By then (Revised Standard Version “now”; Moffatt “by this time”; New English Bible “already”) is connected in the Greek text with the statement night came on (verse 17). However, Good News Translation prefers to connect the adverbial expression with a strong wind was blowing. Verses 17 and 18 are joined by the Greek conjunction te, which is rare in John’s Gospel. Some scholars understand it to be a strong connective (New American Bible “moreover”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch restructures as follows, making the connective unnecessary: “17 … It was night and Jesus still had not come to them. 18 The weather was stormy and high waves were on the water.”

A strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water is literally “the lake (sea) was being stirred up, there was blowing a strong wind.” Good News Translation changes the passive construction of the Greek into a more natural active expression in English. New English Bible translates “A strong wind was blowing and the sea grew rough.” This condition is expressed in some languages as “there were many big waves” or “the waves had become large” or “the water was foaming.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .