John 7:28

7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ¹  cried out, ²  “You both know me and know where I come from! ³  And I have not come on my own initiative, ⁴  but the one who sent me ⁵  is true. You do not know him, ⁶ 

John 7:27

7:27 But we know where this man ⁷  comes from. ⁸  Whenever the Christ ⁹  comes, no one will know where he comes from.” ¹⁰ 

John 9:29

9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man ¹¹  comes from!”

John 4:11

4:11 “Sir,” ¹²  the woman ¹³  said to him, “you have no bucket and the well ¹⁴  is deep; where then do you get this ¹⁵  living water? ¹⁶ 

John 19:9

19:9 and he went back into the governor’s residence ¹⁷  and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

John 8:14

8:14 Jesus answered, ¹⁸  “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people ¹⁹  do not know where I came from or where I am going. ²⁰ 

John 1:48

1:48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, ²¹  “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, ²²  I saw you.”

John 2:9

2:9 When ²³  the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from ²⁴  (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he ²⁵  called the bridegroom

John 3:8

3:8 The wind ²⁶  blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ²⁷ 

John 6:5

6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up ²⁸  and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”

John 9:30

9:30 The man replied, ²⁹  “This is a remarkable thing, ³⁰  that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see! ³¹ 

[7:28]  ¹ tn Grk “the temple.”

[7:28]  ² tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”

[7:28]  ³ sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.

[7:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”

[7:28]  ⁵ tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”

[7:27]  ⁷ tn Grk “this one.”

[7:27]  ⁸ sn We know where this man comes from. The author apparently did not consider this objection worth answering. The true facts about Jesus’ origins were readily available for any reader who didn’t know already. Here is an instance where the author assumes knowledge about Jesus that is independent from the material he records.

[7:27]  ⁹ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:27]  ¹⁰ sn The view of these people regarding the Messiah that no one will know where he comes from reflects the idea that the origin of the Messiah is a mystery. In the Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 97a) Rabbi Zera taught: “Three come unawares: Messiah, a found article, and a scorpion.” Apparently OT prophetic passages like Mal 3:1 and Dan 9:25 were interpreted by some as indicating a sudden appearance of Messiah. It appears that this was not a universal view: The scribes summoned by Herod at the coming of the Magi in Matt 2 knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. It is important to remember that Jewish messianic expectations in the early 1st century were not monolithic.

[9:29]  ¹³ tn Grk “where this one.”

[4:11]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn The word for “well” has now shifted to φρέαρ (frear, “cistern”); earlier in the passage it was πηγή (phgh).

[4:11]  ²² tn The anaphoric article has been translated “this.”

[4:11]  ²³ 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.

[19:9]  ²⁵ tn Grk “into the praetorium.”

[8:14]  ³¹ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[8:14]  ³² tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to indicate that the pronoun (“you”) and verb (“do not know”) in Greek are plural.

[8:14]  ³³ sn You people do not know where I came from or where I am going. The ignorance of the religious authorities regarding Jesus’ origin works on two levels at once: First, they thought Jesus came from Galilee (although he really came from Bethlehem in Judea) and second, they did not know that he came from heaven (from the Father), and this is where he would return. See further John 7:52.

[1:48]  ³⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “replied.”

[1:48]  ³⁸ sn Many have speculated about what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. Meditating on the Messiah who was to come? A good possibility, since the fig tree was used as shade for teaching or studying by the later rabbis (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:11). Also, the fig tree was symbolic for messianic peace and plenty (Mic 4:4, Zech 3:10.)

[2:9]  ⁴³ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.

[2:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “and he did not know where it came from.”

[2:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “the head steward”; here the repetition of the phrase is somewhat redundant in English and the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.

[3:8]  ⁴⁹ tn The same Greek word, πνεύματος (pneumatos), may be translated “wind” or “spirit.”

[3:8]  ⁵⁰ sn Again, the physical illustrates the spiritual, although the force is heightened by the word-play here on wind-spirit (see the note on wind at the beginning of this verse). By the end of the verse, however, the final usage of πνεύματος (pneumatos) refers to the Holy Spirit.

[6:5]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

[9:30]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “The man answered and said to them.” This has been simplified in the translation to “The man replied.”

[9:30]  ⁶² tn Grk “For in this is a remarkable thing.”

[9:30]  ⁶³ tn Grk “and he opened my eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).