'The commandment... that the LORD commanded me to teach you' models the obedient mediator who does only as God commanded, the pattern Jesus claims in 14:31, 'as the Father commanded me, so I do.' Low confidence: the as-commanded obedience motif is generically Deuteronomic, supplying coloring rather than a specific source.

Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it;


Moses commissions Joshua 'as the LORD directed... so he did,' the do-as-commanded formula echoed in Jesus' 'as the Father commanded me, even so I do.' Low and contested: a faint obedient-agent parallel without verbal anchoring; one of several Pentateuchal 'as commanded, so he did' instances.

He laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as Yahweh spoke by Moses.


The protoevangelium's enmity between the serpent and the woman's seed faintly underlies 'the ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in me,' where the satanic adversary advances but holds no claim on Jesus. Figural and contested: John's 'ruler of this world' draws on a Second-Temple satanology more than on a single Genesis verse, so the link is thematic.

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”


The Adversary (ha-satan) who roams the earth and is granted limited power over the righteous supplies an OT antecedent for 'the ruler of this world' who comes but 'has nothing in' Jesus. Low confidence: it grounds the accusing-adversary figure conceptually, but John's title and the 'no claim on me' idea outrun anything verbal in Job.

Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.” Then Satan […]


The vine 'brought out of Egypt' that God planted and tended is the controlling image Jesus reworks: Israel-as-vine becomes Jesus the true vine. High volume and coherence — Ps 80 also has God's hand burning/cutting the vine (v.16), feeding the imagery of branches thrown into the fire in 15:6, and v.17 'the son of man' whom God strengthens.

You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it. You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars. It sent out its branches to the sea, Its shoots to the River. Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it. Turn […]


The Song of the Vineyard: God's well-tended vineyard yields wild grapes and is judged. Jesus' 'true vine' answers Israel's failure to bear fruit; the Father as vinedresser (georgos) who prunes parallels the owner who tends and then strips Isaiah's vineyard. Strong thematic coherence on fruit-bearing and judgment.

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my […]


'I planted you a choice vine... how then have you turned degenerate, a wild vine?' The contrast between the genuine (true) vine and the degenerate vine sharpens Jesus' 'I am the TRUE vine' — he is what planted Israel was meant to be. High coherence and availability.

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?


The vine-wood good for nothing but fuel, burned in the fire — directly underwrites 15:6, branches gathered, cast into fire, and burned. Ezekiel says the unfruitful vine is given to the fire for fuel; the verbal/conceptual link to the withered branch burned is strong.

Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned: is it profitable for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has […]


The vine planted and tended, which will or won't flourish and may wither, contributes to the cluster of prophetic vine imagery of planting, pruning and withering behind 15:1-6. Recurrence within the vine-of-Israel tradition strengthens it even though no single verbal quotation.

He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow tree. It grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, and produced branches, and shot out sprigs. There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot out its […]


Israel as a fruitful vine plucked up in fury, withered, and consumed by fire — same fruit/wither/fire complex as 15:2,6. Part of the recurrent Ezekiel vine-judgment tradition Jesus inverts as the true vine that abides.

Your mother was like a vine, in your blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. It had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches. But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and […]


'Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit' yet turns to idolatry. Reinforces the vine-of-Israel topos of fruit that should but fails to glorify God, the backdrop for the true vine bearing 'much fruit' to the Father's glory (15:8).

Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.


The righteous as a tree planted by water 'that yields its fruit in its season' and does not wither frames the abiding/fruit-bearing/withering antithesis of 15:2-6. Coherence with the abide-and-bear-fruit motif; tree rather than vine, so a softer echo.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.


The one who trusts the Lord is like a tree planted by water that does not cease to bear fruit even in drought. Parallels remaining/abiding and continual fruit-bearing of the abiding branch (15:4-5); shares the 'not wither / bears fruit' contrast.

Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.


The restored 'pleasant vineyard' that God keeps and waters night and day so Jacob 'shall fill the whole world with fruit' — the eschatological reversal of Isa 5. Jesus the true vine realizes this fruitful vineyard; coherence with 15:8's much fruit and the keeping/tending Father.

In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard! I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day. Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together. Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.” In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and […]


Judah's blessing binds the foal 'to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine,' a messianic vine image read of the coming ruler. A faint contributory resonance to messianic 'true vine' typology rather than a direct source.

Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.


Wisdom says 'I spread out my branches like a terebinth... like a vine I caused loveliness to bud, and my blossoms became glorious and abundant fruit.' Personified Wisdom as a fruitful vine offers a Second-Temple analogue to the 'I am the vine' self-predication, supporting the figural reading.

As the vine I put forth grace; And my flowers are the fruit of glory and riches.


'You did not choose me, but I chose you' (15:16) echoes Israel's election: the Lord chose them not for their merit but in love. Strong coherence on divine election and love; covenantal keeping of commandments (15:10) belongs to the same Deuteronomic frame.

For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, […]


'Abraham my friend' (lit. the one who loved me) — the title 'friend of God' Jesus confers, 'I have called you friends' (15:14-15). The friendship/election language ('Israel... whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my friend') gives high availability and coherence to the friend motif.

“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,


'Abraham your friend' — second OT witness to the Abraham-as-friend-of-God title that 'you are my friends' (15:14) actualizes for the disciples. Recurrence with Isa 41:8 strengthens the friend-of-God tradition behind the saying.

Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham your friend forever?


The Lord spoke to Moses 'as a man speaks to his friend' — the paradigm of intimate friendship with God in which the friend is told the divine purposes, matching 15:15: not servants but friends, 'for everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you.'

Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.


'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?' — the friend of God is not kept ignorant of the master's plans, precisely the logic of 15:15 ('the servant doesn't know what his lord does... I have made known to you'). Coherence with the friend-vs-servant distinction.

Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do, since Abraham has surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”


'Love your neighbor as yourself' underlies the new commandment to 'love one another' (15:12,17). Availability and thematic coherence are strong, though Jesus reframes the measure as 'as I have loved you.'

“‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.


Jonathan's covenant love for David, loving him 'as his own soul' and risking his life, is the paradigmatic OT instance of self-giving friendship behind 'greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends' (15:13). Faint but coherent.

When he had made an end of speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.


The vineyard the Beloved tends out of love continues from 15:1-8 into the love/fruit language here (15:9-16); election to 'go and bear fruit that should remain' recalls God's purpose for his loved vineyard. Secondary recurrence of the chapter's controlling image.

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a wine press therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my […]


'Let not those who hate me without cause wink the eye.' One of the two psalms behind the explicit citation 'They hated me without a cause' (15:25), introduced as 'written in their law.' Verbal correspondence to the hate-without-cause phrase is exact; a Davidic-righteous-sufferer text.

Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.


'More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause.' The other source of 15:25's formula; Ps 69 is heavily used of Jesus' passion elsewhere, raising its likelihood here. Exact verbal match to 'hated me without a cause.'

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.


'They... attack me without cause' — a further Davidic lament of causeless hatred in the same psalmic stream that supplies 15:25. A contributory background witness rather than the cited text.

They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.


'Those who hate me wrongfully are mighty' — another lament-of-the-righteous text echoing causeless hatred of the innocent sufferer, coherent with the world's hatred theme (15:18-25) and the citation in 15:25.

But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous.


'Have you found me, O my enemy?' / hating the prophet who confronts sin parallels 15:22-24: the world hates Jesus because his coming and works expose its sin, leaving it 'no excuse.' A faint resonance with the prophetic pattern of being hated for exposing guilt.

Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh.


'Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake' anticipates being persecuted 'for my name's sake' (15:21). The phrase about suffering on account of God's name gives coherence to the disciples' share in the world's hatred.

Hear Yahweh’s word, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name’s sake, have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;’ but it is those who shall be disappointed.


'The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom... and knowledge' grounds the title 'the Spirit of truth' (15:26) in the prophetic Spirit who imparts true knowledge of God. Coherence with the Spirit's testifying/witness role; medium volume.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.


'Not by might... but by my Spirit, says the Lord' — divine action accomplished by the Spirit rather than human power, a backdrop to the Paraclete's empowering witness (15:26-27). A faint thematic echo rather than verbal.

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.


The promised outpouring of the Spirit on God's people stands behind Jesus' promise to 'send' the Spirit who, with the disciples, testifies (15:26-27). Availability of the eschatological Spirit-gift tradition; low verbal contact.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.


The Spirit placed on the elders so they prophesy, and Moses' wish that all the Lord's people might have the Spirit, anticipates the Spirit given so the disciples 'also testify' (15:27). Faint coherence with Spirit-enabled witness.

Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran, and told […]


'Whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God' figurally invokes the Phinehas-zeal pattern, where killing in defense of God's honor is reckoned righteous and brings a covenant of priesthood. John frames synagogue persecution as misdirected cultic zeal; coherence with the prophet-killing motif is high, and Phinehas was the paradigmatic Second-Temple model of lethal zeal (1 Macc 2:26, 54).

Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of […]


Persecution 'for your sake' / zeal for God's house consuming the persecutor sits behind the idea that opponents act in supposed devotion. John 2:17 already cited this psalm, so recurrence within the Gospel supports a faint echo of the zeal-as-cover motif, but volume here is thin.

Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children. For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.


Isaiah 66:5 speaks of brethren who hate and cast out the faithful 'for my name's sake,' claiming it is God who is glorified — strikingly close to expulsion from the synagogue done as service to God. Volume and coherence are strong; the verb of casting out the faithful from the cultic community matches John's aposynagogos.


The killing of Zechariah the prophet in the temple court typifies prophets slain by the very people of God under pretense of fidelity. As a representative of the persecuted-prophets tradition it coheres with Jesus' warning that disciples will be killed by those who think they serve God.

The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you disobey the commandments of Yahweh, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’” They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house. Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his […]


The Paraclete as 'Spirit of truth' who convicts the world recalls the Spirit of the LORD resting on the shoot of Jesse — wisdom, counsel, and judging with righteousness, reproving the earth. The convicting/judicial function of the Spirit (krinei, elenxei) coheres tightly with Isaiah's Spirit-endowed righteous judge.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the […]


The Spirit convicting 'the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment' enacts the divine lawsuit (rib) of Deutero-Isaiah, where God prosecutes the nations and their idols, exposing their case as nothing. John's forensic vocabulary (elenchein, krisis, dikaiosyne) coheres with the Isaianic courtroom, supplying the conceptual matrix for the Paraclete's prosecutorial role.

Produce your cause,” says Yahweh. “Bring out your strong reasons,” says the King of Jacob. “Let them announce, and declare to us what shall happen. Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together. Behold, you are of nothing, […]


'The prince of this world has been judged' figurally evokes the protoevangelium's sentence on the serpent, read in Second-Temple tradition as the crushing of the adversary. The judgment of the ruler coheres with John's wider serpent/devil typology (8:44), though the verbal link is faint.

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”


Isaiah foretells the LORD punishing 'the host of the high ones' and the kings of the earth, shut up and visited after many days — a judgment of cosmic rulers that prefigures the 'prince of this world' being judged. The motif of a heavenly ruler subjected to verdict coheres with John 16:11.

It shall happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.


The satan/accuser rebuked and condemned in the heavenly court anticipates the ruler of this world being judged. The forensic setting where the accuser is himself overruled coheres with the Paraclete (Advocate) replacing the prosecuting adversary.

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


The 'Spirit of truth' who guides into all truth draws on the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the leading/guiding function recalls the Spirit as teacher. Recurrence of the Spirit-of-truth title in John strengthens the Isaianic resonance.


'Guide me in your truth and teach me' supplies the precise idiom of being led/guided into truth (hodegein + aletheia in LXX), matching 'he will guide you into all truth.' Volume is notable because the verb and noun co-occur as in John 16:13.

Guide me in your truth, and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation, I wait for you all day long.


'Your good Spirit will lead me' pairs the divine Spirit with guidance into right paths, coherent with the Paraclete leading disciples. The conjunction of Spirit and leading reinforces the guidance motif though the wording is more distant than Psalm 25.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.


'The Lord GOD will do nothing but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets' undergirds 'he will declare to you things that are coming' — the Spirit functioning as the prophetic revealer of God's hidden future. Coherence with the disclosure-of-the-future clause is good though the allusion is diffuse.

Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.


'There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and has made known what shall come to pass' parallels the Spirit declaring 'things that are coming.' The apocalyptic disclosure of the future coheres with the Paraclete's revelatory role.

but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these: as for you, O king, your thoughts came on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what shall happen.


The woman in labor whose anguish turns to deliverance, set beside resurrection ('your dead shall live'), is the controlling figure behind sorrow-turned-to-joy and 'I will see you again.' Volume is high (extended birth-pang image), recurrence strong in the prophets, and coherence with John's death-to-resurrection movement is exact.

Like as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, Yahweh. We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of […]


Zion's painless birth issuing in joy, comfort, and rejoicing hearts ('your heart shall rejoice') is closely echoed by 'your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away.' The labor-to-joy reversal and the explicit heart-rejoicing give high volume and coherence.

“Before she travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to be delivered?” says Yahweh: “shall I who cause to give birth shut the womb?” says your God. “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who […]


Zion in labor 'like a woman in travail' who must groan before being delivered prefigures the disciples' pangs preceding deliverance. The eschatological birth-pang motif coheres with Jesus' 'her time has come' / 'a human being is born into the world.'

Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail? Be in pain, and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.


The day of distress likened to a man in the pangs of a woman in labor — Jacob's trouble out of which he is saved — supplies the tribulation-then-salvation structure of 16:20-22. Coherence with the messianic 'birth-pangs' tradition is strong.

Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.


'Hide yourselves for a little while (mikron) until the indignation passes' is the closest LXX source for the repeated 'a little while' bracketing distress before vindication. The mikron-then-deliverance pattern coheres tightly with 16:16-19.

Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.


'Yet once, it is a little while (mikron), and I will shake the heavens' offers an eschatological 'little while' before God's decisive intervention. It supports the 'little while' time-marker, though the shaking-the-cosmos context is only loosely coherent.

For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;


'After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him' undergirds the short-interval-then-seeing-again pattern of 'a little while... and you will see me.' The revival-after-brief-interval coheres with the resurrection sense, though John does not cite it.

After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him. Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”


'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning' is a tight aphoristic match for 'you will weep and lament... but your sorrow will be turned into joy.' The night-weeping/morning-joy reversal coheres precisely with the sorrow-to-joy promise.

For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.


'I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow' is verbally close to 'your sorrow will be turned into joy.' The turning-of-mourning-to-joy in the new-covenant restoration passage gives strong coherence.

Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.


'Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart' resonates with 'whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it.' The granting-of-petitions motif coheres, though the link is generic to OT prayer theology.

Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.


'Before they call, I will answer' frames the eschatological 'in that day' when asking yields immediate granting, coherent with 16:23-24's day of unhindered prayer. The new-creation setting matches John's 'in that day' marker.

It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.


God speaks to Moses 'mouth to mouth, clearly (plainly), and not in dark speeches' — the plain-speech vs. figures-of-speech contrast (16:25) echoes the riddle/plain-revelation distinction. Coherence with 'no more speak in figures but tell you plainly' is suggestive.

With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”


'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered' lies behind 'you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone.' The scattering-of-the-flock-at-the-shepherd's-smiting is a recognized passion testimony; coherence is strong even without formal citation.

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.


'I have overcome the world' enacts the divine-warrior/royal-Son motif of Psalm 2, where the nations rage but the enthroned Son subdues them. The cosmic conquest coheres with John's 'ruler of this world' being judged and the Son's victory over a hostile world.

Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying, “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath: “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.” I will tell […]


'That in me you may have peace' amid tribulation evokes the messianic 'Prince of Peace' whose government brings peace without end. The peace-in-the-Son motif coheres with John's farewell shalom (cf. 14:27), though volume here is low.

For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.


'Fear not, for I am with you' undergirds 'cheer up!' and 'the Father is with me' as divine-presence reassurance against a hostile world. The do-not-fear / I-am-with-you formula coheres with Jesus' encouragement, though it is a widespread OT idiom.

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.


The everlasting dominion given to the one like a son of man, that all should serve him, frames 'I have overcome the world' as the Son of Man's universal triumph over the nations. The cosmic victory coheres with Johannine exaltation, though the link is thematic.

There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


'You gave him authority over all flesh' (v2) reprises the one like a son of man to whom 'was given dominion... that all peoples should serve him.' High Volume in the verbal pairing of given-authority + universal scope; Recurrence is strong since Johannine and Synoptic Son of Man material draws steadily on Dan 7. Coherent with John's glorification-by-exaltation logic.


'The glory which I had with you before the world existed' (v5) figures the Son after personified Wisdom, who was beside God 'before the beginning of the earth' rejoicing in the inhabited world. Availability and Recurrence are high in Johannine Logos/Wisdom Christology (cf. John 1); the conceptual fit (preexistent agent of creation, delight/glory shared) is strong though the wording is not quoted.

“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was […]


'Before the world existed' (v5) echoes 'before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth... from everlasting.' The temporal formula for divine pre-creation eternity coheres with the Son's claim to preexistent glory; Volume modest, supported by the same idiom in Wisdom traditions.

Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.


'Before the world existed' (v5) presupposes the creation account's absolute beginning, the backdrop against which the Son's pre-cosmic glory is asserted. Faint by itself but coherent with John 1:1's deliberate 'In the beginning' recasting of Genesis.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


'I have accomplished the work which you gave me to do' (v4) faintly mirrors God finishing the work of creation and resting. Possible figural completion-of-work motif, but the language is generic; marked contested for low Volume.

The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.


'This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God' (v3) recasts 'let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD.' Knowing God as the supreme good is the load-bearing parallel; high Coherence with John's salvific epistemology and strong Recurrence of this Jeremianic theme in Second-Temple piety.

Thus says Yahweh, Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.


'That they should know you' as life (v3) resonates with 'I desire... the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.' Knowledge of God as the heart of the covenant relationship supplies a coherent OT substratum, though John intensifies it to eternal life.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.


'To know your power is the root of immortality' is a remarkably close conceptual antecedent to 'this is eternal life, that they should know you' (v3). Availability (deuterocanonical, pre-Johannine) and Coherence are high; the equation knowledge-of-God = immortality is nearly verbal, strengthening the case as a Second-Temple bridge.

For to be acquainted with you is perfect righteousness, And to know your dominion is the root of immortality.


'They should know you' coupled with 'glorify' (vv1-3) faintly recalls 'the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD.' Knowledge-plus-glory cluster offers thematic coherence but Volume is low and diffuse.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.


'The only true God' (v3) presses the Shema's confession of the one LORD. Monotheistic exclusivity is the coherent backdrop, and John's 'only true' renders the Shema's uniqueness; modest Volume since the wording is interpretive rather than quoted.

Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.


Personified Wisdom 'created before the ages' supplies a Second-Temple analogue to the Son's glory 'before the world existed' (v5). Reinforces the Wisdom-preexistence channel alongside Proverbs 8; low independent Volume.

He created me from the beginning before the world; And to the end I will not fail.


'I revealed your name to the people' (v6) figures Jesus' mission as the disclosure of the divine Name first given at the bush, where God names himself I AM and 'this is my name forever.' John's recurrent egō eimi sayings make this Name-revelation channel highly coherent and recurrent.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.


'I revealed your name' (v6) draws on the LORD's promise 'I will proclaim before you my name, the LORD.' The pattern of God making his Name known through a mediator coheres with the prayer's theology; Volume modest but the Name-proclamation motif recurs across the chapter (vv11,26).

He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim Yahweh’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”


The Sinai theophany where the LORD 'proclaimed the name of the LORD' (grace, truth, steadfast love) underlies 'I revealed your name' (v6) and feeds John's grace-and-truth framework. Coherent and recurrent with John 1:14-17; the manifest-Name act is the shared structure.

Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name. Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the […]


'Therefore my people shall know my name' anticipates 'I revealed your name to the people... they have known' (vv6-7). The eschatological Name-knowledge promised to the elect people coheres tightly with Jesus' report to the Father; moderate Volume via the shared name/know pairing.

Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks; behold, it is I.”


'I will tell of your name to my brothers' is the psalmist's vow that 'I revealed your name to the people whom you gave me' (v6) enacts. Recurrence is strong (Ps 22 pervades the Johannine passion); Coherence high since the speaker declares the Name to a given community.

I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you.


'They have kept your word' (v6) echoes Levi who 'kept your word and held to your covenant.' The covenant-fidelity idiom for the consecrated supports the priestly coloring of the prayer; low Volume, generic phrasing.

He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant.


'The people whom you have given me out of the world... they were yours' (vv6,9) recasts Israel as God's own chosen possession 'out of all peoples.' Election-from-the-nations language is the coherent backdrop, though John substitutes 'world' for 'peoples'; low Volume.

For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.


'Holy Father, keep them through your name' (v11) figures the Aaronic blessing where the LORD 'keep you' and 'so shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.' The conjunction of keeping + the Name placed on the people is a strong, specific structural parallel to Jesus' priestly petition.

‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’ “So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”


'That they may be one, even as we are' (v11) figures the two sticks joined 'that they may become one in your hand,' Ezekiel's sign of regathered, unified Israel. The oneness-of-the-people motif is coherent with John's unity petitions (vv21-23) and recurs there, strengthening the figural reading.

and join them for you one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.


Keeping the people in the Name 'that they may be one' (v11) echoes the promise that purified peoples will 'call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord' (lit. one shoulder). Name + unity cluster is coherent though the Volume is faint.

For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.


'None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled' (v12) points to 'my close friend... who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me,' the betrayal text John explicitly cites at 13:18. High Coherence and Recurrence make this the leading scriptural referent for the fulfillment formula here.

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.


'The son of destruction' whose loss fulfills Scripture (v12) is illumined by 'may his days be few; may another take his office,' the imprecation later applied to Judas in Acts. The betrayer-who-must-be-replaced motif coheres with the fulfillment claim; medium since John does not quote it here.

Let his days be few. Let another take his office.


The 'son of destruction' (v12) is typologically prefigured by Ahithophel, David's trusted counselor who betrays him, crosses with him over the brook, and hangs himself. The David/Jesus typology with a betraying intimate provides coherent, recurrent narrative substance behind Judas; figural rather than verbal.

After this, Absalom prepared him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. It was so, that when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, “What city are you from?” He said, “Your servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.” Absalom said to him, “Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man deputized by the […]


The Semitic idiom 'son of destruction/perdition' (v12) resembles prophetic 'children of transgression, offspring of deceit.' Supplies an OT pattern for the 'son of X' designation of the doomed, but the specific phrase is not borrowed; low Volume, contested.

Against whom do you sport yourselves? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of falsehood,


'That they may have my joy made full in themselves' (v13) resonates with 'in your presence there is fullness of joy.' The eschatological-fullness-of-joy-before-God motif is coherent with Jesus' departure-to-the-Father context; moderate Volume on the shared joy/fullness pairing.

You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.


'The world hated them' (v14) draws on 'those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head,' a psalm John cites for groundless hatred (cf. 15:25 'they hated me without a cause'). Recurrence in the Johannine farewell makes the hatred-without-cause echo coherent here.

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.


'Keep them from the evil one' (v15) parallels 'The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.' The divine keeping/guarding-from-evil idiom is coherent with the prayer's repeated 'keep' language (vv11-12), though 'the evil one' personalizes it; moderate Volume.

Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.


'Keep them from the evil one' (v15) faintly invokes the primeval serpent/adversary whose enmity God will overcome. Provides the figural source for a personal evil agent, but the connection is inferential; low Volume, contested.

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”


'They are not of the world even as I am not of the world' (v16) echoes Israel 'a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations.' The set-apart, distinct-from-the-nations identity coheres with the disciples' otherworldly status; faint and generic.

For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.


'Sanctify them in your truth... for their sakes I sanctify myself' (vv17,19) figures the consecration of Aaron and his sons to priestly service ('anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them'). The setting-apart-for-sacred-mission language gives the prayer its priestly architecture; coherent and recurrent across vv17-19.

You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.


The ordination rite consecrating Aaron underlies the double sanctification of disciples and self (vv17,19). Jesus as both consecrating priest and consecrated offering coheres with the chapter's high-priestly framing; figural Volume is substantial though no single verse is quoted.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread; and assemble all the congregation at the door of the Tent of Meeting.” Moses did as Yahweh commanded him; and the congregation was assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded to be […]


'Sanctify them' (v17) recalls the command to clothe and 'consecrate' Aaron that he may serve as priest. Reinforces the consecration channel alongside Exod 28 and Lev 8; counted separately but lower independent Volume.

You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.


'Sanctify yourselves' as preparation to encounter the LORD offers an OT idiom behind 'sanctify them' (v17). Generic consecration language; supportive but faint, marked contested.

“Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you will eat flesh; for you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore Yahweh will give you flesh, and you will eat.


'I sanctified you... and appointed you a prophet to the nations' parallels both 'sanctify them' and the sending 'into the world' (vv17-18). The set-apart-and-sent pattern for the prophetic commission coheres tightly with the disciples' consecration-for-mission; moderate Volume.

“Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”


'Your word is truth' (v17) closely renders 'your law is truth' (Ps 119:142) and 'the sum of your word is truth' (119:160). Near-verbal correspondence gives high Volume; the equation of God's word with truth is the precise scriptural ground for the petition.

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Your law is truth.


'The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever' is the most exact antecedent of 'your word is truth' (v17). High Volume and Coherence; listed alongside 119:142 as the twin source of the maxim.

All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.


'Your words are truth' in David's prayer offers a second OT formulation behind 'your word is truth' (v17). Supports the maxim but with lower Volume than the Psalm 119 parallels; contested as the primary referent.

“Now, O Lord Yahweh, you are God, and your words are truth, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.


'As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them' (v18) faintly recalls the prophetic sending 'Whom shall I send... Here I am, send me.' The divine commissioning-and-being-sent pattern is coherent though the wording is general; low Volume.

I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”


'That they may all be one' / 'perfected into one' (vv21-23) figures Ezekiel's promise 'I will make them one nation... and one king shall be king over them all.' The unification of God's scattered people under one head is a coherent, recurrent figural backdrop for the Johannine unity petitions.

and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;


The two sticks 'joined... one in your hand' is the enacted sign behind repeated 'that they may be one' (vv21-22). Reinforces the Ezekiel reunification channel introduced at v11; coherent and recurrent, figural rather than verbal.

and join them for you one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.


Peoples serving the LORD 'with one accord' echoes the unity 'that the world may believe' (vv21-23). The purified-and-unified-nations motif coheres with the missional aim of the unity but the Volume is faint.

For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.


'The glory which you have given me, I have given to them' (v22) faintly mirrors Moses' face shining with reflected divine glory after Sinai. The motif of communicated/derivative glory is coherent, but John speaks of indwelling glory rather than facial radiance; low Volume.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him. Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. […]


Glory bestowed on the disciples (v22) loosely recalls humanity 'crowned with glory and honor.' Generic glory-conferral idiom; supportive but faint and contested.

For you have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.


'You... loved them, even as you loved me' (v23) echoes the LORD setting his love on Israel not for their greatness but because he loved them. The gratuitous divine love for the elect community coheres with the prayer, though John extends it to the disciples through the Son; low Volume.

Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.


'You loved me before the foundation of the world' and 'see my glory' (v24) figure the Son after Wisdom delighted in by God before creation. The pre-cosmic love/glory shared between Father and agent is the same Wisdom channel that frames v5; coherent and recurrent within the prayer.

“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was […]


'Before the foundation of the world' (v24) reuses the pre-creation eternity idiom of 'from everlasting... before... you had formed the earth.' Matches the temporal frame asserted of the Father-Son love and glory; moderate Volume via the recurring formula.

Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.


'That they may see my glory' (v24) figures Moses' request 'Show me your glory' and the Sinai vision tradition. John transposes the longed-for sight of divine glory into the disciples' eschatological seeing of the Son's glory; coherent with the chapter's glory and Name theology.


'Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I knew you' (v25) recalls the LORD who 'practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness' and the boast of knowing him from 9:23-24. The righteousness-plus-knowledge cluster ties v25 back to v3's eternal-life-as-knowledge; coherent, moderate Volume.

but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.


'The world has not known you' (v25) echoes 'the nations that do not know you,' the contrast between God's people and the ignorant nations. Coherent with John's world/disciples antithesis but the phrasing is generic; low Volume.

Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you; on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name;


'I made known to them your name, and will make it known' (v26) reprises 'I will proclaim before you my name, the LORD,' closing the inclusio with v6. The ongoing proclamation of the Name as the vehicle of God's presence and love is coherent and recurrent across the prayer.

He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim Yahweh’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”


'I made known to them your name... that the love... may be in them' (v26) resonates with God's resolve to 'vindicate the holiness of my great name' so the nations know him, paired in Ezekiel with the indwelling Spirit (36:26-27). The hallowing-of-the-Name leading to interior transformation coheres with John's Name-and-indwelling climax; moderate Volume.

I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.


'I made known to them your name, and will make it known' (v26) restates the psalmist's vow 'I will tell of your name to my brothers,' bracketing the prayer with v6. The repeated declaration of the Name to the community gives strong Coherence and Recurrence within John.

I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you.


'I made known to them your name' (v26) echoes 'I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel.' Reinforces the make-known-the-Name channel alongside Exod 33 and Isa 52:6; lower independent Volume, contested.

My holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I allow my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.


Jesus crosses the brook Kidron with his disciples to a garden where he is betrayed, deliberately retracing David's flight across the Kidron under the betrayal of his counselor Ahithophel. The verbal anchor cheimarros tou Kedron (LXX) is exact and singular, and John alone of the evangelists names the wadi, signaling a typological David-suffers-betrayal pattern with high Volume and Coherence.

All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.


David ascends the Mount of Olives weeping, head covered, abandoned by intimates, the very topography to which Jesus 'often met' (Gethsemane lies on Olivet's slope). The shared geography plus the betrayed-king-in-anguish motif coheres with the Kidron crossing of v.1, strengthening the Davidic typology though John omits the agony itself.

David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.


Ahithophel the betrayer hangs himself once his counsel fails, a fate the Synoptic Judas shares; the Kidron-crossing frame invites the reader to map Judas onto Ahithophel. Faint here because John does not narrate Judas's death, so the link rests on the larger Davidic matrix rather than this pericope's wording.

When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.


The arrest in a 'garden' (kepos), a setting unique to John among the passion accounts and reprised at the tomb (19:41; 20:15), evokes Eden as the place where humanity's fall began and where the new Adam now reverses it through obedience. The Coherence with John's new-creation theology (cf. 20:22) gives the figural reading weight despite no verbal quotation.

Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.


Jesus' absolute 'I am' (ego eimi) before the arresting party, at which they fall back, deploys the divine self-naming of the burning bush as rendered in the LXX (ego eimi ho on). The soldiers' collapse functions as a theophanic reaction, and John's repeated, climactic placement of ego eimi gives high Volume and Coherence with the Gospel's I-am Christology.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”


Deutero-Isaiah's 'that you may know and believe... that I am he' (ego eimi) supplies the monotheistic confessional sense John attaches to Jesus' self-declaration. The Isaianic ego eimi formula is the most plausible Second-Temple background for the absolute usage, reinforcing Exodus 3:14 and adding Recurrence across John's I-am sayings.

“You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.


'When evildoers came against me... they stumbled and fell' matches the soldiers going backward and falling to the ground at Jesus' word. The psalm of the righteous sufferer whose assailants collapse gives strong thematic Coherence; the falling-enemies motif is the verbal hinge linking the scene to the lament tradition.

When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.


'Let them be turned back and brought to confusion who plot my hurt' supplies the enemies-driven-backward motif (apostrapheien eis ta opiso, LXX) that matches the arrest party's recoil (eis ta opiso). The shared lexeme eis ta opiso strengthens Volume above a merely thematic link in this cluster of persecution psalms.

Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonor. Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded.


'Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call' offers another lament instance of foes turning back before the trusting sufferer, coherent with the soldiers' collapse. Low confidence as one of several overlapping psalm parallels rather than a distinct verbal source.

Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me.


'Let them be turned back and put to shame who seek my life' pairs the very verbs John uses (seek/zetein, turn back) as the soldiers 'seek' Jesus and go backward. Faint and contested, included for Recurrence within the righteous-sufferer psalm pattern behind the recoil.

Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.


Jesus' 'the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?' draws on the prophetic cup of wrath, here the cup in the LORD's hand of foaming wine that the wicked must drain. The cup-of-judgment metaphor is the controlling image, and John's substitution of obedience-unto-death for the Synoptic prayer to remove the cup gives the figural reading high Volume and Coherence.

For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.


'You have drunk... the cup of his wrath, the bowl of staggering' names the cup Jerusalem must drink, the background for the cup the Father gives Jesus to drink in the people's place. The Isaianic cup of staggering is a primary source of the metaphor, and Jesus' willing acceptance coheres with the Servant's vicarious suffering.

Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.


The LORD takes the cup of staggering from Jerusalem's hand and gives it to her tormentors; Jesus, drinking the cup, figurally takes it back so the people need not drink. The removal-and-transfer logic coheres with the substitution theme, supplementing 51:17 as the cup-of-wrath source.

Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you shall no more drink it again:


'Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and make all the nations drink it' provides the most explicit OT 'cup the LORD gives to drink' formula, matching John's 'cup the Father has given.' The giving-of-the-cup wording strengthens the wrath-cup background behind Jesus' question.

For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.


'The cup shall pass to you also; you shall become drunk' continues the cup-of-judgment idiom, reinforcing the figural cup Jesus accepts. Low confidence as a secondary witness within the broader prophetic cup tradition rather than a direct source.

Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.


Jesus is 'bound' (edesan) and led to the priests, faintly echoing the binding (aqedah) of Isaac, the beloved son bound for sacrifice. Low and contested: John supplies no verbal Isaac marker, so the link rests on the bound-sacrificial-son typology that informs Johannine atonement theology elsewhere.

They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.


Caiaphas the high priest 'that year' unwittingly presides over the death that atones for the people, mirroring the high priest's Day of Atonement role of securing the nation's expiation. The priestly-mediator framing coheres with John's irony that Caiaphas prophesies the saving death, though the connection is conceptual rather than verbal.

The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father’s place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments. Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.


Peter stands and warms himself among the servants and officers ranged against Jesus, faintly inverting the blessed man who does not 'stand in the way of sinners.' Faint and contested; the standing-among-the-wicked motif is suggestive of the first psalm's contrast but lacks verbal anchor.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;


The charcoal fire (anthrakia) at which the company warms itself in the cold recalls the brazier before which the king burns Jeremiah's scroll, an image of hostility toward the prophetic word. Low confidence: a shared cold-weather brazier setting without further verbal contact, included for maximal coverage.

Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him.


Jesus' 'I spoke openly to the world... I said nothing in secret' closely matches the LORD's 'I have not spoken in secret, in a place of a land of darkness' (LXX ouk en kruphe... en topo skoteino). The shared 'not in secret' (en kruphe) idiom and the public-revelation claim give strong Volume, casting Jesus' testimony in the voice of the self-revealing God of Isaiah.

I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.


'From the beginning I have not spoken in secret' provides a second Isaianic 'not in secret' declaration reinforcing Jesus' open-teaching claim. The Recurrence of the formula across Isaiah 45 and 48 strengthens the allusion's plausibility as deliberate adoption of divine speech.

“Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I.” Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, with his Spirit.


An officer strikes Jesus on the face for his answer, enacting the Servant's 'I gave my back to the smiters... I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.' The striking-of-the-cheek of the obedient Servant gives high Coherence with the Johannine passion's Servant Christology, and the blow on the innocent witness matches the Servant's non-resistance.

I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.


'With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek' supplies a prophetic oracle of the ruler struck on the face, matching the officer's slap of Jesus. The cheek-striking of the messianic judge gives Coherence with John's royal-Christology trial scene, though the verbal contact is through the shared act rather than quotation.

Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.


'Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him; let him be filled with insults' commends the silent acceptance of the blow that Jesus models when struck and then reasons quietly rather than retaliating. The give-the-cheek motif coheres with the righteous-sufferer pattern shaping the interrogation scene.

Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach.


Zedekiah strikes the true prophet Micaiah on the cheek for his testimony before the king, a striking-the-faithful-prophet parallel to the officer's blow on Jesus. Low confidence; one of several OT cheek-blow scenes, included for the prophet-struck-for-truth Recurrence.

Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the Spirit of Yahweh go from me to speak to you?”


The officer's rebuke 'Do you answer the high priest like that?' invokes the Torah prohibition against reviling a ruler of the people, ironically applied to silence the true Lord. Faint and contested; the link is the legal premise behind the officer's charge rather than a quotation.

“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.


Peter's threefold denial by the charcoal fire belongs to the cluster of intimate-betrayal motifs John draws from Psalm 41:9 ('my close friend in whom I trusted... has lifted his heel against me'), already cited at 13:18. Low here because the psalm's primary referent is Judas; Peter's failure echoes the broader friend-failure pattern rather than the verse directly.

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.


'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered' undergirds the disciples' collapse, of which Peter's denial is the sharpest instance. Faint in John, which lacks the Synoptic citation, so the scattering-of-the-flock motif is conceptual support rather than a marked allusion.

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.


The accusers avoid defilement so they may 'eat the Passover,' even as they deliver the true Passover lamb to slaughter, a Johannine irony tied to the Exodus 12 paschal meal. The Coherence with John's paschal-lamb chronology (19:14, 19:36) gives the figural Passover framing real weight in this transitional pericope.

They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.


The concern over ritual defilement that would bar one from keeping the Passover reflects the purity legislation of Numbers 9, sharpening the irony of scrupulous purity beside judicial murder. Low confidence; the purity premise is conceptual background rather than an evoked text.

There were certain men, who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children of Israel?” Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command […]


Jesus' kingship 'not of this world,' a dominion not delivered by force, enacts the everlasting, non-earthly kingdom given to the one like a son of man. John's royal trial coheres with Daniel's vision of a heaven-bestowed, indestructible reign that 'shall not pass away,' giving the figural Son-of-Man kingship high Coherence with Johannine Christology.

There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


The kingdom given to the saints of the Most High, an everlasting dominion all peoples shall serve, supplies the otherworldly-sovereignty register behind Jesus' claim that his servants do not fight for an earthly realm. Recurrence within Daniel 7 reinforces the Son-of-Man kingdom background of the Pilate dialogue.

The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.


Pilate's interrogation of Jesus' kingship before the nations replays the royal psalm in which the LORD installs his anointed king on Zion while rulers conspire against him. The king-versus-the-rulers-of-the-earth frame gives Coherence with the Barabbas/Pilate scene, casting Jesus as the Messiah-king the nations reject.

“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”


'The kings of the earth set themselves... against the LORD and his anointed' frames the rulers' collusion against the true king, matching Pilate and the chief priests arrayed against Jesus the King of the Jews. The conspiracy-of-rulers motif strengthens the messianic-king reading of the trial.

The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,


'I have given him as a witness (martys) to the peoples, a leader and commander' resonates with Jesus' 'I have come... that I should testify to the truth.' Low confidence; the witness-to-the-nations idea coheres with the kingship dialogue but lacks decisive verbal contact.

Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.


Micaiah's resolve to speak only what is true before the king parallels Jesus' mission to 'testify to the truth' before Pilate, the true-witness-before-the-ruler motif. Faint and contested, included for the prophet-bears-truth Recurrence behind the trial.

Micaiah said, “As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak.”


'The sum of your word is truth' stands behind Pilate's question 'What is truth?' and Jesus' truth-witness, since for John truth (aletheia) is the revelation of God enacted in Jesus. Faint; the link is thematic to John's truth motif rather than to a quoted verse.

All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.


Pilate's Passover custom of releasing one prisoner while Jesus goes to death evokes the two-goats rite: one set free, the other slain to bear the people's sin. The released-Barabbas/condemned-Jesus pairing gives the scapegoat typology real Coherence with John's substitutionary 'one man for the people' (11:50; 18:14).

He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the […]


'The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all' frames the swap by which the guilty robber goes free and the innocent one is condemned in his place. The Servant who bears others' sin coheres tightly with the Barabbas substitution, strengthening John's vicarious-death reading.

All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


The Servant 'numbered with the transgressors' resonates with Jesus condemned in the place of Barabbas the robber/insurrectionist. Low confidence here since John does not crucify Jesus between criminals as the Synoptics do; the link rests on the with-the-transgressors theme.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


The Passover-release custom set against the choice of the lamb-king to die deepens John's paschal irony, in which the unblemished lamb is rejected while a 'robber' is freed. Faint; the paschal framing is structural to the pericope but the connection to the lamb selection is conceptual.

Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.


The flogging and the slapping ('they kept slapping him') strongly recall the Servant who gives his back to those who strike and his cheeks to those who pluck the beard, not hiding his face from shame and spitting. High volume of shared imagery (back smitten, face struck) and coherence with John's Servant-passion frame.

I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.


The Servant despised, wounded, and bruised stands behind the whole scourging scene; John reads the passion through the Suffering Servant. Coherence is strong across the chapter even where no formula is used.

He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.


The mockery of the crowned 'king' echoes the scorned righteous sufferer who is a reproach and despised, mocked by onlookers. Recurrence is high since John quotes Psalm 22:18 later in the chapter, raising the availability and coherence of the whole psalm.

But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying, “He trusts in Yahweh; let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”


The ironic crowning and hailing of a humble king may faintly invoke Zechariah's king who comes lowly; John used Zech 9:9 explicitly at the entry (12:15), making it available. Faint and contested as background coloring only.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.


Pilate's 'Behold, the man!' (idou ho anthropos) may echo 'Behold, the man whose name is the Branch' who shall build the temple, a messianic-royal-priestly figure. John has a temple-body theme (2:19-21); coherence is suggestive though contested, since the Greek wording differs.

and speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple;


The LORD's word to Samuel, 'Behold the man... he shall reign over my people,' offers an ironic royal echo to Pilate's presentation of the true (rejected) king. Faint; offered as alternative to the Zechariah Branch reading.

When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! this same shall have authority over my people.”


'We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God' invokes the Torah blasphemy statute commanding death for one who blasphemes the Name. The charge is legally grounded in this verse; high coherence with the trial logic.

He who blasphemes Yahweh’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.


The death sentence for a presumptuous prophet who speaks in God's name may secondarily inform 'by our law he ought to die.' Lower volume than Lev 24:16, offered as supplementary legal background.

But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”


The title 'Son of God' adjacent to the heavenly 'one like a son of man' may stand faintly behind the Jewish leaders' accusation. Contested and faint; the divine-sonship charge is the chapter's pivot.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.


Jesus' 'You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above' echoes Daniel's confession that God removes and sets up kings and gives authority. Coherent with John's theology of derived earthly power; medium volume.

He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding;


'The Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he will' directly grounds the claim that Pilate's authority is given 'from above.' Strong conceptual coherence; paired with Dan 2:21.

The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.


'By me kings reign and rulers decree justice' (Wisdom speaking) faintly supports the notion that governing authority is divinely delegated. Lower volume than Daniel; offered as wisdom-tradition background.

By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.


Deuterocanonical: 'your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High,' addressed to rulers, closely matches 'given to you from above.' Available in the Second-Temple period; faint but apt.

Because your dominion was given you from the Lord, And your sovereignty from the Most High; Who will search out your works, And will make inquisition of your counsels:


The handing over at the Preparation of Passover, 'about the sixth hour,' coincides with the time the Passover lambs began to be slain; John times the sentence to the lamb-slaughter. High coherence with John's lamb Christology (1:29) and the unbroken-bones citation later.

and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.


'The LORD shall be king over all the earth' may be ironically inverted by 'We have no king but Caesar.' Faint; the kingship motif is dense here but the verbal link is loose.

Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.


Israel's rejection of God as king ('they have rejected me from being king over them') resonates with the priests' 'We have no king but Caesar.' Coherent theological irony, but contested as a deliberate echo.

Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.


Jesus 'bearing his cross' to the place of execution evokes Isaac carrying the wood of his own sacrifice up the mount. The Aqedah was a live Second-Temple typology; medium volume and good coherence with the lamb/son themes.

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.


Crucifixion 'with him two others, on either side one' enacts the Servant being 'numbered with the transgressors.' John shares the Servant frame though, unlike Luke 22:37, he does not cite it; coherence is strong.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


The inscription proclaiming Jesus 'King of the Jews,' published in three languages, ironically broadcasts the enthronement of God's king ('I have set my king on Zion'). Faint; the royal-psalm coloring is thematic rather than verbal.

“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”


The trilingual title heralding the king to all peoples ('many of the Jews read it') faintly recalls the root of Jesse standing as a signal to the nations. Faint and contested; offered for the universal-proclamation motif.

It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.


Explicit fulfillment citation: 'They parted my garments among them, and for my cloak they cast lots,' verbatim from the LXX. John reads the two clauses as distinct acts (dividing the garments, casting lots for the tunic). Maximum volume and the chapter's anchor citation.

They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.


The seamless tunic 'woven from the top throughout' recalls the high priest's robe of the ephod, woven in one piece with a reinforced opening so it would not tear. Suggests Jesus as priest-victim; medium volume, debated but coherent with John's temple-body theme.

“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have a hole for the head in its midst: it shall have a binding of woven work around its hole, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it not be torn.


The high priest's holy linen tunic worn on the Day of Atonement adds priestly resonance to the seamless coat. Faint; offered alongside the Exodus 28 robe reading.

He shall put on the holy linen coat. He shall have the linen breeches on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be clothed with the linen turban. They are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on.


Jesus addressing his mother as 'Woman' and constituting a new family at the cross may echo Eve as 'the mother of all living,' with Mary as a new-Eve figure. Faint and contested; the 'Woman' address recurs in John (2:4).

The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.


The scattering implied by the cross scene (shepherd struck, family reordered) faintly invokes 'strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.' Very faint here; the verse is more at home in the arrest narratives.

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.


'I am thirsty,' said 'that the Scripture might be fulfilled,' and the answering vinegar (oxos) draw directly on 'for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.' John signals fulfillment explicitly; high volume and the primary referent.

They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.


'My tongue cleaves to my jaws' / 'my strength is dried up' supplies the thirst motif alongside Psalm 69. Recurrence is high (Ps 22:18 already quoted), so coherence is strong; medium volume secondary source.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.


The vinegar is raised on 'hyssop,' the very plant used to apply the Passover blood to the doorposts. John alone names hyssop, fusing the drink-offering with Passover typology; high coherence with the chapter's lamb framing.

You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.


'It is finished' (tetelestai) echoes the completion of creation, 'the heavens and the earth were finished... God finished his work,' presenting the cross as the consummation of God's work. Coherent with John's new-creation framing (cf. 20:22); medium volume.

The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.


'A bone of him will not be broken' fulfills the Passover-lamb statute that no bone of it shall be broken. John's wording matches the LXX prohibition; this is the chapter's clearest Passover-typology citation, making Jesus the true paschal lamb.

In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry out anything of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall you break a bone of it.


The second-Passover law repeats 'they shall not break a bone of it,' reinforcing the lamb identification behind John's unbroken-bones citation. Paired with Exodus 12:46 as the dual Torah source.

They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.


'He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken,' spoken of the righteous sufferer the LORD delivers, is the likeliest source if John intends the righteous-one rather than (or as well as) the lamb. Strong verbal match; many read this as the primary referent.

He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken.


'They will look on him whom they pierced,' the second explicit fulfillment formula, cites the mourning over the pierced one in Zechariah. John follows a textual tradition reading 'pierced' (cf. Rev 1:7); high volume and the climactic citation.

I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me, because they have mocked me, and they shall make lamentation for him, as for a beloved friend, and they shall grieve intensely, as for a firstborn son.


Immediately after the piercing in Zechariah, 'a fountain shall be opened... for sin and uncleanness,' resonates with the blood and water flowing from the pierced side. Adjacent context to the quoted 12:10; medium volume and coherent.

“In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.


The water from the pierced side may evoke the temple stream flowing from the sanctuary to give life, supporting John's body-as-temple motif. Faint and contested; thematic rather than verbal.

He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; (for the forefront of the house was toward the east;) and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east; and behold, there ran […]


Water issuing from the struck rock at Horeb offers a faint typological background to the water from Jesus' side. Low volume; Paul (1 Cor 10:4) develops the rock typology more than John.

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.


The water gushing when the rock is struck twice parallels the flow from the struck side; faint, offered alongside Exodus 17:6 as wilderness-water background.

Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.


Burial by the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, with a lavish hundred pounds of spices in a new tomb, fulfills 'they made his grave... with a rich man in his death.' Strong coherence with John's pervasive Servant typology; high volume.

They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.


King Asa's burial laid on a bier filled with spices prepared by the perfumer's art parallels the royal, spice-laden entombment of Jesus, underscoring his kingship even in death. Medium volume; matches the regal scale of the myrrh and aloes.

They buried him in his own tombs, which he had dug out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.


The myrrh and aloes recall the garden spices ('myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices') of the beloved, and the burial 'in a garden' invites Song-of-Songs garden resonance. Faint; develops more fully in John 20's garden encounter.

spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,


Burial in a garden may echo Eden, supporting John's new-creation/new-Adam reading of the resurrection that follows. Faint and contested; thematic link to the garden setting.

Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.


The royal wedding psalm's 'myrrh and aloes and cassia' on the king's garments offers a faint regal-spice background to the myrrh-and-aloes burial. Low volume; reinforces the king motif.

All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.


The resurrection occurs on 'the first day of the week' 'while it was still dark,' deliberately echoing the first day of creation when light dawns over darkness (Gen 1:3-5). John, who opened his Gospel 'In the beginning' (Jn 1:1 = Gen 1:1), frames the resurrection as inaugurated new creation; high Coherence with the Gospel's creation Christology and strong Volume in the temporal marker.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.


The tomb is in a garden (Jn 19:41), and the empty-tomb scene is staged there, recalling Eden where God placed the man (Gen 2:8,15). The garden setting binds the whole pericope to a new-Adam/new-creation typology that surfaces explicitly when Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener (20:15).

Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon: it flows […]


Mary comes seeking 'the Lord' in the dark and finds the place empty, mirroring the bride who 'on my bed by night sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.' The Song's seeking-not-finding-then-finding pattern unfolds across 20:1-16; medium Volume but strong Coherence given Jewish nuptial readings of the Song available in the Second-Temple period.

By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him […]


The narrator notes 'they didn't know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead' (20:9); the OT warrant most plausibly in view is 'you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor allow your holy one to see corruption,' the standard apostolic resurrection proof-text. The reference is generic ('the Scripture') so the source is reconstructed from early Christian usage.

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.


The third-day raising ('after two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up') is a candidate background for the conviction that Jesus 'must rise.' Faint and contested: John never cites Hosea, and the day-count is implicit, lowering Volume.

After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.


Mary sees 'two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain' — a striking image of the two cherubim of beaten gold facing each other over the mercy seat of the ark, between whom God's presence dwelt. The empty slab framed by two angels figures the tomb as the new holy of holies; high Coherence with Johannine temple typology.

You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim on its two ends of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim shall spread out their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat […]