John 12:25-30

12:25 The one who loves his life ¹  destroys ²  it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards ³  it for eternal life. 12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ⁴  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ⁵  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me ⁶  from this hour’? ⁷  No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. ⁸  12:28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, ⁹  “I have glorified it, ¹⁰  and I will glorify it ¹¹  again.” 12:29 The crowd that stood there and heard the voice ¹²  said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him. ¹³  12:30 Jesus said, ¹⁴  “This voice has not come for my benefit ¹⁵  but for yours.

[12:25]  ¹ tn Or “soul.”

[12:25]  ² tn Or “loses.” Although the traditional English translation of ἀπολλύει (apolluei) in John 12:25 is “loses,” the contrast with φυλάξει (fulaxei, “keeps” or “guards”) in the second half of the verse favors the meaning “destroy” here.

[12:25]  ³ tn Or “keeps.”

[12:26]  ⁴ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26]  ⁵ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[12:27]  ⁷ tn Or “save me.”

[12:27]  ⁸ tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:27]  ⁹ tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:28]  ¹⁰ tn Or “from the sky” (see note on 1:32).

[12:28]  ¹¹ tn “It” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:28]  ¹² tn “It” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:29]  ¹³ tn “The voice” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:29]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” The direct discourse in the second half of v. 29 was converted to indirect discourse in the translation to maintain the parallelism with the first half of the verse, which is better in keeping with English style.

[12:30]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said.”

[12:30]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for my sake.”