In Greek neither Lazarus nor Jesus are mentioned by name: “when he heard that he was sick, he remained where he was….” To avoid the repetition of the pronoun “he” four times, and, at the same time, to avoid confusion to the reader, Good News Translation renders Lazarus was sick; the first “he” is clear in light of the explicit mention of Jesus in verse 5, and by the sentence structure of Good News Translation any possible ambiguities are removed from this verse.

In many languages received the news may be best expressed as “heard the messenger say” or “heard the report that.”

No reason is given why Jesus stayed where he was for two more days, instead of going immediately to Bethany. It was certainly not for the sake of letting Lazarus die so that a greater miracle could be performed, since verses 17 and 39 suggest that Lazarus was already dead at the time Jesus received the message. More likely Jesus stayed where he was for two more days to indicate that his actions and movements were determined by divine decree, rather than by the will and desires of human beings (compare 2.3,4; 7.3-9); but this information should not be included in the translation.

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 .