This verse carries the expression of Martha’s faith even further. She is confident, not only that Jesus could have kept Lazarus from dying, but that even now he has the power to ask God to raise her brother from the dead. Martha’s words are a confession of faith in Jesus (I know) but at the same time they imply a request that Jesus would ask God to raise her brother from the dead. Even now is the way most modern English translations render John’s particles here; it is also possible to translate “but nevertheless.”

Good News Translation slightly restructures the last part of this verse. God will give you whatever you ask him for is literally “whatever you ask God, God will give to you.” The words “to you” are possibly emphatic in Greek.

In rendering the clause whatever you ask him for it is important to indicate clearly that this “whatever” may be an event or a happening, not an object. The inherent difficulty in the expression of whatever may be resolved in some languages by translating “But I know that even now, if you pray to God, he will cause you to be able to do whatever you ask.” In this way the reference may be to a possible miracle, rather than to some particular object.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .