¹ tn Heb “after these things.” The words “the following episode took place” are added for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “angering the Lord God of Israel with their empty things.”

¹ tn Heb “angering the Lord God of Israel with their empty things.”

¹ tn Heb “and he brought the holy things of his father and his holy things (into) the house of the Lord, silver, gold, and items.” Instead of “his holy things,” a marginal reading (Qere) in the Hebrew text has “the holy things of [the house of the Lord].”

¹ tn Heb “and had commanded him concerning this thing not to walk after other gods.”

³ tn Heb “and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.”

² tn Heb “and she did not tell him a thing, small or large.”

³ tn Heb “and a thing there was not to them with men.”

² tn Heb “so the Lord will bring every injurious [or “evil”] word [or “thing”] upon you.”

¹ tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

¹ tn Heb “deeds of things”; NRSV “makes up charges against her”; NIV “slanders her.”

¹ tn Heb “flesh”; cf. NAB “all mankind”; NCV “all people”; NIV, NLT “all living things.”

² tn Or “issues to resolve.” The term is simply דְּבָרִים (d^evarim, “words, things, matters”).

¹ tn The words “the things” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹ tn Heb “every moving thing that lives for you will be for food.”

³ tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

² sn Obviously earthly things and heavenly things are in contrast, but what is the contrast? What are earthly things which Jesus has just spoken to Nicodemus? And through him to others—this is not the first instance of the plural pronoun, see v. 7, you must all. Since Nicodemus began with a plural (we know, v. 2) Jesus continues it, and through Nicodemus addresses a broader audience. It makes most sense to take this as a reference to the things Jesus has just said (and the things he is about to say, vv. 13-15). If this is the case (and it seems the most natural explanation) then earthly things are not necessarily strictly physical things, but are so called because they take place on earth, in contrast to things like v. 16, which take place in heaven. Some have added the suggestion that the things are called earthly because physical analogies (birth, wind, water) are used to describe them. This is possible, but it seems more probable that Jesus calls these things earthly because they happen on earth (even though they are spiritual things). In the context, taking earthly things as referring to the words Jesus has just spoken fits with the fact that Nicodemus did not believe. And he would not after hearing heavenly things either, unless he first believed in the earthly things—which included the necessity of a regenerating work from above, by the Holy Spirit.

² tn Grk “the things concerning you, [namely,] that.” The ὅτι (hoti) clause is appositional to τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν (ta peri humōn) and therefore “the things concerning you” was not translated.

⁵ sn The phrase how much more is a typical form of rabbinic argumentation, from the lesser to the greater. If God cares for the little things, surely he will care for the more important things.

² sn This is a typical form of rabbinic argumentation, from the lesser to the greater: If God cares about the lesser thing (sparrows) how much more does he care about the greater thing (people).