The first part of this verse is more literally “But in order that the word written in their law might be fulfilled.” Here again “to be fulfilled” must be understood in the sense of “come true” (see 12.38). New English Bible renders “However, this text in their law had to come true.” That is, it renders “the word” of the Greek sentence by “the text,” but Good News Translation uses a more generic term what is written. New American Bible also translates “the word” as “the text,” while some translations render simply “the word.” It is obvious that the singular term “the word” will not do for most translations. In this context Law refers to the entire Jewish Bible, and not merely to that section of the Old Testament known as “the Law” (see also 10.34 and 12.34). The Greek is rather elliptical, and for this reason Good News Translation supplies This must be at the opening of the verse. It is possible to take the Greek structure as the equivalent of an imperative (see the alternative rendering of New English Bible “let this text in their law come true”), but no translation suggests this interpretation. The scripture reference in this verse is either to Psalm 35.19 or 69.5, since the expression those who hate me without reason occurs in each of these Psalms.

This … was bound to happen may be rendered “This had to happen” or “It had to happen that they would hate me” or “Their hating me happened so that.”

The purpose clause so that what is written in their Law may come true may be rendered in some languages “so that what is written in their Law might happen” or “… might take place” or “… might really occur.”

As noted in other contexts, in some languages Law may be expressed more satisfactorily as plural, namely, “laws.”

For no reason at all indicates a type of contrast, and therefore it may be combined with the preceding verb as “They hated me, but they didn’t have a reason for hating me” or “They hated me, but I had not done anything to cause them to hate me.”

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 .