν τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστροφήν συνειδησιν εχοντες αγαθην ινα εν ω καταλαλωσιν υμων ως κακοποιων καταισχυνθωσιν οι επηρεαζοντες υμων την αγαθην εν χριστω αναστροφην συνειδησιν εχοντες αγαθην ινα εν ω καταλαλωσιν υμων ως κακοποιων καταισχυνθωσιν οι επηρεαζοντες υμων την αγαθην εν χριστω αναστροφην
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
κρεῖττον γὰρ ἀγαθοποιοῦντας, εἰ θέλοι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, πάσχειν ἢ κακοποιοῦντας κρειττον γαρ αγαθοποιουντας ει θελει το θελημα του θεου πασχειν η κακοποιουντας κρειττον γαρ αγαθοποιουντας ει θελοι το θελημα του θεου πασχειν η κακοποιουντας
Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτι καὶ Χριστὸς ἅπαξ περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν |ἔπαθεν|, δίκαιος ὑπὲρ ἀδίκων, ἵνα ὑμᾶς προσαγάγῃ τῷ θεῷ θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκὶ ζῳοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι οτι και χριστος απαξ περι αμαρτιων επαθεν δικαιος υπερ αδικων ινα ημας προσαγαγη τω θεω θανατωθεις μεν σαρκι ζωοποιηθεις δε τω πνευματι οτι και χριστος απαξ περι αμαρτιων επαθεν δικαιος υπερ αδικων ινα υμας προσαγαγη τω θεω θανατωθεις μεν σαρκι ζωοποιηθεις δε πνευματι
1 Peter 3:20, 21 (NET)

1 Peter 3:20, 21 (KJV)
after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed.  In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water. Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἀπειθήσασιν ποτε ὅτε ἀπεξεδέχετο ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μακροθυμία ἐν ἡμέραις Νῶε κατασκευαζομένης κιβωτοῦ εἰς ἣν ὀλίγοι, τοῦτ᾿ ἔστιν ὀκτὼ ψυχαί, διεσώθησαν δι᾿ ὕδατος απειθησασιν ποτε οτε απαξ εξεδεχετο η του θεου μακροθυμια εν ημεραις νωε κατασκευαζομενης κιβωτου εις ην ολιγαι τουτ εστιν οκτω ψυχαι διεσωθησαν δι υδατος απειθησασιν ποτε οτε απεξεδεχετο η του θεου μακροθυμια εν ημεραις νωε κατασκευαζομενης κιβωτου εις ην ολιγαι τουτ εστιν οκτω ψυχαι διεσωθησαν δι υδατος
And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you – not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus Byzantine Majority Text
ὃ καὶ ὑμᾶς ἀντίτυπον νῦν σῴζει βάπτισμα, οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ρύπου ἀλλὰ συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα εἰς θεόν, δι᾿ ἀναστάσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ο και ημας αντιτυπον νυν σωζει βαπτισμα ου σαρκος αποθεσις ρυπου αλλα συνειδησεως αγαθης επερωτημα εις θεον δι αναστασεως ιησου χριστου ο αντιτυπον νυν και ημας σωζει βαπτισμα ου σαρκος αποθεσις ρυπου αλλα συνειδησεως αγαθης επερωτημα εις θεον δι αναστασεως ιησου χριστου
1 Peter 4:14-16 (NET)

1 Peter 4:14-16 (KJV)
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of God, rests on you. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ ὀνειδίζεσθε ἐν ὀνόματι Χριστοῦ, μακάριοι, ὅτι τὸ τῆς δόξης καὶ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πνεῦμα ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς ἀναπαύεται ει ονειδιζεσθε εν ονοματι χριστου μακαριοι οτι το της δοξης και το του θεου πνευμα εφ υμας αναπαυεται κατα μεν αυτους βλασφημειται κατα δε υμας δοξαζεται ει ονειδιζεσθε εν ονοματι χριστου μακαριοι οτι το της δοξης και το του θεου πνευμα εφ υμας αναπαυεται κατα μεν αυτους βλασφημειται κατα δε υμας δοξαζεται
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or criminal or as a troublemaker. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
μὴ γάρ τις ὑμῶν πασχέτω ὡς φονεὺς ἢ κλέπτης ἢ κακοποιὸς ἢ ὡς ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος μη γαρ τις υμων πασχετω ως φονευς η κλεπτης η κακοποιος η ως αλλοτριοεπισκοπος μη γαρ τις υμων πασχετω ως φονευς η κλεπτης η κακοποιος η ως αλλοτριοεπισκοπος
But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

Net Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ δὲ ὡς Χριστιανός, μὴ αἰσχυνέσθω, δοξαζέτω δὲ τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ ει δε ως χριστιανος μη αισχυνεσθω δοξαζετω δε τον θεον εν τω μερει τουτω ει δε ως χριστιανος μη αισχυνεσθω δοξαζετω δε τον θεον εν τω μερει τουτω
1 Peter 4:19 (NET)

1 Peter 4:19 (KJV)
So then let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator as they do good. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὥστε καὶ οἱ πάσχοντες κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ πιστῷ κτίστῃ παρατιθέσθωσαν τὰς ψυχὰς |αὐτῶν| ἐν ἀγαθοποιΐᾳ ωστε και οι πασχοντες κατα το θελημα του θεου ως πιστω κτιστη παρατιθεσθωσαν τας ψυχας εαυτων εν αγαθοποιια ωστε και οι πασχοντες κατα το θελημα του θεου ως πιστω κτιστη παρατιθεσθωσαν τας ψυχας αυτων εν αγαθοποιια
Galatians 2:16 (NET)

Galatians 2:16 (KJV)
yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.  And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰδότες [δὲ] ὅτι οὐ δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἔργων νόμου ἐὰν μὴ διὰ πίστεως |Ἰησοῦ| Χριστοῦ , καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐπιστεύσαμεν, ἵνα δικαιωθῶμεν ἐκ πίστεως Χριστοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου, ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σάρξ ειδοτες οτι ου δικαιουται ανθρωπος εξ εργων νομου εαν μη δια πιστεως ιησου χριστου και ημεις εις χριστον ιησουν επιστευσαμεν ινα δικαιωθωμεν εκ πιστεως χριστου και ουκ εξ εργων νομου διοτι ου δικαιωθησεται εξ εργων νομου πασα σαρξ ειδοτες οτι ου δικαιουται ανθρωπος εξ εργων νομου εαν μη δια πιστεως ιησου χριστου και ημεις εις χριστον ιησουν επιστευσαμεν ινα δικαιωθωμεν εκ πιστεως χριστου και ουκ εξ εργων νομου διοτι ου δικαιωθησεται εξ εργων νομου πασα σαρξ
Galatians 2:18 (NET)

Galatians 2:18 (KJV)
But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Net Parallel Greek Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
εἰ γὰρ ἃ κατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ, παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνιστάνω ει γαρ α κατελυσα ταυτα παλιν οικοδομω παραβατην εμαυτον συνιστημι ει γαρ α κατελυσα ταυτα παλιν οικοδομω παραβατην εμαυτον συνιστημι

[1] Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:43 NET)

[2] Exodus 29:33 (NET)

[3] Hebrews 7:11 (NET)

[4] The Greek word translated the one who was able was δυνάμενον (a form of δύναμαι) the verb from which the noun δύναμις was derived.  I noticed that δύναμις was used most often in the New Testament for the power of God.  That has me primed to suspect that Jesus’ loud cries and tears (κραυγῆς ἰσχυρᾶς καὶ δακρύων) were nothing less than the inexpressible groanings (στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις) of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26, 27).

[5] Hebrews 5:7-10 (NET)

[6] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had τι here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[7] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had ἐξελθοῦσα here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had διεξελθουσα.

[8] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀπὸ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εκ.

[9] Isaiah 53:4 (NET)

[10] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε και here, where the NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had simply και.

[11] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ει at the beginning of this clause.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[12] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἐπ᾿ here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[13] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had αὐτόν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτω.

[14] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had σὺν here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[15] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had αὐτόν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had αυτω.

[16] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had καταβὰς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καταβα.

[17] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had δε καὶ here, where the NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had simply καὶ.

[18] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had του preceding Israel.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[19] The Byzantine Majority Text had αυτω following believe.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus did not.

[20] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had σὺν here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[21] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had σὺν αυτοις (KJV: with them), indicating that the people did not just stand there watching but ridiculed him as well.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not have σὺν αυτοις.

[22] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἐνέπαιξαν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ενεπαιζον.

[23] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had και at the beginning of this clause.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[24] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γεγραμμενη (KJV: was written) following inscription.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[25] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had γραμμασιν ελληνικοις και ρωμαικοις και εβραικοις (KJV: in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew) following him.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[26] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had εστιν here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[27] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had οὐχὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ει (KJV: If thou be Christ).

[28] Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; Barbossa and Calypso clip.

[29] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[30] Hebrews 13:11-16 (NET)

[31] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ουν following the verb.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[32] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had μεν following punish.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[33] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Stephanus Textus Receptus had ἀγαπᾶτε here, where the Byzantine Majority Text had αγαπησατε.

[34] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αυτου here.  The The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[35] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had πλανώμενοι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had πλανωμενα.

[36] The NET parallel Greek text had ἀλλὰ here, where NA28, the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αλλ.

[37] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ζηλωταὶ here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had μιμηται.

[38] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had Χριστὸν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had θεον (See NET note 24).

[39] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had δε here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[40] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀλλὰ here.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[41] The phrase μετὰ πραΰτητος καὶ φόβου (NET: with courtesy and respect) was at the end of verse 15 in the The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text.

[42] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had καταλαλεῖσθε here, a present passive indicative 2nd person plural form of καταλαλέω.  A note (28) in the NET acknowledged that it should have been translated “when you are spoken against.”  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had καταλαλωσιν, the present active subjunctive 3rd person plural form (KJV: they speak evil).  Then it was followed by υμων ως κακοποιων (KJV: of you, as of evildoers).  These words were not in the NET parallel Greek text or NA28.

[43] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had θέλοι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had θελει.

[44] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ὑμᾶς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ημας (KJV: us).

[45] The Stephanus Textus Receptus had απαξ (KJV: once) here.  The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

[46] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ἀπεξεδέχετο here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had εξεδεχετο.

[47] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὀλίγοι here, a nominative plural masculine form of ὀλίγος.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ολιγαι, the nominative plural feminine form.

[48] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὑμᾶς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ημας (KJV: us).

[49] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had κατα μεν αυτους βλασφημειται κατα δε υμας δοξαζεται (KJV: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified) here.  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[50] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἀλλοτριεπίσκοπος here where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had αλλοτριοεπισκοπος.

[51] The NET parallel Greek text had ὀνόματι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had μερει (KJV: on this behalf).

[52] The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had αὐτῶν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had εαυτων.

[53] The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ως preceding faithful (KJV: as unto a faithful Creator).  The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

[54] John 4:14b (NET)

[55] Hebrews 12:3 (NET) Table

[56] Mark 12:30 (NET) Table

[57] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ὅτι here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had διοτι.

[58] The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had συνιστάνω here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had συνιστημι (KJV: I make).  Both are considered equivalent forms of the same word in Strong’s Concordance and on Bible Hub.

Sowing to the Flesh, Part 2

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We religious folk of a Christian persuasion are fixated on life and death, heaven and hell.  Jesus was fixated on fulfilling the Scriptures.  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?[1] (πληρωθῶσιν, a form of πληρόω) He asked rhetorically when Peter took up arms to defend Him.  Up to that moment Jesus’ disciples were willing to follow Him, even to death.  But upon his insistence to submit quietly to death to fulfill the Scriptures they fled.

I do not know the man![2] Peter declared.

Jesus was not the Messiah his religion taught him to expect.  Even after his resurrection Jesus’ disciples wanted Him to conform to their religious image: Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?[3] they asked.  Tracey R. Rich expressed both a modern and an ancient understanding of this in two very succinct paragraphs.[4]

Jews do not believe that Jesus was the mashiach. Assuming that he existed, and assuming that the Christian scriptures are accurate in describing him (both matters that are debatable), he simply did not fulfill the mission of the mashiach as it is described in the biblical passages cited above [Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:2-5, 10, 11-12; 42:1; Jeremiah 23:5, 8; 30:3; 33:15, 18; Hosea 3:4-5; Micah 4:2-3; Zephaniah 3:13; Zechariah 14:9]. Jesus did not do any of the things that the scriptures said the messiah would do.

On the contrary, another Jew born about a century later came far closer to fulfilling the messianic ideal than Jesus did. His name was Shimeon ben Kosiba, known as Bar Kokhba (son of a star), and he was a charismatic, brilliant, but brutal warlord. Rabbi Akiba, one of the greatest scholars in Jewish history, believed that Bar Kokhba was the mashiach. Bar Kokhba fought a war against the Roman Empire, catching the Tenth Legion by surprise and retaking Jerusalem. He resumed sacrifices at the site of the Temple and made plans to rebuild the Temple. He established a provisional government and began to issue coins in its name. This is what the Jewish people were looking for in a mashiach; Jesus clearly does not fit into this mold. Ultimately, however, the Roman Empire crushed his revolt and killed Bar Kokhba. After his death, all acknowledged that he was not the mashiach.

Rather than frustration with his disciples’ failure to know Him Jesus exhibited supreme confidence in his own Holy Spirit (John 16:12-14): You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority, He said.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.[5]

Enter through the narrow gate, Jesus said, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction (ἀπώλειαν, a form of ἀπώλεια), and there are many who enter through it.  But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.[6]  What happens if I approach this with Jesus’ fixation rather than my own?  Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, He said.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill (πληρῶσαι, another form of πληρόω) them.[7]  What if ἀπώλειαν meant a destruction of corruption—being completely severed from the righteousness Jesus has provided us here and now through his death and resurrection and the power of his Holy Spirit—rather than an eternal sojourn in a lake of fire?

Instead of an immutable prophecy of his relative failure to accomplish his Father’s mission—For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him[8]—we have Jesus’ warning that the church will do a less than stellar job of imparting the Gospel of his grace.  But this understanding is only evident back in context (Matthew 7:11-16a NET):

If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  [Luke was explicit that these good gifts are the Holy Spirit.]  In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills (ἐστιν, a form of ἐστί; literally, is) the law and the prophets.  Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to [corruption] (ἀπώλειαν, a form of ἀπώλεια), and there are many who enter through it.  But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.  Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruit.

None of this is to wag my finger at pastors, priests and Bible teachers, but to appreciate Jesus’ saying: Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God![9]  I feel terribly inept at explaining what it’s like to live by the Spirit.  I stumbled over progressive sanctification.  The knowledge enshrined in churches as doctrine, however, was not the issue.  A table of quotes from Presbyterian, Baptist and Christian & Missionary Alliance perspectives on progressive sanctification follows.

Progressive Sanctification
Presbyterian Baptist

C&MA
“Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.” What God has begun in regeneration He will work to continue without interruption throughout the believer’s life. All Christians understand first the first reality: that Christ’s blood has atoned for their sins and they no longer need to fear eternal separation from God. But most Christians do not understand or experience the second reality—the fullness of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
“The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that His people’s souls require; not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by His atoning death, but from the dominion of their sins by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit; not only to justify them, but to sanctify them.” It involves our availability to the Holy Spirit, our separation from sin, and our growth in the likeness of Christ. Every Christian is a sanctified person, belonging to Christ, and therefore should keep from immorality (1 Cor. 6:13-14; 2 Cor. 7:1). We are involved in a lifetime struggle against sin and a moment-by-moment submission to the Holy Spirit for victory. The New Testament clearly teaches that there are two kinds of Christians. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, Paul talks about Christians who are “spiritual” and contrasts them with those who are “worldly,” or “carnal.” In Romans 7 and 8, the comparison is between those believers who are self-propelled and those who are Spirit driven. In Ephesians 5:18, he implies that some are “filled” and some are “not filled.”
The Lord has given to us His Spirit, and by Him communicates His own life to the justified believer. Holiness is divinely wrought within Christians. Christ enables us to walk in holiness. It [to “present your bodies a living sacrifice”] is a choice we make as believers. No one else can make that choice for us. It is self-determined and is repeated often. The opportunity to experience the two realities of sanctification is available to every believer. The path to the Spirit-filled life requires taking faith-filled risks, which always involves change.
As we look at Christ we are changed into the image of Christ, by the work of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer for the purpose of enabling us to overcome sin and conform us to the likeness of Christ. When we “walk by the Spirit” we do not carry out the deeds of the flesh, but produce “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16, 22). Surrender We can’t make ourselves holy any more than we can make ourselves saved—we become holy only by realizing that we haven’t got what it takes to be holy (Romans 6:11; Romans 12:1-2).

Accept Christ is our Sanctifier in the same way that He is our Savior (Colossians 2:6; Galatians 2:20).

Abide We maintain a continuous relationship with Jesus through obedience to His Word (John 15:1-11).
Our dependence upon the Holy Spirit is not something that is attained once for all, but is the result of a daily struggle and a constantly renewed commitment.

God will not give up on His goal of making you become like Christ. He will not give up on you until the day He presents you complete, perfect, and mature to the Father in heaven.

These were my religious influences growing up.  I have nothing but minor quibbles over words (obedience, for instance) with any of these statements individually and appreciate all of them together.  I even checked the Catholic catechism.  Sanctification was a subcategory of justification there rather than a separate topic but still I have no serious objection to anything in it.  Oddly enough, I found words closer to my own misunderstanding in the Catholic catechism under the heading III. MERIT, line 2010:

Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.

In my misunderstanding I thought positional sanctification was God’s work in Christ and progressive sanctification[10] was up to me to accomplish.  I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood but I never read the catechism.  Besides, line 2011 is fairly clear on this:

The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.

The charity of Christ is ἀγάπη in the New Testament, the love that is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, the love that is the fulfillment of the law.  The relative failure of the church to impart the Gospel of grace was not a lack of knowledge.  So is it in the execution, the way that knowledge is imparted?  Here I’m reminded of an observation that made little sense to me until this very moment: Churchmen liked me better when I was striving on my own to keep rules than when I began to try to live by the Spirit.

My use of churchmen requires some explanation.  I don’t necessarily mean clergy.  And I don’t mean men exclusively.  The best explanation I can imagine is a profile.  Churchmen aren’t believers in the sense that they have any awareness of a crisis moment that marks a difference in their lives between unbelief and belief.  They are probably the children or grandchildren of believers.  Christianity seems natural to them and they have never strayed far from it.  But fitting a profile doesn’t necessarily mean that one did the “crime.”  The “crime” in this case is too facile an identification with the local church in which one takes a leading role: “My church is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through my church.”  But the real crime was that I idolized churchmen and coveted their status.

Churches as institutions have their own agendas.  I fit into those agendas better when I obey their rules.  In other words, churchmen are institutionally biased to favor compliant hypocrites, actors.  This is not to say that they are necessarily hypocrites themselves.  It is to say that they have little experience with any struggle to live by the Spirit.  Their instruction to those of us who do have trouble takes the form of platitudes—”sin is just bad habits which can be overcome by good habits“—techniques for inculcating said good habits and rules to prohibit bad ones, as opposed to faith in Jesus by his Holy Spirit.

Rules are neat and orderly.  Living by the Spirit is messy: When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.[11]  Churchmen (I will say for the sake of argument) decided long ago that we should sit silently in neat rows, stand when we were told to stand, sing what we were told to sing and listen to the lesson the church wanted us to hear.  My church allowed revelations, I suppose, during testimony time.  (I thought testimonies were about all the good things God did for people who were good and “obedient,” you know, churchmen.)  Tongues and interpretations?  Forget about it!

And, frankly, I intend all of this more as a metaphor for imparting the Gospel of grace.  I don’t really care how a church service is organized as much as I care whether someone who doesn’t know how to be led by the Spirit of God can learn that there.  And here I return to Martin Luther.

He lived in a created cosmos where it is hard… to enter the kingdom of God.  He grew up in a religious system partially corrupted by false teachers and false prophets.  (The alternative—Jesus killed all the false teachers and false prophets and sent them to hell before they had any influence on anyone else—is untenable to me.)  Martin Luther, by the Holy Spirit, recognized some of the corrupting influences that plagued him and wrote to correct them.  But was Martin Luther perfect and totally free of error himself?

The Luther/Graebner commentary on the fruit of the Spirit[12] follows:

The Apostle does not speak of the works of the Spirit as he spoke of the works of the flesh, but he attaches to these Christian virtues a better name. He calls them the fruits of the Spirit.

LOVE

It would have been enough to mention only the single fruit of love, for love embraces all the fruits of the Spirit. In I Corinthians 13, Paul attributes to love all the fruits of the Spirit: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind,” etc. Here he lets love stand by itself among other fruits of the Spirit to remind the Christians to love one another, “in honor preferring one another,” to esteem others more than themselves because they have Christ and the Holy Ghost within them.

JOY

Joy means sweet thoughts of Christ, melodious hymns and psalms, praises and thanksgiving, with which Christians instruct, inspire, and refresh themselves. God does not like doubt and dejection. He hates dreary doctrine, gloomy and melancholy thought. God likes cheerful hearts. He did not send His Son to fill us with sadness, but to gladden our hearts. For this reason the prophets, apostles, and Christ Himself urge, yes, command us to rejoice and be glad. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee.” (Zech. 9:9.) In the Psalms we are repeatedly told to be “joyful in the Lord.” Paul says: “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Christ says: “Rejoice, for your names are written in heaven.”

PEACE

Peace towards God and men. Christians are to be peaceful and quiet. Not argumentative, not hateful, but thoughtful and patient. There can be no peace without longsuffering, and therefore Paul lists this virtue next.

LONGSUFFERING

Longsuffering is that quality which enables a person to bear adversity, injury, reproach, and makes them patient to wait for the improvement of those who have done him wrong. When the devil finds that he cannot overcome certain persons by force he tries to overcome them in the long run. He knows that we are weak and cannot stand anything long. Therefore he repeats his temptation time and again until he succeeds. To withstand his continued assaults we must be longsuffering and patiently wait for the devil to get tired of his game.

GENTLENESS

Gentleness in conduct and life. True followers of the Gospel must not be sharp and bitter, but gentle, mild, courteous, and soft-spoken, which should encourage others to seek their company. Gentleness can overlook other people’s faults and cover them up. Gentleness is always glad to give in to others. Gentleness can get along with forward and difficult persons, according to the old pagan saying: “You must know the manners of your friends, but you must not hate them.” Such a gentle person was our Savior Jesus Christ, as the Gospel portrays Him. Of Peter it is recorded that he wept whenever he remembered the sweet gentleness of Christ in His daily contact with people. Gentleness is an excellent virtue and very useful in every walk of life.

GOODNESS

A person is good when he is willing to help others in their need.

FAITH

In listing faith among the fruits of the Spirit, Paul obviously does not mean faith in Christ, but faith in men. Such faith is not suspicious of people but believes the best. Naturally the possessor of such faith will be deceived, but he lets it pass. He is ready to believe all men, but he will not trust all men. Where this virtue is lacking men are suspicious, forward, and wayward and will believe nothing nor yield to anybody. No matter how well a person says or does anything, they will find fault with it, and if you do not humor them you can never please them. It is quite impossible to get along with them. Such faith in people therefore, is quite necessary. What kind of life would this be if one person could not believe another person?

MEEKNESS

A person is meek when he is not quick to get angry. Many things occur in daily life to provoke a person’s anger, but the Christian gets over his anger by meekness.

TEMPERANCE

Christians are to lead sober and chaste lives. They should not be adulterers, fornicators, or sensualists. They should not be quarrelers or drunkards. In the first and second chapters of the Epistle to Titus, the Apostle admonishes bishops, young women, and married folks to be chaste and pure.

Is there anything here that indicated that the Holy Spirit produces this fruit in us, or does it read like a list of ideals to pursue or rules to obey?  I see two things that may hint at the Holy Spirit’s involvement: 1) “There can be no peace without longsuffering” and, 2) “the Christian gets over his anger by meekness.”  While I appreciate the connection of the fruit of the Spirit and the definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13, nothing here would have turned me from viewing that definition as a list of rules to obey to prove I was a Christian.  In fact, the explanation given for “a walk in the Spirit”[13] seems both mystical and works oriented to me:

They crucify the flesh with its evil desires and lusts by fasting and exercise and, above all, by a walk in the Spirit. To resist the flesh in this manner is to nail it to the Cross. Although the flesh is still alive it cannot very well act upon its desires because it is bound and nailed to the Cross.

Granted, failing at the effort to love like Jesus by turning Paul’s definition of love into rules, prompted me to look for something else—something like the fruit of the Spirit.  But I wonder about Martin Luther.

If Theodore Graebner’s translation carries anything of Luther’s own thinking on the fruit of the Spirit, this alone could account for the pridefulness on which Joe Heschmeyer commented.  If Luther let go of the rule-based righteousness of the monastery yet didn’t fully embrace the righteousness of God in the fruit of the Spirit as he fought for his life to believe in justification by “faith alone” against a stronger adversary than any of us know as the Roman Catholic Church—both pridefulness and a general lack of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control make sense to me.

Every boy growing up in my church knew that “sowing to the flesh” meant viewing pornography.  While that may well be an example of “sowing to the flesh” in one area of human life, rejecting the righteousness of God (Romans 3:21, 22) that is given new every morning—the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that flows from his Holy Spirit—to do it somehow on one’s own is sowing to the flesh in every area of human life (Galatians 6:7-8 NET).

Do not be deceived.  God will not be made a fool.  For a person will reap what he sows, because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption (φθοράν, a form of φθορά) from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Luther/Graebner commented[14] literally if superficially[15] on this:

This simile of sowing and reaping also refers to the proper support of ministers. “He that soweth to the Spirit,” i.e., he that honors the ministers of God is doing a spiritual thing and will reap everlasting life. “He that soweth to the flesh,” i.e., he that has nothing left for the ministers of God, but only thinks of himself, that person will reap of the flesh corruption, not only in this life but also in the life to come. The Apostle wants to stir up his readers to be generous to their pastors.

While sharing all good things with the one who teaches[16] the word is a good thing (Galatins 6:9, 10) that flows from the goodness (ἀγαθωσύνη) of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, bribing one’s teacher will not help anyone live righteously here and now—unless one is also led by the Spirit of God.  Here I’ll turn to Peter to explain Paul (Acts 8:17-20 NET):

Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money, saying, “Give me this power too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”  But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish (ἀπώλειαν, a form of ἀπώλεια) with you, because you thought you could acquire God’s gift with money!”

If your teacher is not even trying to teach you how to be led by the Spirit of God, find another to share all good things with the one who teaches.  Better yet, cry out to Jesus and study the Scriptures with Him.  He loves the Scriptures.  He died, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and will return again to make them so.

[1] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[2] Matthew 26:72b (NET) Table

[3] Acts 1:6b (NET) Table

[4] Tracey R. Rich, Mashiach: The Messiah, Judaism 101

[5] Acts 1:7, 8 (NET) Table

[6] Matthew 7:13, 14 (NET)

[7] Matthew 5:17 (NET)

[8] John 3:17 (NET)

[9] Mark 10:24b (NET)

[10] Some think that progressive sanctification is so tainted with self-righteousness that it is heresy. I’m sensitive to this criticism, having lived and breathed that heresy, but will wait to consider it in another essay.

[11] 1 Corinthians 14:26b (NET)

[12] Commentary on Galatians 5:22, 23

[13] Commentary on Galatians 5:24

[14] Commentary on Galatians 6:8

[15] Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way, and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel (Proverbs 1:31 NET).  The one who sows iniquity will reap trouble (Proverbs 22:8a NET)…  But you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception.  Because you have depended on your chariots; you have relied on your many warriors (Hosea 10:13 NET).  See: Is “you reap what you sow” biblical?

[16] Galatians 6:6 (NET)

Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 5

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In the year of King Uzziah’s death,[1] yehôvâh (יהוה) sent the prophet Isaiah to harden the descendants of Israel living in the southern kingdom of Judah (Isaiah 6:9-12 NET):

“Go and tell these people: ‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!  Look continually, but don’t perceive!’  Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!  Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”

I replied, “How long, sovereign master?”

He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated, and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned.”

The NET translation of the final verse of this chapter extending the period of this hardening through the destruction of the Old Testament religion in 70 A.D. is almost unique: Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down.  That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.[2]  Those who returned from Babylon still didn’t understand the message of the Old Testament Scriptures that they must all be born from above.[3]  They continued in their own works believing, it works if you work it.

You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus told his disciples, but they have not.  For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance.  But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand.[4]  Jesus called the religious institutions created by people hardened by yehôvâh the power of darkness.[5]  Paul’s old human Saul knew this power of darkness firsthand (Acts 26:4, 5, 9-11 NET).

Now all the Jews (Ἰουδαῖοι, a form of Ἰουδαῖος) know the way I lived from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.  They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee…Of course, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.  And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death.  I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme.  Because I was so furiously enraged at them, I went to persecute them even in foreign cities.

I’ll consider the story of Jesus’ arrest as a measure of how calloused their hearts, how deaf their ears and how blind their eyes had become: Judas obtained a squad of soldiers and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees,[6] a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and experts in the law and elders.[7]  Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”[8]

Jesus hearkened attentively to the Holy Spirit in ways that I can scarcely imagine, but He knew everything that was going to happen to him because of the scriptures that say it must happen this way.[9]  Jesus’ Father in heaven revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ (e.g., Messiah), the Son of the living God.[10]  But Peter was so calloused, deaf and blind he did not believe the scriptures that say it must happen this way even when Jesus told him (Matthew 16:21, 22 NET):

From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord!  This must not happen to you!”

Who are you looking for? Jesus asked the crowd armed with swords and clubs (John 18:5, 6 NET):

They replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.)  So when Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they retreated and fell to the ground.

I don’t know if this was a miraculous manifestation of Jesus’ presence or simply that He threw the arresting officers off-balance by standing there rather than running.  He had run before.  Or perhaps they expected Him or his disciples to resist (John 18:7-9 NET).

Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”  And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he.  If you are looking for me, let these men go.”  He said this to fulfill the word he had spoken, “I have not lost a single one of those whom you gave me.”

Now this is the will of the one who sent me, Jesus said to those who had pursued Him across the lake after eating of the loaves and fishes He had blessed and multiplied, that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day.[11]  When I was with them, He had prayed to his Father, I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me.  Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction (Matthew 27:3-10), so that the scripture could be fulfilled.[12]

When those who were around him saw what was about to happen, the accounts of Jesus’ arrest continued, they said, “Lord, should we use our swords?”[13]  They had two (Luke 22:35-38).  The crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and experts in the law and elders took hold of Jesus and arrested him.[14]  Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear.  (Now the slave’s name was Malchus.)[15]  But Jesus said, “Enough of this!”  And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.[16]

Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath!  Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?[17]  For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword.  Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?”[18]

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come out to get him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs like you would against an outlaw?  Day after day when I was with you in the temple courts, you did not arrest me.  But this is your hour, and that of the power of darkness![19]  But this has happened so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.”[20]

Then all the disciples left him and fled.  A young man was following him, wearing only a linen cloth.  They tried to arrest him, but he ran off naked, leaving his linen cloth behind.[21]  Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up.  They brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.  (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)  Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas.[22]

Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, in whose house the experts in the law and the elders had gathered.  But Peter was following him from a distance, all the way to the high priest’s courtyard.[23]  (Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.)  But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door.  So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside.[24]  When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.[25]

I’ve listened to sermons where Peter’s denial of Jesus was portrayed as cowardice.  A Gospel harmony such as this highlights how Peter and all the disciples would have fought to the death at Jesus’ command.  Both Matthew and Mark record that they fled only when Jesus made it clear that He intended to be arrested, tried and executed (Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:49b, 50) so that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.  Jesus’ disciples weren’t cowards; they had calloused hearts, deaf ears and blind eyes for the Scriptures.  But even as the rest fled, Peter followed Jesus at a distance (along with another, possibly John) when he was the one most guilty of a violent criminal act against the high priest.

The unbeliever assumes that the words recorded in the Gospel narratives do not recount what actually happened during Jesus’ arrest but are the post hoc literary inventions of religious minds.  If Jesus had actually said and done these things during his arrest, they reason, the response and outcome would have been different.  At very least the arresting officers would have returned empty-handed saying, “No one ever spoke like this man!”[26]

The believer can use that hypothetical person who would have, or should have, responded differently to Jesus’ teaching and actions as a baseline to derive a relative measurement of the power of darkness, the effects of yehôvâh’s hardening (John 7:47-52 NET):

Then the Pharisees answered, “You haven’t been deceived too, have you?  None of the rulers or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they?  But this rabble who do not know the law are accursed!”

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before and who was one of the rulers, said, “Our law doesn’t condemn a man unless it first hears from him and learns what he is doing (ποιεῖ, a form of ποιέω), does it?”  They replied, “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you?  Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee (Matthew 4:12-16; Isaiah 9)!”

This is the religious milieu where Saul thrived and out of which the apostle Paul was called.  This nearly eight hundred years of calloused hearts, deaf ears and blind eyes, hardening in a word, provides the historical and cultural contexts for his religious mind.

The table I constructed to harmonize the Gospel narratives follows.  Some of the temporal arrangements are admittedly arguable.

Jesus’ Arrest

Matthew 26:50b-58 (NET)

 Mark 14:46-54 (NET) Luke 22:47a, 49-55 (NET)

John 18:3-16, 18 (NET)
So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees.
Then [a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people] came… Then [a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and experts in the law and elders]… While [Jesus] was still speaking, suddenly a crowd appeared… They came to the orchard with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”  They replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.)  So when Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they retreated and fell to the ground.  Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”  And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”  Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he.  If you are looking for me, let these men go.”  He said this to fulfill the word he had spoken, “I have not lost a single one of those whom you gave me.”
When those who were around him saw what was about to happen, they said, “Lord, should we use our swords?”
…and took hold of Jesus and arrested him. …took hold of [Jesus] and arrested him.
But one of those with Jesus grabbed his sword, drew it out, and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his ear. One of the bystanders drew his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his ear. Then one of them struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear. Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear.  (Now the slave’s name was Malchus.)
But Jesus said, “Enough of this!”  And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place! But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath!  Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
For all who take hold of the sword will die by the sword.  Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled?”
At that moment Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw?  Day after day I sat teaching in the temple courts, yet you did not arrest me. Jesus said to them, “Have you come with swords and clubs to arrest me like you would an outlaw?  Day after day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, yet you did not arrest me. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come out to get him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs like you would against an outlaw?  Day after day when I was with you in the temple courts, you did not arrest me.
But this is your hour, and that of the power of darkness!”
But this has happened so that the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled. But this has happened so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.”  Then all the disciples left him and fled.
A young man was following him, wearing only a linen cloth.  They tried to arrest him, but he ran off naked, leaving his linen cloth behind.
Then they arrested Jesus… Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up.
They brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.  (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)  Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas.
Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, in whose house the experts in the law and the elders had gathered.  But Peter was following him from a distance, all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. Then they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and elders and experts in the law came together.  And Peter had followed him from a distance, up to the high priest’s courtyard. …led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house.  But Peter was following at a distance.
(Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.)  But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door.  So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside.
After going in, he sat with the guards to see the outcome. He was sitting with the guards and warming himself by the fire. When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. (Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold.  Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)

[1] Isaiah 6:1a (NET) Note 1: “approximately 740 B.C.”

[2] Isaiah 6:13 (NET)

[3] John 3:7b (NET)

[4] Matthew 13:11-13 (NET)

[5] Luke 22:53b (NET)

[6] John 18:3a (NET)

[7] Mark 14:43b (NET)

[8] John 18:4 (NET)

[9] Matthew 26:54 (NET)

[10] Matthew 16:16b (NET)

[11] John 6:39 (NET)

[12] John 17:12 (NET)

[13] Luke 22:49 (NET)

[14] Matthew 26:50b (NET)

[15] John 18:10 (NET) Table

[16] Luke 22:51 (NET)

[17] John 18:11 (NET) Table

[18] Matthew 26:52b-54 (NET) Table

[19] Luke 22:52, 53 (NET)

[20] Mark 14:49b (NET)

[21] Mark 14:50-52 (NET)

[22] John 18:12-15a (NET)

[23] Matthew 26:57, 58a (NET)

[24] John 18:15b, 16 (NET)

[25] Luke 22:55 (NET)

[26] John 7:46 (NET)