The words He answered, “The man called Jesus…” appear in a variety of ways in the various Greek manuscripts. But the textual variations do not affect the translation at this point. The translator is obligated to translate in a way that is stylistically most acceptable to his readers.

Rubbed on is the same verb as the one used in verse 6. Here in verse 11 there is no variation in the Greek manuscripts, as there is in verse 6. Those who believe that the original text in verse 6 reads “put on” assume that rubbed on came into the text there on the basis of its use here. The verb translated rubbed on is used nowhere in the New Testament apart from these two verses.

In Greek the verb I went is actually a participle, but rendered as a finite verb in Good News Translation and several other translations. In translation from Greek to English, a participle must often be changed to a finite verb to avoid having a large number of subordinate clauses. However, it is sometimes necessary to change a finite verb in Greek to a participle or a subordinate clause, to meet the demands of English discourse structure.

In many languages the command of Jesus must be interpreted as a quotation within a quotation, for example, “told me, Go to Siloam and wash your face.”

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 .