SIL Translator’s Notes on John 8:47

8:47a

Whoever belongs to God: This phrase is more literally “the one who is of God.” In this context it probably refers to anyone who belongs to God. There is an implied contrast with the people that Jesus spoke to. They showed that they did not belong to God by refusing to listen to the words of God that Jesus spoke. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

He who belongs to God (New International Version)
-or-
Anyone who belongs to God (New Living Translation (2004))

hears the words of God: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hears here is the same word that was translated “accept” in 8:43b. The expression hears the words of God means that this person accepts and obeys what God says to him. For example:

hears what God says (New International Version)
-or-
listens gladly to the word of God (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
accepts what God says (New Century Version)

8:47b

The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God: These clauses describe the opposite situation from 8:47a. People who do not belong to God do not accept or listen to God’s words. (The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hear here is the same word that was used in 8:47a.) Jesus said that his listeners were such people. Here are other ways to translate these clauses:

But you refuse to listen, because you don’t belong to God. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
The reason why you will not listen is that you are not from God. (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God. (New Century Version)

In some languages it may be natural to reverse the order of the clauses in this sentence. For example:

You, however, are not from God, and that is why you will not listen. (Good News Translation)
-or-
You are not God’s children, and that is why you will not listen. (Revised English Bible)

© 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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