SIL Translator’s Notes on John 5:28

5:28a

Do not be amazed at this: This clause is a command. Jesus continued to speak to the Jewish leaders, so you will need to use a plural pronoun or verb. The word this probably refers back to the previous verses, to what Jesus had just said.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

Do not let that surprise you
-or-
Don’t be surprised at what I have just said. (God’s Word)

5:28b

for: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for here means “because.” It introduces a reason people should not be surprised at what Jesus said.

the hour is coming: This refers to a time that is still in the future. See how you translated this phrase in 5:25b.

all who are in their graves: This expression means “all those people who have died.” A “grave” is a place where a dead person is buried, under the surface of the ground or in a cave. Jesus used this expression to speak about all dead people, not just those in graves. If people do not understand that, you may want to use a more general word. For example:

The time will come when all of the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man (Contemporary English Version)

will hear His voice: The voice refers to Jesus’ voice as God’s Son. These people will hear what the Son will say. In some languages it may be necessary to make it clear that Jesus was referring to himself. For example:

they will hear me call all the dead people back to life

See 5:24a and how you translated this idea there.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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