John 9:1-16

Healing a Man Born Blind

9:1 Now as Jesus was passing by, ¹  he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 9:2 His disciples asked him, ²  “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man ³  or his parents?” ⁴  9:3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man ⁵  nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that ⁶  the acts ⁷  of God may be revealed ⁸  through what happens to him. ⁹  9:4 We must perform the deeds ¹⁰  of the one who sent me ¹¹  as long as ¹²  it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work. 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ¹³  9:6 Having said this, ¹⁴  he spat on the ground and made some mud ¹⁵  with the saliva. He ¹⁶  smeared the mud on the blind man’s ¹⁷  eyes 9:7 and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” ¹⁸  (which is translated “sent”). ¹⁹  So the blind man ²⁰  went away and washed, and came back seeing.

9:8 Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously ²¹  as a beggar began saying, ²²  “Is this not the man ²³  who used to sit and beg?” 9:9 Some people said, ²⁴  “This is the man!” ²⁵  while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” ²⁶  The man himself ²⁷  kept insisting, “I am the one!” ²⁸  9:10 So they asked him, ²⁹  “How then were you made to see?” ³⁰  9:11 He replied, ³¹  “The man called Jesus made mud, ³²  smeared it ³³  on my eyes and told me, ³⁴  ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and was able to see.” ³⁵  9:12 They said ³⁶  to him, “Where is that man?” ³⁷  He replied, ³⁸  “I don’t know.”

The Pharisees’ Reaction to the Healing

9:13 They brought the man who used to be blind ³⁹  to the Pharisees. ⁴⁰  9:14 (Now the day on which Jesus made the mud ⁴¹  and caused him to see ⁴²  was a Sabbath.) ⁴³  9:15 So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. ⁴⁴  He replied, ⁴⁵  “He put mud ⁴⁶  on my eyes and I washed, and now ⁴⁷  I am able to see.”

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ⁴⁸  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ⁴⁹  the Sabbath.” ⁵⁰  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ⁵¹  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ⁵²  among them.

[9:1]  ¹ tn Or “going along.” The opening words of chap. 9, καὶ παράγων (kai paragwn), convey only the vaguest indication of the circumstances.

[9:2]  ² tn Grk “asked him, saying.”

[9:2]  ³ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “in order that he should be born blind.”

[9:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “but so that.” There is an ellipsis that must be supplied: “but [he was born blind] so that” or “but [it happened to him] so that.”

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Or “deeds”; Grk “works.”

[9:3]  ⁸ tn Or “manifested,” “brought to light.”

[9:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “in him.”

[9:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “We must work the works.”

[9:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “of him who sent me” (God).

[9:4]  ¹² tn Or “while.”

[9:5]  ¹³ sn Jesus’ statement I am the light of the world connects the present account with 8:12. Here (seen more clearly than at 8:12) it is obvious what the author sees as the significance of Jesus’ statement. “Light” is not a metaphysical definition of the person of Jesus but a description of his effect on the world, forcing everyone in the world to ‘choose up sides’ for or against him (cf. 3:19-21).

[9:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “said these things.”

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency). The textual variant preserved in the Syriac text of Ephraem’s commentary on the Diatessaron (“he made eyes from his clay”) probably arose from the interpretation given by Irenaeus in Against Heresies: “that which the Artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, he then supplied in public.” This involves taking the clay as an allusion to Gen 2:7, which is very unlikely.

[9:6]  ¹⁶ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) was replaced by a third person pronoun and a new sentence started here in the translation.

[9:6]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “on his.”

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn The pool’s name in Hebrew is shiloah from the Hebrew verb “to send.” In Gen 49:10 the somewhat obscure shiloh was interpreted messianically by later Jewish tradition, and some have seen a lexical connection between the two names (although this is somewhat dubious). It is known, however, that it was from the pool of Siloam that the water which was poured out at the altar during the feast of Tabernacles was drawn.

[9:7]  ¹⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Why does he comment on the meaning of the name of the pool? Here, the significance is that the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the man born blind. The name of the pool is applicable to the man, but also to Jesus himself, who was sent from heaven.

[9:7]  ²⁰ tn Grk “So he”; the referent (the blind man) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:8]  ²¹ tn Or “formerly.”

[9:8]  ²² tn An ingressive force (“began saying”) is present here because the change in status of the blind person provokes this new response from those who knew him.

[9:8]  ²³ tn Grk “the one.”

[9:9]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Others were saying.”

[9:9]  ²⁵ tn Grk “This is the one.”

[9:9]  ²⁶ tn Grk “No, but he is like him.”

[9:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “That one”; the referent (the man himself) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “I am he.”

[9:10]  ²⁹ tn Grk “So they were saying to him.”

[9:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “How then were your eyes opened” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:11]  ³¹ tn Grk “That one answered.”

[9:11]  ³² tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).

[9:11]  ³³ tn Grk “and smeared.” Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when obvious from the context.

[9:11]  ³⁴ tn Grk “said to me.”

[9:11]  ³⁵ tn Or “and I gained my sight.”

[9:12]  ³⁶ tn Grk “And they said.”

[9:12]  ³⁷ tn Grk “that one.” “Man” is more normal English style for the referent.

[9:12]  ³⁸ tn Grk “He said.”

[9:13]  ³⁹ tn Grk “who was formerly blind.”

[9:13]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:14]  ⁴¹ tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).

[9:14]  ⁴² tn Grk “and opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:14]  ⁴³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[9:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “how he had become able to see.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “And he said to them.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).

[9:15]  ⁴⁷ tn The word “now” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate the contrast between the man’s former state (blind) and his present state (able to see).

[9:16]  ⁴⁸ tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).

[9:16]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ⁵⁰ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ⁵² tn Or “So there was discord.”