John 6:33

6:33 For the bread of God is the one who ¹  comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

John 6:36

6:36 But I told you ²  that you have seen me ³  and still do not believe.

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 6:50-51

6:50 This ⁵  is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person ⁶  may eat from it and not die. 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread ⁷  that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 6:58

6:58 This ⁸  is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors ⁹  ate, but then later died. ¹⁰  The one who eats ¹¹  this bread will live forever.”

[6:33]  ¹ tn Or “he who.”

[6:36]  ² tn Grk “But I said to you.”

[6:36]  ³ tc A few witnesses lack με (me, “me”; א A a b e q sy^s,c), while the rest of the tradition has the word (Ì^66,75vid rell). It is possible that the mss that lack the pronoun preserve the original wording here, with the rest of the witnesses adding the pronoun for clarity’s sake. This likelihood increases since the object is not required in Greek. Without it, however, ambiguity increases: The referent could be “me” or it could be “signs,” reaching back to vv. 26 and 30. However, the oblique form of ἐγώ (egw, the first person personal pronoun) occurs some two dozen times in this chapter alone, yet it vacillates between the emphatic form and the unemphatic form. Although generally the unemphatic form is used with verbs, there are several exceptions to this in John (cf. 8:12; 12:26, 45, 48; 13:20; 14:9). If the pronoun is a later addition here, one wonders why it is so consistently the unemphatic form in the mss. Further, that two unrelated Greek witnesses lack this small word could easily be due to accidental deletion. Finally, the date and diversity of the witnesses for the pronoun are so weighty that it is likely to be authentic and should thus be retained in the text.

[6:41]  ³ 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.

[6:50]  ⁴ tn Or “Here.”

[6:50]  ⁵ tn Grk “someone” (τις, tis).

[6:51]  ⁵ tn Grk “And the bread.”

[6:58]  ⁶ tn Or “This one.”

[6:58]  ⁷ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[6:58]  ⁸ tn Grk “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not just like your ancestors ate and died.” The cryptic Greek expression has been filled out in the translation for clarity.

[6:58]  ⁹ tn Or “who chews.” On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esqiw, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trwgw, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.