11:2 Now when John 1 heard in prison about the deeds Christ 2 had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: 3
12:15 Now when Jesus learned of this, he went away from there. Great 4 crowds 5 followed him, and he healed them all.
16:1 Now when the Pharisees 6 and Sadducees 7 came to test Jesus, 8 they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 9
19:1 Now when 10 Jesus finished these sayings, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan River. 11
19:16 Now 12 someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?”
21:1 Now 13 when they approached Jerusalem 14 and came to Bethphage, 15 at the Mount of Olives, 16 Jesus sent two disciples,
1 sn John refers to John the Baptist.
2 tc The Western codex D and a few other
tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.
3 tc Instead of “by his disciples” (see the tn below for the reading of the Greek), the majority of later
tn Grk “sending by his disciples he said to him.” The words “a question” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
4 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
5 tc א B pc lat read only πολλοί (polloi, “many”) here, the first hand of N reads ὄχλοι (ocloi, “crowds”), while virtually all the rest of the witnesses have ὄχλοι πολλοί (ocloi polloi, “great crowds”). In spite of the good quality of both א and B (especially in combination), and the testimony of the Latin witnesses, the longer reading is most likely correct; the shorter readings were probably due to homoioteleuton.
6 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
7 sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.
8 tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.
9 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.
10 tn Grk “it happened when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
11 tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity. The region referred to here is sometimes known as Transjordan (i.e., “across the Jordan”).
12 tn Grk “And behold one came.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1). Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
14 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
15 sn The exact location of the village of Bethphage is not known. Most put it on the southeast side of the Mount of Olives and northwest of Bethany, about 1.5 miles (3 km) east of Jerusalem.
16 sn “Mountain” in English generally denotes a higher elevation than it often does in reference to places in Palestine. The Mount of Olives is really a ridge running north to south about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) long, east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. Its central elevation is about 30 meters (100 ft) higher than Jerusalem. It was named for the large number of olive trees which grew on it.
17 tn Grk “spoken to you by God, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legontos) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.
18 tn Grk “the one who betrays him.”
19 tn Grk “The one I kiss is he.”
20 sn This remark is parenthetical within the narrative and has thus been placed in parentheses.