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 3:5

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁹  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ¹⁰  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 4:46

Healing the Royal Official’s Son

4:46 Now he came again to Cana ¹¹  in Galilee where he had made the water wine. ¹²  In ¹³  Capernaum ¹⁴  there was a certain royal official ¹⁵  whose son was sick.

John 6:64

6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ¹⁶ 

John 7:36-37

7:36 What did he mean by saying, ¹⁷  ‘You will look for me ¹⁸  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

Teaching About the Spirit

7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, ¹⁹  Jesus stood up and shouted out, ²⁰  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and

John 8:52

8:52 Then ²¹  the Judeans ²²  responded, ²³  “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! ²⁴  Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet ²⁵  you say, ‘If anyone obeys ²⁶  my teaching, ²⁷  he will never experience ²⁸  death.’ ²⁹ 

John 9:21-22

9:21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. ³⁰  Ask him, he is a mature adult. ³¹  He will speak for himself.” 9:22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ³²  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ³³  to be the Christ ³⁴  would be put out ³⁵  of the synagogue. ³⁶ 

John 11:9

11:9 Jesus replied, ³⁷  “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, ³⁸  because he sees the light of this world. ³⁹ 

John 12:47

12:47 If anyone ⁴⁰  hears my words and does not obey them, ⁴¹  I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴² 

John 14:23

14:23 Jesus replied, ⁴³  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ⁴⁴  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ⁴⁵ 

John 15:6

15:6 If anyone does not remain ⁴⁶  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ⁴⁷  and are burned up. ⁴⁸ 

John 21:12

21:12 “Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. ⁴⁹  But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

John 21:20

Peter and the Disciple Jesus Loved

21:20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. ⁵⁰  (This was the disciple ⁵¹  who had leaned back against Jesus’ ⁵²  chest at the meal and asked, ⁵³  “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”) ⁵⁴ 

[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.

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

[4:46]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[4:46]  ¹⁸ sn See John 2:1-11.

[4:46]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And in.”

[4:46]  ²⁰ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

[4:46]  ²¹ tn Although βασιλικός (basiliko") has often been translated “nobleman” it is almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.

[6:64]  ²⁵ sn This is a parenthetical comment by the author.

[7:36]  ³³ tn Grk “What is this word that he said.”

[7:36]  ³⁴ tn Grk “seek me.”

[7:37]  ⁴¹ sn There is a problem with the identification of this reference to the last day of the feast, the greatest day: It appears from Deut 16:13 that the feast went for seven days. Lev 23:36, however, makes it plain that there was an eighth day, though it was mentioned separately from the seven. It is not completely clear whether the seventh or eighth day was the climax of the feast, called here by the author the “last great day of the feast.” Since according to the Mishnah (m. Sukkah 4.1) the ceremonies with water and lights did not continue after the seventh day, it seems more probable that this is the day the author mentions.

[7:37]  ⁴² tn Grk “Jesus stood up and cried out, saying.”

[8:52]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:52]  ⁵² tn Grk “you have a demon.”

[8:52]  ⁵³ tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

[8:52]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:52]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:52]  ⁵⁶ 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]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[9:21]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “who opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:21]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “he is of age.”

[9:22]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Twice in this verse the phrase refers to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. The second occurrence is shortened to “the Jewish leaders” for stylistic reasons. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish religious leaders” in v. 18.

[9:22]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “confessed him.”

[9:22]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[9:22]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “would be expelled from.”

[9:22]  ⁶⁹ sn This reference to excommunication from the Jewish synagogue for those who had made some sort of confession about Jesus being the Messiah is dismissed as anachronistic by some (e.g., Barrett) and nonhistorical by others. In later Jewish practice there were at least two forms of excommunication: a temporary ban for thirty days, and a permanent ban. But whether these applied in NT times is far from certain. There is no substantial evidence for a formal ban on Christians until later than this Gospel could possibly have been written. This may be a reference to some form of excommunication adopted as a contingency to deal with those who were proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. If so, there is no other record of the procedure than here. It was probably local, limited to the area around Jerusalem. See also the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[11:9]  ⁷³ tn Grk “Jesus answered.”

[11:9]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “he does not trip.”

[11:9]  ⁷⁵ sn What is the light of this world? On one level, of course, it refers to the sun, but the reader of John’s Gospel would recall 8:12 and understand Jesus’ symbolic reference to himself as the light of the world. There is only a limited time left (Are there not twelve hours in a day?) until the Light will be withdrawn (until Jesus returns to the Father) and the one who walks around in the dark will trip and fall (compare the departure of Judas by night in 13:30).

[12:47]  ⁸¹ tn Grk “And if anyone”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[12:47]  ⁸² tn Or “guard them,” “keep them.”

[12:47]  ⁸³ sn Cf. John 3:17.

[14:23]  ⁸⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[14:23]  ⁹⁰ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:23]  ⁹¹ tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.

[15:6]  ⁹⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ⁹⁸ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ⁹⁹ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

[21:12]  ¹⁰⁵ 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.

[21:20]  ¹¹³ 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.

[21:20]  ¹¹⁴ tn The words “This was the disciple” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied for clarity.

[21:20]  ¹¹⁵ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:20]  ¹¹⁶ tn Grk “and said.”

[21:20]  ¹¹⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.