John 3:4

3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?” ¹ 

John 3:9

3:9 Nicodemus replied, ²  “How can these things be?” ³ 

John 4:11

4:11 “Sir,” ⁴  the woman ⁵  said to him, “you have no bucket and the well ⁶  is deep; where then do you get this ⁷  living water? ⁸ 

John 6:52

6:52 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus ⁹  began to argue with one another, ¹⁰  “How can this man ¹¹  give us his flesh to eat?”

John 6:60

6:60 Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, ¹²  said, “This is a difficult ¹³  saying! ¹⁴  Who can understand it?” ¹⁵ 

John 16:17-18

16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ¹⁶  ‘In a little while you ¹⁷  will not see me; again after a little while, you ¹⁸  will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁹  16:18 So they kept on repeating, ²⁰  “What is the meaning of what he says, ²¹  ‘In a little while’? ²²  We do not understand ²³  what he is talking about.” ²⁴ 

[3:4]  ¹ tn The grammatical structure of the question in Greek presupposes a negative reply.

[3:9]  ² tn Grk “Nicodemus answered and said to him.”

[3:9]  ³ sn “How can these things be?” is Nicodemus’ answer. It is clear that at this time he has still not grasped what Jesus is saying. Note also that this is the last appearance of Nicodemus in the dialogue. Having served the purpose of the author, at this point he disappears from the scene. As a character in the narrative, he has served to illustrate the prevailing Jewish misunderstanding of Jesus’ teaching about the necessity of a new, spiritual birth from above. Whatever parting words Nicodemus might have had with Jesus, the author does not record them.

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Or “Lord.” The Greek term κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage there is probably a gradual transition from one to the other as the woman’s respect for Jesus grows throughout the conversation (4:11, 15, 19).

[4:11]  ⁵ tc ‡ Two early and important Greek mss along with two versional witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ B sy^s ac²) lack ἡ γυνή (Jh gunh, “the woman”) here; א* has ἐκείνη (ekeinh, “that one” or possibly “she”) instead of ἡ γυνή. It is possible that no explicit subject was in the original text and scribes added either ἡ γυνή or ἐκείνη to make the meaning clear. It is also possible that the archetype of Ì⁷⁵ א B expunged the subject because it was not altogether necessary, with the scribe of א later adding the pronoun. However, ἡ γυνή is not in doubt in any other introduction to the woman’s words in this chapter (cf. vv. 9, 15, 17, 19, 25), suggesting that intentional deletion was not the motive for the shorter reading in v. 11 (or else why would they delete the words only here?). Thus, the fact that virtually all witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ א² A C D L W^s Θ Ψ 050 083 086 Ë^1,13 Ï latt sy^c,p,h sa bo) have ἡ γυνή here may suggest that it is a motivated reading, conforming this verse to the rest of the pericope. Although a decision is difficult, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA²⁷ has ἡ γυνή in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity. For English stylistic reasons, the translation also includes “the woman” here.

[4:11]  ⁶ tn The word for “well” has now shifted to φρέαρ (frear, “cistern”); earlier in the passage it was πηγή (phgh).

[4:11]  ⁷ tn The anaphoric article has been translated “this.”

[4:11]  ⁸ sn Where then do you get this living water? The woman’s reply is an example of the “misunderstood statement,” a technique appearing frequently in John’s Gospel. Jesus was speaking of living water which was spiritual (ultimately a Johannine figure for the Holy Spirit, see John 7:38-39), but the woman thought he was speaking of flowing (fresh drinkable) water. Her misunderstanding gave Jesus the opportunity to explain what he really meant.

[6:52]  ⁹ tn Grk “Then the Jews began to argue.” Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the “crowd” mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as “Rabbi” (6:25). See also the note on the phrase “the Jews who were hostile to Jesus” in v. 41.

[6:52]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “with one another, saying.”

[6:52]  ¹¹ tn Grk “this one,” “this person.”

[6:60]  ¹² tn The words “these things” are not present in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, and must be supplied for the English reader.

[6:60]  ¹³ tn Or “hard,” “demanding.”

[6:60]  ¹⁴ tn Or “teaching”; Grk “word.”

[6:60]  ¹⁵ tn Or “obey it”; Grk “hear it.” The Greek word ἀκούω (akouw) could imply hearing with obedience here, in the sense of “obey.” It could also point to the acceptance of what Jesus had just said, (i.e., “who can accept what he said?” However, since the context contains several replies by those in the crowd of hearers that suggest uncertainty or confusion over the meaning of what Jesus had said (6:42; 6:52), the meaning “understand” is preferred here.

[16:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “What is this that he is saying to us.”

[16:17]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ¹⁹ sn These fragmentary quotations of Jesus’ statements are from 16:16 and 16:10, and indicate that the disciples heard only part of what Jesus had to say to them on this occasion.

[16:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “they kept on saying.”

[16:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “What is this that he says.”

[16:18]  ²² tn Grk “A little while.” Although the phrase τὸ μικρόν (to mikron) in John 16:18 could be translated simply “a little while,” it was translated “in a little while” to maintain the connection to John 16:16, where it has the latter meaning in context.

[16:18]  ²³ tn Or “we do not know.”

[16:18]  ²⁴ tn Grk “what he is speaking.”