John 1:13

1:13 – children not born ¹  by human parents ²  or by human desire ³  or a husband’s ⁴  decision, ⁵  but by God.

John 2:17-18

2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal ⁶  for your house will devour me.” ⁷ 

2:18 So then the Jewish leaders ⁸  responded, ⁹  “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” ¹⁰ 

John 4:40

4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking ¹¹  him to stay with them. ¹²  He stayed there two days,

John 4:51

4:51 While he was on his way down, ¹³  his slaves ¹⁴  met him and told him that his son was going to live.

John 5:10

5:10 So the Jewish leaders ¹⁵  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ¹⁶ 

John 7:10-11

7:10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus ¹⁷  himself also went up, not openly but in secret. 7:11 So the Jewish leaders ¹⁸  were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” ¹⁹ 

John 8:13

8:13 So the Pharisees ²⁰  objected, ²¹  “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!” ²² 

John 8:57

8:57 Then the Judeans ²³  replied, ²⁴  “You are not yet fifty years old! ²⁵  Have ²⁶  you seen Abraham?”

John 16:29

16:29 His disciples said, “Look, now you are speaking plainly ²⁷  and not in obscure figures of speech! ²⁸ 

John 18:12

Jesus Before Annas

18:12 Then the squad of soldiers ²⁹  with their commanding officer ³⁰  and the officers of the Jewish leaders ³¹  arrested ³²  Jesus and tied him up. ³³ 

John 19:2

19:2 The soldiers ³⁴  braided ³⁵  a crown of thorns ³⁶  and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe. ³⁷ 

John 20:29

20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people ³⁸  who have not seen and yet have believed.” ³⁹ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn The Greek term translated “born” here also involves conception.

[1:13]  ² tn Grk “of blood(s).” The plural αἱμάτων (Jaimatwn) has seemed a problem to many interpreters. At least some sources in antiquity imply that blood was thought of as being important in the development of the fetus during its time in the womb: thus Wis 7:1: “in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh, within the period of 10 months, compacted with blood, from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.” In John 1:13, the plural αἱμάτων may imply the action of both parents. It may also refer to the “genetic” contribution of both parents, and so be equivalent to “human descent” (see BDAG 26 s.v. αἷμα 1.a). E. C. Hoskyns thinks John could not have used the singular here because Christians are in fact ‘begotten’ by the blood of Christ (The Fourth Gospel, 143), although the context would seem to make it clear that the blood in question is something other than the blood of Christ.

[1:13]  ³ tn Or “of the will of the flesh.” The phrase οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός (oude ek qelhmato" sarko") is more clearly a reference to sexual desire, but it should be noted that σάρξ (sarx) in John does not convey the evil sense common in Pauline usage. For John it refers to the physical nature in its weakness rather than in its sinfulness. There is no clearer confirmation of this than the immediately following verse, where the λόγος (logos) became σάρξ.

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Or “man’s.”

[1:13]  ⁵ tn The third phrase, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός (oude ek qelhmato" andros), means much the same as the second one. The word here (ἀνηρ, anhr) is often used for a husband, resulting in the translation “or a husband’s decision,” or more generally, “or of any human volition whatsoever.” L. Morris may be right when he sees here an emphasis directed at the Jewish pride in race and patriarchal ancestry, although such a specific reference is difficult to prove (John [NICNT], 101).

[2:17]  ⁶ tn Or “Fervent devotion to your house.”

[2:17]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.

[2:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.)

[2:18]  ¹² tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[2:18]  ¹³ sn The request “What sign can you show us” by Jesus’ adversaries was a request for a defense of his actions – a mark of divine authentication. Whether this was a request for a miracle is not entirely clear. Jesus never obliged such a request. Yet, ironically, the only sign the Jewish leadership will get is that predicted by Jesus in 2:19 – his crucifixion and resurrection. Cf. the “sign of Jonah” in the synoptics (Matt 12:39, 40; Luke 11:29-32).

[4:40]  ¹⁶ tn Following the arrival of the Samaritans, the imperfect verb has been translated as ingressive.

[4:40]  ¹⁷ tn Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the sequencing with the following verse, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[4:51]  ²¹ sn While he was on his way down. Going to Capernaum from Cana, one must go east across the Galilean hills and then descend to the Sea of Galilee. The 20 mi (33 km) journey could not be made in a single day. The use of the description on his way down shows the author was familiar with Palestinian geography.

[4:51]  ²² tn Traditionally, “servants.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[5:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9).

[5:10]  ²⁷ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.

[7:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:11]  ³⁶ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

[7:11]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Where is that one?”

[8:13]  ⁴¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[8:13]  ⁴² tn Grk “Then the Pharisees said to him.”

[8:13]  ⁴³ sn Compare the charge You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true! to Jesus’ own statement about his testimony in 5:31.

[8:57]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “Then the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31, 48, and 52, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31). They have now become completely hostile, as John 8:59 clearly shows.

[8:57]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:57]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk ‘You do not yet have fifty years” (an idiom).

[8:57]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “And have.”

[16:29]  ⁵¹ tn Or “openly.”

[16:29]  ⁵² tn Or “not in parables.” or “not in metaphors.”

[18:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “a cohort” (but since this was a unit of 600 soldiers, a smaller detachment is almost certainly intended).

[18:12]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “their chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militaris, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[18:12]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, who were named as “chief priests and Pharisees” in John 18:3.

[18:12]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “seized.”

[18:12]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “bound him.”

[19:2]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “And the soldiers.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:2]  ⁶² tn Or “wove.”

[19:2]  ⁶³ sn The crown of thorns was a crown plaited of some thorny material, intended as a mockery of Jesus’ “kingship.” Traditionally it has been regarded as an additional instrument of torture, but it seems more probable the purpose of the thorns was not necessarily to inflict more physical suffering but to imitate the spikes of the “radiant corona,” a type of crown portrayed on ruler’s heads on many coins of the period; the spikes on this type of crown represented rays of light pointing outward (the best contemporary illustration is the crown on the head of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor).

[19:2]  ⁶⁴ sn The purple color of the robe indicated royal status. This was further mockery of Jesus, along with the crown of thorns.

[20:29]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “are those.”

[20:29]  ⁶⁷ tn Some translations treat πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") as a gnomic aorist (timeless statement) and thus equivalent to an English present tense: “and yet believe” (RSV). This may create an effective application of the passage to the modern reader, but the author is probably thinking of those people who had already believed without the benefit of seeing the risen Jesus, on the basis of reports by others or because of circumstantial evidence (see John 20:8).