SIL Translator’s Notes on John 5:25

5:25a

Truly, truly, I tell you: See note in 5:19a. See how you translated this phrase in 1:51 and 5:19a. For example:

And I assure you that (New Living Translation (2004))

5:25b

the hour is coming and has now come: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the hour is coming refers to a future event. In saying the hour…has now come, Jesus was saying that this future event had begun already.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

the day is coming, and actually it has already arrived
-or-
the time is coming, and is already here (New Century Version)

This phrase is also used in 4:23. See the Note there as well as the way you translated the phrase in that verse. It would be good to translate it the same way in both verses.

5:25c

the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God: This is figurative language. The phrase the dead is being used to refer to those who are spiritually dead. As Jesus spoke, spiritually dead people heard him, and those who believed, lived. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that this is figurative language and/or supply the meaning. For example:

people who are ⌊as if they are⌋ dead, ⌊separated from God,⌋ will hear the voice of God’s Son

hear the voice of the Son of God: The phrase the voice of the Son of God refers to the words of Jesus. The people will hear what Jesus, the Son of God, will say. For example:

hear the words/message of the Son of God

hear: This word here implies understanding and believing what Jesus said. It may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

when those who are dead hear the words which the Son of God speaks ⌊and believe⌋

the Son of God: Jesus was referring to himself. If this is not clear, it may be helpful to supply this information. For example:

the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God (New Living Translation (2004))

The phrase the Son of God is a title for Jesus. This title indicates that Jesus has the same nature and character as God. It also indicates that the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, his Son, is similar in some way to the relationship between human fathers and sons. God the Father does not have a physical body. He did not have a sexual relationship that resulted in Mary becoming pregnant and giving birth to Jesus.

See how you translated the Son of God at 1:34. For further information, see the note on this phrase at 1:34.

5:25d

those who hear will live: The word live here is figurative and means “to become spiritually alive.” These people will begin to know God and live in him as they listen to the message. The word hear implies that they believe and accept Jesus’ words.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

those who hear it will come to life (Good News Translation)
-or-
life ⌊will be given⌋ to those who listen
-or-
the listeners ⌊will receive true/real⌋ life

© 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.

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