John 9:8-23

9:8 Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously ¹  as a beggar began saying, ²  “Is this not the man ³  who used to sit and beg?” 9:9 Some people said, ⁴  “This is the man!” ⁵  while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” ⁶  The man himself ⁷  kept insisting, “I am the one!” ⁸  9:10 So they asked him, ⁹  “How then were you made to see?” ¹⁰  9:11 He replied, ¹¹  “The man called Jesus made mud, ¹²  smeared it ¹³  on my eyes and told me, ¹⁴  ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and was able to see.” ¹⁵  9:12 They said ¹⁶  to him, “Where is that man?” ¹⁷  He replied, ¹⁸  “I don’t know.”

The Pharisees’ Reaction to the Healing

9:13 They brought the man who used to be blind ¹⁹  to the Pharisees. ²⁰  9:14 (Now the day on which Jesus made the mud ²¹  and caused him to see ²²  was a Sabbath.) ²³  9:15 So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. ²⁴  He replied, ²⁵  “He put mud ²⁶  on my eyes and I washed, and now ²⁷  I am able to see.”

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ²⁸  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ²⁹  the Sabbath.” ³⁰  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ³¹  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ³²  among them. 9:17 So again they asked the man who used to be blind, ³³  “What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?” ³⁴  “He is a prophet,” the man replied. ³⁵ 

9:18 Now the Jewish religious leaders ³⁶  refused to believe ³⁷  that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned ³⁸  the parents of the man who had become able to see. ³⁹  9:19 They asked the parents, ⁴⁰  “Is this your son, whom you say ⁴¹  was born blind? Then how does he now see?” 9:20 So his parents replied, ⁴²  “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 9:21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. ⁴³  Ask him, he is a mature adult. ⁴⁴  He will speak for himself.” 9:22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ⁴⁵  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ⁴⁶  to be the Christ ⁴⁷  would be put out ⁴⁸  of the synagogue. ⁴⁹  9:23 For this reason his parents said, “He is a mature adult, ⁵⁰  ask him.”) ⁵¹ 

[9:8]  ¹ tn Or “formerly.”

[9:8]  ² 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]  ³ tn Grk “the one.”

[9:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “Others were saying.”

[9:9]  ⁵ tn Grk “This is the one.”

[9:9]  ⁶ tn Grk “No, but he is like him.”

[9:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “That one”; the referent (the man himself) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:9]  ⁸ tn Grk “I am he.”

[9:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “So they were saying to him.”

[9:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “How then were your eyes opened” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “That one answered.”

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

[9:11]  ¹² tn Grk “and smeared.” Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when obvious from the context.

[9:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “said to me.”

[9:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and I gained my sight.”

[9:12]  ¹³ tn Grk “And they said.”

[9:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “that one.” “Man” is more normal English style for the referent.

[9:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “He said.”

[9:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “who was formerly blind.”

[9:13]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).

[9:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:14]  ²¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[9:15]  ²² tn Or “how he had become able to see.”

[9:15]  ²³ tn Grk “And he said to them.”

[9:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).

[9:15]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ²⁷ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ²⁸ tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ²⁹ tn Or “So there was discord.”

[9:17]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the blind man.”

[9:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “since he opened your eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:17]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And he said, ‘He is a prophet.’”

[9:18]  ³¹ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “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 phrase refers mainly to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. References in this context to Pharisees and to the synagogue (v. 22) suggest an emphasis on the religious nature of the debate which is brought out by the translation “the Jewish religious leaders.”

[9:18]  ³² tn The Greek text contains the words “about him” at this point: “the Jewish authorities did not believe about him…”

[9:18]  ³³ tn Grk “they called.”

[9:18]  ³⁴ tn Or “the man who had gained his sight.”

[9:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “and they asked them, saying”; the referent (the parents) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:19]  ³⁵ tn The Greek pronoun and verb are both plural (both parents are addressed).

[9:20]  ³⁷ tn Grk “So his parents answered and said.”

[9:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “who opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:21]  ⁴¹ tn Or “he is of age.”

[9:22]  ⁴³ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Twice in this verse the phrase refers to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. The second occurrence is shortened to “the Jewish leaders” for stylistic reasons. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish religious leaders” in v. 18.

[9:22]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “confessed him.”

[9:22]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[9:22]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “would be expelled from.”

[9:22]  ⁴⁷ sn This reference to excommunication from the Jewish synagogue for those who had made some sort of confession about Jesus being the Messiah is dismissed as anachronistic by some (e.g., Barrett) and nonhistorical by others. In later Jewish practice there were at least two forms of excommunication: a temporary ban for thirty days, and a permanent ban. But whether these applied in NT times is far from certain. There is no substantial evidence for a formal ban on Christians until later than this Gospel could possibly have been written. This may be a reference to some form of excommunication adopted as a contingency to deal with those who were proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. If so, there is no other record of the procedure than here. It was probably local, limited to the area around Jerusalem. See also the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[9:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “he is of age.”

[9:23]  ⁴⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author explaining the parents’ response.