John 1:19

The Testimony of John the Baptist

1:19 Now ¹  this was ²  John’s ³  testimony ⁴  when the Jewish leaders ⁵  sent ⁶  priests and Levites from Jerusalem ⁷  to ask him, “Who are you?” ⁸ 

John 3:26

3:26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, ⁹  about whom you testified – see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”

John 4:9

4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew ¹⁰  – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water ¹¹  to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common ¹²  with Samaritans.) ¹³ 

John 4:12

4:12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor ¹⁴  Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” ¹⁵ 

John 8:52

8:52 Then ¹⁶  the Judeans ¹⁷  responded, ¹⁸  “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! ¹⁹  Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet ²⁰  you say, ‘If anyone obeys ²¹  my teaching, ²²  he will never experience ²³  death.’ ²⁴ 

John 10:24

10:24 The Jewish leaders ²⁵  surrounded him and asked, ²⁶  “How long will you keep us in suspense? ²⁷  If you are the Christ, ²⁸  tell us plainly.” ²⁹ 

John 14:9

14:9 Jesus replied, ³⁰  “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known ³¹  me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

John 17:8

17:8 because I have given them the words you have given me. They ³²  accepted ³³  them ³⁴  and really ³⁵  understand ³⁶  that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

John 18:17

18:17 The girl ³⁷  who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” ³⁸  He replied, ³⁹  “I am not.”

John 18:25

Peter’s Second and Third Denials

18:25 Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard ⁴⁰  warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” ⁴¹  Peter ⁴²  denied it: “I am not!”

John 21:12

21:12 “Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. ⁴³  But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

John 21:16

21:16 Jesus ⁴⁴  said ⁴⁵  a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, ⁴⁶  “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus ⁴⁷  told him, “Shepherd my sheep.”

[1:19]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[1:19]  ² tn Grk “is.”

[1:19]  ³ sn John’s refers to John the Baptist.

[1:19]  ⁴ tn Or “witness.”

[1:19]  ⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Iουδαῖοι (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.)

[1:19]  ⁶ tc ‡ Several important witnesses have πρὸς αὐτόν (pro" auton, “to him”) either here (B C* 33 892^c al it) or after “Levites” (Ì^{66c vid} A Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 579 al lat), while the earliest mss as well as the majority of mss (Ì^66*,75 א C³ L W^s ˹ Ï) lack the phrase. On the one hand, πρὸς αὐτόν could be perceived as redundant since αὐτόν is used again later in the verse, thus prompting scribes to omit the phrase. On the other hand, both the variation in placement of πρὸς αὐτόν and the fact that this phrase rather than the latter αὐτόν is lacking in certain witnesses (cf. John 11:44; 14:7; 18:31), suggests that scribes felt that the sentence needed the phrase to make the sense clearer. Although a decision is difficult, the shorter reading is slightly preferred. NA²⁷ has πρὸς αὐτόν in brackets, indicating doubt as to the phrase’s authenticity.

[1:19]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:19]  ⁸ sn “Who are you?” No uniform Jewish expectation of a single eschatological figure existed in the 1st century. A majority expected the Messiah. But some pseudepigraphic books describe God’s intervention without mentioning the anointed Davidic king; in parts of 1 Enoch, for example, the figure of the Son of Man, not the Messiah, embodies the expectations of the author. Essenes at Qumran seem to have expected three figures: a prophet, a priestly messiah, and a royal messiah. In baptizing, John the Baptist was performing an eschatological action. It also seems to have been part of his proclamation (John 1:23, 26-27). Crowds were beginning to follow him. He was operating in an area not too far from the Essene center on the Dead Sea. No wonder the authorities were curious about who he was.

[3:26]  ⁹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[4:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “a Judean.” Here BDAG 478 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαίος 2.a states, “Judean (with respect to birth, nationality, or cult).” The same term occurs in the plural later in this verse. In one sense “Judean” would work very well in the translation here, since the contrast is between residents of the two geographical regions. However, since in the context of this chapter the discussion soon becomes a religious rather than a territorial one (cf. vv. 19-26), the translation “Jew” has been retained here and in v. 22.

[4:9]  ¹⁸ tn “Water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn D. Daube (“Jesus and the Samaritan Woman: the Meaning of συγχράομαι [Jn 4:7ff],” JBL 69 [1950]: 137-47) suggests this meaning.

[4:9]  ²⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[4:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “our forefather”; Grk “our father.”

[4:12]  ²⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end. In this instance all of v. 12 is one question. It has been broken into two sentences for the sake of English style (instead of “for he” the Greek reads “who”).

[8:52]  ³³ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì⁷⁵ D L Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (Ì⁷⁵) has the conjunction, the combination of Ì⁶⁶ א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 41). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:52]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, 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).

[8:52]  ³⁵ tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:52]  ³⁶ tn Grk “you have a demon.”

[8:52]  ³⁷ tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

[8:52]  ³⁸ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:52]  ³⁹ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:52]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[8:52]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[10:24]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. The question they ask Jesus (“Are you the Christ?”) is the same one they sent and asked of John the Baptist in the desert (see John 1:19-34). See also the note on the phrase “the Jewish people” in v. 19.

[10:24]  ⁴² tn Grk “said to him.” This has been translated as “asked” for stylistic reasons.

[10:24]  ⁴³ tn Grk “How long will you take away our life?” (an idiom which meant to keep one from coming to a conclusion about something). The use of the phrase τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν αἴρεις (thn yuchn Jhmwn airei") meaning “to keep in suspense” is not well attested, although it certainly fits the context here. In modern Greek the phrase means “to annoy, bother.”

[10:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[10:24]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “publicly.”

[14:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “recognized.”

[17:8]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:8]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “received.”

[17:8]  ⁵⁹ tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[17:8]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “truly.”

[17:8]  ⁶¹ tn Or have come to know.”

[18:17]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “slave girl.” Since the descriptive term “slave girl” was introduced in the translation in the previous verse, it would be redundant to repeat the full expression here.

[18:17]  ⁶⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).

[18:17]  ⁶⁷ tn Grk “He said.”

[18:25]  ⁷³ tn The words “in the courtyard” are not in the Greek text. They are supplied for the benefit of the modern reader, to link this scene to the preceding one in John 18:15-18.

[18:25]  ⁷⁴ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).

[18:25]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “That one denied it and said”; the referent of the pronoun (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:12]  ⁸¹ tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are omitted because it is clear in context to whom Jesus was speaking, and the words are slightly redundant in English.

[21:16]  ⁸⁹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:16]  ⁹⁰ tn Grk “said again.” The word “again” (when used in connection with the phrase “a second time”) is redundant and has not been translated.

[21:16]  ⁹¹ tn Grk “He said to him.”

[21:16]  ⁹² tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.