Jesus answered is literally “Jesus answered and said to them,” another instance of Semitic style. Good News Translation (Stop grumbling) and New English Bible (“Stop murmuring”) both attempt to capture the force of the Greek present imperative, which indicates that the people are to stop an action they are already in the process of doing. A simple negative imperative, “Don’t grumble,” would not have this force.

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 .