John 5:5

5:5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. ¹ 

John 8:57

8:57 Then the Judeans ²  replied, ³  “You are not yet fifty years old! ⁴  Have ⁵  you seen Abraham?”

John 2:20

2:20 Then the Jewish leaders ⁶  said to him, “This temple has been under construction ⁷  for forty-six years, ⁸  and are you going to raise it up in three days?”

[5:5]  ¹ tn Grk “who had had thirty-eight years in his disability.”

[8:57]  ² tn Grk “Then the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31, 48, and 52, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31). They have now become completely hostile, as John 8:59 clearly shows.

[8:57]  ³ tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:57]  ⁴ tn Grk ‘You do not yet have fifty years” (an idiom).

[8:57]  ⁵ tn Grk “And have.”

[2:20]  ³ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 18.

[2:20]  ⁴ tn A close parallel to the aorist οἰκοδομήθη (oikodomhqh) can be found in Ezra 5:16 (LXX), where it is clear from the following verb that the construction had not yet been completed. Thus the phrase has been translated “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years.” Some, however, see the term ναός (naos) here as referring only to the sanctuary and the aorist verb as consummative, so that the meaning would be “this temple was built forty-six years ago” (so ExSyn 560-61). Ultimately in context the logic of the authorities’ reply appears to fit more naturally if it compares length of time for original construction with length of time to reconstruct it.

[2:20]  ⁵ sn According to Josephus (Ant. 15.11.1 [15.380]), work on this temple was begun in the 18th year of Herod the Great’s reign, which would have been ca. 19 b.c. (The reference in the Ant. is probably more accurate than the date given in J. W. 1.21.1 [1.401]). Forty-six years later would be around the Passover of a.d. 27/28.