But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
Parallel Translations
-
But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
-
even that the sayinge myght be fulfilled that is written in theyr lawe: they hated me wtout a cause.
-
But it is that the worde might be fulfilled, that is written in their Lawe, They hated me without a cause.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to John 15:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 109:3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.
- Psalms 69:4 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.
- Psalms 35:19 Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
- Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge?
- Psalms 7:4 if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
- John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’
- Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
- Romans 3:24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
- Galatians 2:21 I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
- 2 Thessalonians 3:8 neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you,
- Revelation 21:6 He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
- Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
- John 19:36 For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 25. But that the word may be fulfilled. What…
25. But that the word may be fulfilled. What is contrary to nature appears to be incredible. But nothing is more contrary to reason than to hate God; and, therefore, Christ says that so great was the malice with which their minds were envenomed, that they hated him without a cause Christ quotes a passage from Psalm 35:19, which, he says, is now fulfilled Not that the same thing did not happen, formerly, to David, but to reprove the obstinate malice of the nation, which reigned perpetually from age to age, being continued from grandfathers to grandchildren in unbroken succession; as if he had said, that they were in no respect better than their fathers, who hated David without a cause.
Which is written in their Law. By the word Law, he means the Psalms; for the whole doctrine of the Prophets was nothing else than an appendage to the Law; and we know that the ministry of Moses lasted till the time of Christ. He calls it their Law, not as an expression of respect for them, but to wound them more deeply by a designation which was well known among them; as if he had said, “They have a Law transmitted to them by hereditary right, in which they see their morals painted to the life.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Sometime by this word, Law, are meant the five…
Sometime by this word, Law, are meant the five books of Moses, but in this place, the whole Scripture: for the place alleged is in the Psalms.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word…
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Ver. 25. They hated me without a cause] So they dealt by David, so by Christ, and so still by his members. There is but the same pageant acted over again as of old. In moribus compositi, et modesti sunt, was the worst the persecutors could say of the Waldenses, those ancient Protestants. They are good in their lives, true in their speeches, hearty in their affections. (Bp. Ussher.) Sed fides eorum est incorrigibilis et pessima, But the faith of those is reformed and corrupt, saith the Dominican Inquisitor, concerning the Hussites. So the Bishop of Aliff, in the Trent Council, said that as the faith of the Catholics was better, so the heretics exceeded them in good life. Hominis vita magno omnium consensu probatur, said Erasmus of Luther, Tanta est morum integritas, ut nec hostes reperiant quod calumnientur. Such is the integrity of of their conduct that neither their enemies may discover what they condmen them of. And yet a friar of Antwerp wished that Luther were there that he might bite out his throat with his teeth, as the same Erasmus testifieth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The particle that here again denotes not the final…
The particle that here again denotes not the final cause, but only the consequent; and the law here signifieth not strictly the law of Moses, but the whole Scripture, in which sense we have once and again met with the term. Saith our Saviour, This is no more than was prophesied of me by the prophet David; or no more than was fulfilled in me, being first done to David as my type: which also hath the force of another argument to uphold and encourage his disciples under their sufferings, that they were but the fulfilling of prophecies, no more than was foretold in holy writ.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Psalm lxix, 4.
Psalm lxix, 4.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 25. Written in their law] See Clarke on…
Verse 25. Written in their law] See Clarke on Joh 10:34. These words are taken from Ps 69:4. This psalm is applied to Christ, Joh 2:17; Joh 19:28; to the vengeance of God against Judea, Ac 1:20. The psalm seems entirely prophetic of Christ. His deep abasement is referred to, Ps 69:2-5; his prayer for his disciples and followers, Ps 69:6; that for himself, in the garden of Gethsemane, Ps 69:15-19; his crucifixion, Ps 69:20-22; the vengeance of God against the Jews, from Ps 69:23-29; the glorious manner in which he gets out of all his sufferings, Ps 69:30; the abolition of the Mosaic rites and ceremonies, Ps 69:31, compared with Isa 66:3; and, finally, the establishment of the Gospel through the whole world, in Ps 69:33 and following verses. The reader will do well to consult the psalm before he proceeds.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain In their law - Psa 35:19. All the Old…
In their law - Psa 35:19. All the Old Testament was sometimes called the law. The meaning here is that the same thing happened to him which did to the psalmist. The same words which David used respecting his enemies would express, also, the conduct of the Jews and their treatment of the Messiah. In both cases it was without cause. Jesus had broken no law, he had done no injury to his country or to any individual. It is still true that sinners hate him in the same way. He injures no one, but, amid all their hatred, he seeks their welfare; and, while they reject him in a manner for which they “can give no reason in the day of judgment,” he still follows them with mercies and entreats them to return to him. Who has ever had any reason to hate the Lord Jesus? What injury has he ever done to any one of the human race? What evil has he ever said or thought of any one of them? What cause or reason had the Jews for putting him to death? What reason has the sinner for hating him now? What reason for neglecting him? No one can give a reason for it that will satisfy his own conscience, none that has the least show of plausibility. Yet no being on earth has ever been more hated, despised, or neglected, and in every instance it has been “without a cause.” Reader, do you hate him? If so, I ask you why? Wherein has he injured you? or why should you think or speak reproachfully of the benevolent and pure Redeemer?
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain that the word might be fulfilled . . .…
that the word might be fulfilled . . . They hated me without a cause--quoted from the Messianic Psa 69:4, applied also in the same sense in Joh 2:17; Act 1:20; Rom 11:9-10; Rom 15:3.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 25. Without a cause—Psa_69:9. For what cause was all…
25. Without a cause—Psa_69:9. For what cause was all this hatred? What plea for this malignity? And still might we ask, Why does the world hate religion, and the Church, and the Bible, and God? Why do so many of the scientific world so often ignore the God of Christ? It is all without reason or excuse. It is a pure gratuitous unholy temper.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 25. in their law] ‘Law’ is used in the…
25. in their law] ‘Law’ is used in the wide sense for the O.T. generally. Comp. Joh_10:34, Joh_12:34, Joh_15:25; Rom_3:19.
without a cause] The passage may be from either Psa_69:4 or Psa_35:19 : there are similar passages Psa_109:3 and Psa_119:161. ‘Without a cause,’ gratuitously; so that here again they are without excuse.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (25) But this cometh to pass, that the word…
(25) But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled . . .—The words in italics are not found in the original, but they rightly complete the sense. For the phrase, “might be fulfilled,” comp. Notes on Joh_12:38; Joh_13:18.
That is written in their law.—Comp. Note on Joh_10:34.
Read full note →
They hated me without a cause.—The passage immediately referred to is probably that of the Messianic Psalm (69:4). The words are found also in Psa_35:19 (see marg. ref.), and less distinctly in Psa_109:3; Psa_119:161. (Comp. especially Note on the quotation from this same Psalm in Joh_2:17.)
The words, “without a cause,” rightly express the meaning of the Hebrew word in the Psalm. The Greek follows the LXX., which expresses the thought “to no purpose,” or “in vain.” This is, however, not the idea of the context here. They had no reason for their sin, and therefore they hated Him without a cause. True were these words of many an earlier sufferer; but they were in their fulness true, they were “fulfilled,” only in the one sinless Sufferer.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Strange is it that even here the ancient psalmist,…
Strange is it that even here the ancient psalmist, in portraying the ideal Sufferer, (Psa_69:4 Psa_35:19) bad seized this feature, and thus anticipated the treatment of the Son of God. But this cometh to pass (some clause of this kind must be introduced to give true force to alla and ina) that the word might be fulfilled that has been written in their Law. Not only here but elsewhere Jesus speaks of the Psalms as a part of the Law. (see note, Joh_10:34) Other passages may, from their similarity, have been in Christ"s mind, as receiving fulfillment or abundant illustration in their conduct. The use of the expression, "the Law," has been pressed by many as proof that the writer of this Gospel did not regard himself as a Jew at all. Such numerous indications occur of the opposite conclusion, that this expression must receive the more rational interpretation the Law in which they pride themselves, the Law which is ever in their mouths, the Law which itself contains the portraiture of their spirit: They hated me gratuitously; causelessly. The true Christ was, when he came, the object of reason-less, causeless hate and opposition. Jesus knew, when he claimed to be the Christ, that he would have to complete and fulfill the solemn portraiture of the suffering, burden-bearing, and rejected Christ, as well as that of the triumphant Christ and King.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 15:25 They hated me without cause: This Old Testament…
15:25 They hated me without cause: This Old Testament citation reveals the unwarranted anger of those who belong to the darkness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.