John 1:51

1:51 He continued, ¹  “I tell all of you the solemn truth ²  – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” ³ 

John 3:5

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ⁵  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 4:35

4:35 Don’t you say, ⁶  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ⁷  and see that the fields are already white ⁸  for harvest!

John 5:24-25

5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁹  the one who hears ¹⁰  my message ¹¹  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ¹²  but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹³  a time ¹⁴  is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

John 6:26

6:26 Jesus replied, ¹⁵  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁶  you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. ¹⁷ 

John 6:32

6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁸  it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.

John 6:53

6:53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁹  unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ²⁰  you have no life ²¹  in yourselves.

John 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ²²  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²³  But if it dies, it produces ²⁴  much grain. ²⁵ 

John 13:18

The Announcement of Jesus’ Betrayal

13:18 “What I am saying does not refer to all of you. I know the ones I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture, ²⁶  ‘The one who eats my bread ²⁷  has turned against me.’ ²⁸ 

John 13:33

13:33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ²⁹  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ³⁰  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ³¹  now I tell you the same. ³² 

John 14:12

14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ³³  the person who believes in me will perform ³⁴  the miraculous deeds ³⁵  that I am doing, ³⁶  and will perform ³⁷  greater deeds ³⁸  than these, because I am going to the Father.

John 15:15

15:15 I no longer call you slaves, ³⁹  because the slave does not understand ⁴⁰  what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything ⁴¹  I heard ⁴²  from my Father.

John 16:7

16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate ⁴³  will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

John 16:20

16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴⁴  you will weep ⁴⁵  and wail, ⁴⁶  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, ⁴⁷  but your sadness will turn into ⁴⁸  joy.

John 16:23

16:23 At that time ⁴⁹  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵⁰  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ⁵¹ 

John 21:18

21:18 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵²  when you were young, you tied your clothes around you ⁵³  and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up ⁵⁴  and bring you where you do not want to go.”

[1:51]  ¹ tn Grk “and he said to him.”

[1:51]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[1:51]  ³ sn The title Son of Man appears 13 times in John’s Gospel. It is associated especially with the themes of crucifixion (3:14; 8:28), revelation (6:27; 6:53), and eschatological authority (5:27; 9:35). The title as used in John’s Gospel has for its background the son of man figure who appears in Dan 7:13-14 and is granted universal regal authority. Thus for the author, the emphasis in this title is not on Jesus’ humanity, but on his heavenly origin and divine authority.

[3:5]  ⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

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

[4:35]  ⁷ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.

[4:35]  ⁸ tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.

[4:35]  ⁹ tn That is, “ripe.”

[5:24]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:24]  ¹¹ tn Or “obeys.”

[5:24]  ¹² tn Or “word.”

[5:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”

[5:25]  ¹³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “an hour.”

[6:26]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[6:26]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:26]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”

[6:32]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:53]  ²² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:53]  ²³ sn Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. These words are at the heart of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and have created great misunderstanding among interpreters. Anyone who is inclined toward a sacramental viewpoint will almost certainly want to take these words as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, because of the reference to eating and drinking. But this does not automatically follow: By anyone’s definition there must be a symbolic element to the eating which Jesus speaks of in the discourse, and once this is admitted, it is better to understand it here, as in the previous references in the passage, to a personal receiving of (or appropriation of) Christ and his work.

[6:53]  ²⁴ tn That is, “no eternal life” (as opposed to physical life).

[12:24]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ²⁷ tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ²⁸ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[13:18]  ²⁸ tn Grk “But so that the scripture may be fulfilled.”

[13:18]  ²⁹ tn Or “The one who shares my food.”

[13:18]  ³⁰ tn Or “has become my enemy”; Grk “has lifted up his heel against me.” The phrase “to lift up one’s heel against someone” reads literally in the Hebrew of Ps 41 “has made his heel great against me.” There have been numerous interpretations of this phrase, but most likely it is an idiom meaning “has given me a great fall,” “has taken cruel advantage of me,” or “has walked out on me.” Whatever the exact meaning of the idiom, it clearly speaks of betrayal by a close associate. See E. F. F. Bishop, “‘He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me’ – Jn xiii.18 (Ps xli.9),” ExpTim 70 (1958-59): 331-33.

[13:33]  ³¹ tn Or “You will seek me.”

[13:33]  ³² tn 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 residents of Jerusalem in general, or to the Jewish religious leaders in particular, who had sent servants to attempt to arrest Jesus on that occasion (John 7:33-35). The last option is the one adopted in the translation above.

[13:33]  ³³ sn See John 7:33-34.

[13:33]  ³⁴ tn The words “the same” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:12]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ³⁵ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ³⁷ tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  ³⁸ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ³⁹ tn Grk “greater works.”

[15:15]  ³⁷ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:15]  ³⁸ tn Or “does not know.”

[15:15]  ³⁹ tn Grk “all things.”

[15:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “learned.”

[16:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[16:20]  ⁴³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “wail,” “cry.”

[16:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “lament.”

[16:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “sorrowful.”

[16:20]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “will become.”

[16:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ⁴⁸ sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[21:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[21:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “you girded yourself.”

[21:18]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “others will gird you.”