John 11:3-4

11:3 So the sisters sent a message ¹  to Jesus, ²  “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, ³  but to God’s glory, ⁴  so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵ 

John 11:36-37

11:36 Thus the people who had come to mourn ⁶  said, “Look how much he loved him!” 11:37 But some of them said, “This is the man who caused the blind man to see! ⁷  Couldn’t he have done something to keep Lazarus ⁸  from dying?”

[11:3]  ¹ tn The phrase “a message” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from context.

[11:3]  ² tn Grk “to him, saying”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:4]  ³ tn Grk “This sickness is not to death.”

[11:4]  ⁴ tn Or “to God’s praise.”

[11:4]  ⁵ sn So that the Son of God may be glorified through it. These statements are highly ironic: For Lazarus, the sickness did not end in his death, because he was restored to life. But for Jesus himself, the miraculous sign he performed led to his own death, because it confirmed the authorities in their plan to kill Jesus (11:47-53). In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ death is consistently portrayed as his ‘glorification’ through which he accomplishes his return to the Father.

[11:36]  ⁶ tn Or “the Judeans”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the friends, acquaintances, and relatives of Lazarus or his sisters who had come to mourn, since the Jewish religious authorities are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the notes on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8 and “the Jewish people of the region” in v. 19, as well as the notes on the word “people” in vv. 31, 33.

[11:37]  ⁷ tn Grk “who opened the eyes of the blind man” (“opening the eyes” is an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[11:37]  ⁸ tn Grk “this one”; the second half of 11:37 reads Grk “Could not this one who opened the eyes of the blind have done something to keep this one from dying?” In the Greek text the repetition of “this one” in 11:37b referring to two different persons (first Jesus, second Lazarus) could confuse a modern reader. Thus the first reference, to Jesus, has been translated as “he” to refer back to the beginning of v. 37, where the reference to “the man who caused the blind man to see” is clearly a reference to Jesus. The second reference, to Lazarus, has been specified (“Lazarus”) in the translation for clarity.