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 6:41

6:41 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus ⁴  began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,”

John 6:52

6:52 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus ⁵  began to argue with one another, ⁶  “How can this man ⁷  give us his flesh to eat?”

John 6:60

6:60 Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, ⁸  said, “This is a difficult ⁹  saying! ¹⁰  Who can understand it?” ¹¹ 

John 12:34

12:34 Then the crowd responded, ¹²  “We have heard from the law that the Christ ¹³  will remain forever. ¹⁴  How ¹⁵  can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

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.

[6:41]  ⁴ tn Grk “Then 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 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). Likewise, the designation “Judeans” does not fit here because the location is Galilee rather than Judea.

[6:52]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “with one another, saying.”

[6:52]  ⁷ tn Grk “this one,” “this person.”

[6:60]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “hard,” “demanding.”

[6:60]  ¹⁰ tn Or “teaching”; Grk “word.”

[6:60]  ¹¹ 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.

[12:34]  ¹² tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”

[12:34]  ¹³ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[12:34]  ¹⁴ tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).

[12:34]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[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.”