14:2a
In My Father’s house are many rooms: The main idea in this sentence is that there is plenty of room for many people. For example:
In my Father’s compound there are many houses/homes.
-or-
There is room for many people to live with/near my Father.
In My Father’s house: The phrase My Father’s house refers to heaven. It is good to keep the metaphor. If the picture of God living in a house seems very strange, it may be possible to say something like:
In my Father’s ⌊heavenly⌋ home
many rooms: The phrase the Berean Standard Bible has translated as rooms means “places to live.” For example:
many places to live in (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
dwelling places (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
many apartments
14:2b
If it were not so: This clause here means “if there were not many rooms in my Father’s house.” It suggests the possibility that there might not be enough room for all of Jesus’ followers in heaven. This is a possibility that is not true. Translate this in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
If not
-or-
If that were not true (God’s Word)
-or-
If there were not many rooms there
-or-
unless it was true
14:2c–d
would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?: There is a textual problem here. Some Greek manuscripts include a word that can mean either that or “for/because.” Some Greek manuscripts do not include this word. Also, the original Greek text did not have any punctuation. So it is difficult to be sure of the original meaning of the text. Here are the possibilities:
(1) The text includes a word that can mean that or “for/because.” For example:
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (English Standard Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004), NIV2011, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, NET Bible)
(2) The text does not include that word. For example:
I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. (New Century Version)
(King James Version, New International Version (1984), Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation)
It is recommended that you follow option (1). The UBS Handbook Greek text includes the Greek word with only some doubt.
There is also an interpretation issue in how to understand the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as that.
(1) The word means that. For example:
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (English Standard Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004), NIV2011)
(2) The word means “for/because.” For example:
if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you (New American Standard Bible)
(New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, NET Bible)
It is recommended that you follow option (1) with more of the English translations. That seems to make the best sense of the Greek text. Following option (1) also means that you would understand the Greek as a rhetorical question. The expected answer to the rhetorical question would be “no.” Jesus would not have told his followers something that was not true.
There are two ways to translate this rhetorical question:
(1) Use a rhetorical question. For example:
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? (New Living Translation (2004))
(2) Use a statement. For example:
I would not have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you.
Translate this rhetorical question in a way that is natural for a question that implies and expects the answer “no.” For example:
I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you, would I?
14:2c
would I have told you: This clause indicates here that Jesus would not have said something to his disciples if something else were not true. He told them that he would go to prepare a place for them (see the next clause). He would not have said that if there were not many places to live in his Father’s house. But there were many places to live there, so he told him that he would prepare a place for them.
you: This pronoun is plural and refers to the disciples.
14:2d
that I am going there to prepare a place for you: There is no record that Jesus had previously said these exact words. This may refer to his promise that his followers would always be with him and have eternal life. See, for example, John 12:26.
I am going: These words refer to Jesus going to his Father’s house in heaven, which he just mentioned. He would do that through his death and resurrection. It may be natural to make clearer where he would go. For example:
I go ⌊there⌋
-or-
I am going there (New International Version)
to prepare a place for you: This phrase refers to preparing a place for the disciples in the home of God the Father. Jesus prepared this place by dying for his people and making the way for them to go to God.
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