6:71

In this verse, John the author gives an explanation of what Jesus said in 6:70a-b. He tells what would happen later, which no one except Jesus knew at the time of this event.

6:71a–b

He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For although Judas was one of the Twelve, he was later to betray Jesus: The conjunction For here introduces Jesus’ grounds for calling Judas a devil. The word For here means “because.” Some English translations do not translate this word, but leave the connection implied.

Here are some other ways to translate this verse and indicate the grounds:

The one he was talking about was Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, because even though he was one of his twelve disciples, he would later betray Jesus.
-or-
Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. He would later betray Jesus, even though he was one of the twelve disciples. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him. (New Living Translation (2004))

6:71a

He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot: This clause tells the name of the disciple to whom Jesus referred in 6:70a.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. (New Century Version)
-or-
He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot. (Revised English Bible)

6:71b

although Judas was one of the Twelve, he was later to betray Jesus: This statement indicates that Judas would betray Jesus. How this happened is recorded in Matthew 26:14–16, 47–50. In some languages it may be necessary to make the names explicit:

Judas would betray Jesus even though he was one of the twelve (12) disciples

although Judas was one of the Twelve: This phrase is a short way of saying “although he was one of the Twelve disciples.” It gives the reason why what happened was unexpected or surprising. Although Judas was one of the twelve (12) disciples, who were mentioned in 6:67 and 6:70a, he would betray Jesus. One would not expect that one of Jesus’ closest companions would betray him.

Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

even though he was one of the twelve disciples (Good News Translation)
-or-
although Judas was one of the twelve
-or-
Judas was one of the twelve, but later… (New Century Version)

betray Jesus: In this context the word betray means to hand someone over to his enemies. Judas would bring Jewish leaders to Jesus to arrest him and put him on a cross to die.

Here are other ways to translate this word:

turn against Jesus (New Century Version)
-or-
give Jesus to his enemies

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