1:8a

He himself: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He himself refers back to John the Baptist. The Revised Standard Version translates it simply as “he.” In some languages it is more natural to use the name John here. For example:

John was not the Light (New Century Version, God’s Word)

was not the Light: John the Baptist was not the one who gave light to all people, who directly revealed God. This does not imply that he did not speak honestly, or that he was not a good man. He was a great and good man.

1:8b

but he came to testify about the Light: This clause indicates that although John was not as important as the Light itself, he did have an important mission. His mission and purpose was to tell others about the Light. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

he came only as a witness to the light (New International Version)
-or-
he was ⌊just⌋ a witness to tell about the light

but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but here connects a negative statement (1:8a) to a positive statement (1:8b). This kind of sentence emphasizes the positive statement. Languages have different ways to indicate this type of emphasis:

• Use the conjunction but as in the Berean Standard Bible.

John was not the Light, but he came to tell people the truth about the Light. (New Century Version)

• Use a conjunction other than but. This is a common way in English to show this type of emphasis. For example:

John was not the light itself, rather/instead he came to confirm the truth about the light.

• Do not use a conjunction. For example:

He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. (Good News Translation)

• Change the order of the clauses. For example:

John came to declare the truth about the light; he was not the light himself.

You should translate this emphasis in the way that is most natural in your language.

to testify about the Light: This phrase indicates that John the Baptist came to tell people who the Light was. See how you translated testify in 1:7a. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

to tell what he witnessed about the light

© 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.