Afterward translates the same expression of time that is rendered after this in 5.1. It does not imply “immediately afterward.” For languages which require a more specific indication of the lapse of time, an expression designating “later that day” or “within the next day or so” may be used. It would certainly be wrong to suggest that a much longer period of time had elapsed.

And said is literally “and said to him,” but see verses 7 and 11. The context makes it apparent that Jesus is addressing the man.

In the Temple is the translation favored by most, but New American Bible has “in the Temple precincts.” Temple is the same word used in 2.14 (see the comments there).

Listen is merely an English idiomatic way of expressing the Greek idiom (ide, literally “behold”), used for the purpose of drawing attention to something (see 1.29). Moffatt renders Listen, you are well now by “See, you are well and strong.” A more satisfactory equivalent of Listen is “Pay attention” or “Hear what I am telling you.”

Jesus’ command and warning, so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you, should not be taken to imply that Jesus was saying that the man’s illness was caused by his sins. Evidently the man had been lame since birth. Stop sinning may be rendered “cease your sinning” or “no longer sin.”

It is difficult in some languages to translate literally something worse may happen to you. This expression may require complete recasting, for example, “or you may suffer even worse” or “or your suffering may be even more.”

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 .

The if clause in this verse presupposes that the Jews did not believe Moses. Good News Translation translates it If you had really believed Moses. Jerusalem Bible has “If you really believed him.”

There are difficulties involved in translating a condition contrary to fact in present or past time. The negation of such a condition must sometimes be made explicit in a separate clause, for example, “If you believed Moses—but you really have not believed him—then you would believe me.” It may even be necessary to indicate the negation of the second part of the condition, for example, “you would believe me—but you really do not.” If the second part of the condition is set off by a negative statement, it is necessary to treat the final clause in a somewhat different manner, for example, “It is clear you do not believe Moses, because he wrote about me” or “it is clear you do not believe what Moses wrote, because he wrote about me.” The logical force of this final clause, introduced by because, is made clearer in the following verse.

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 .

Ancestors is literally “fathers,” but in the present passage both male and female ancestors are clearly meant.

For the story of manna see 16. The term manna is usually transliterated in texts of the Scripture, but it is possible to introduce a description, for example, “food called manna” or “grain-sized food called manna.” A marginal note would be useful here, or this information may be given in a glossary.

Just as the scripture says is literally “just as it has been written,” a set formula for the introduction of a quotation from the Old Testament. He gave them bread from heaven to eat is not an exact rendering of any one passage in the Old Testament, though the UBS Greek New Testament cites Psalms 78.24 and 105.40.

In some languages one cannot use the expression “the Scriptures say,” for “writings” do not “speak.” Sometimes one can say “in the Holy Writings there are words about” or “in the Holy Writings one may read how he gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

The Scripture quotation He gave them bread from heaven to eat is interpreted by the crowd to mean that Moses gave them bread, and therefore the people desire a miracle greater than the one Moses performed. Jesus corrects that interpretation in verse 32. However, rather than introduce “Moses” as the subject of “gave them bread from heaven to eat,” it is better to preserve the ambiguous pronominal reference “he.”

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 .

God’s Spirit is literally “the spirit.” However, where “spirit” is unmarked (that is, without attributive) in the New Testament, it normally refers to God’s Spirit, as in the present context. It is strange that some translations spell Spirit with a lower case “s” (New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). God’s Spirit frequently appears as the source of life in both the Old and New Testaments. This concept is given particular emphasis in the Gospel of John. For example, it is God’s Spirit which brings about the new birth (3.5,8), and the Spirit is life-giving water (7.38-39). It may be necessary in some languages to invert the clause What gives life is God’s Spirit and render it “God’s Spirit is the one who causes people to live.”

Man’s power is literally “the flesh,” as in most translations. In the Old Testament “flesh” is often used as a description of mortal man in contrast with God, who is life-giving Spirit. That is clearly the meaning in the present context, and Good News Translation makes this meaning explicit. Man’s power is of no use at all may be rendered “people themselves cannot do this.” It may be necessary to be even more explicit, for example, “people themselves cannot cause people to live.”

The pronoun I is emphatic in the second sentence of this verse.

Bring God’s life-giving Spirit is literally “are Spirit and are life.” It is rendered “are Spirit and life” or similarly in most translations, though some have “spirit” with lower case “s.” Phillips renders Spirit as “spiritual,” but it is difficult to see the reasoning behind this rendering. But it is also difficult to see meaning in the literal rendering “are Spirit and are life,” since “and” normally indicates a relation of balance between the things it connects. In this case, however, “and” may simply be used to indicate an unmarked relation between “Spirit” and “life,” and so the phrase may be rendered “Spirit that gives life” or life-giving Spirit. Such an exegesis is in keeping with John’s theology and also with his Semitic Greek style, since in the Old Testament terms which are not in a balanced relation are often joined by the connective “and.” This exegesis also fits the overall context of the discourse on the bread of life, in which there is an implicit contrast between Jesus and Moses. Compare 2 Corinthians 3.6, “The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.”

A literal translation of bring God’s life-giving Spirit could be misleading, since it might imply that the words themselves carry the Spirit. One may say in some languages “the words I have spoken to you cause you to have God’s Spirit, which gives life” or “… causes you to live.” However, it may be difficult to speak of “words causing the Spirit to come.” Therefore one may say “By means of the words which I have spoken to you, I have caused God’s life-giving Spirit to come to you.”

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 .

Stop judging (so also New American Bible) is the force of the Greek imperative here, and so Jerusalem Bible translates “Do not keep judging” and Moffatt “give over judging.” It may be necessary in some languages to express an object of the verb judging. If so, either Jesus himself, or what Jesus has done, may be understood as the object.

By external standards is rendered “by appearances” in some translations and “according to appearances” in Jerusalem Bible (“superficially” in New English Bible). Judge by true standards is translated in Jerusalem Bible as “let your judgment be according to what is right” and in New American Bible as “make an honest judgment.” However this phrase and the preceding phrase are translated, they should indicate a contrast between an invalid judgment made on the basis of appearances and a valid judgment made on the basis of what is true.

It may be difficult to render verse 24 effectively because of the abstract terms external standards and true standards. In some languages one can say “Stop making up your minds on the basis of what things look like, but make them up on the basis of what is really true” or “Stop judging what people do just on the basis of what you see, but judge them on the basis of what has really happened” or “Do not form your opinions on the basis of what things seem to be, but upon the basis of what they really are.”

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 .

The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees is a common expression in the other Gospels, though it occurs only here in the Gospel of John. Most translations render teachers of the Law as “scribes” (New English Bible “the doctors of the law”). To translate as “scribes” is misleading. Originally one of the main functions of these men was to make copies of the Law, but by New Testament times they were the recognized authorities on the Law. The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees is apparently a set phrase. Most of the teachers of the Law probably belonged to the Pharisaic party.

Teachers of the Law may also be rendered “those who explained the Law,” in the sense of “showed what the Law meant.” Note, however, that it may be necessary to employ a plural, namely, “laws,” since some receptor languages lack a singular form which would be interpreted as a collective.

In some languages certain problems are encountered in using definite articles, such as “the teachers” and “the Pharisees,” because this usage would imply that all the teachers and all the Pharisees were involved. Therefore, it may be necessary in some languages to use an equivalent such as “some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees.”

In some ancient manuscripts committing adultery appears as “committing sin,” perhaps in anticipation of the close of verse 11. No translations seem to follow this alternative reading. As suggested in connection with the title of this section, it may be necessary to say “who had been arrested while sleeping with a man who was not her husband.”

They made her stand before them all (Jerusalem Bible “making her stand there in full view of everybody”; Moffatt “making her stand forward”) is translated rather literally in Revised Standard Version “placing her in the midst” (see New English Bible “Making her stand out in the middle”). The meaning is that the woman was made to stand before the people before whom she was to be tried. (The same expression is used in Acts 4.7: They made the apostles stand before them.) It should be noted that, contrary to the Law of Moses (Lev 20.10; Deut 22.22), only the woman was brought to trial.

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 .

The relation of this verse to the context is not at all clear. Some believe it is a parenthetical insertion, since the slave of verse 34 is quite different from the slave mentioned in this verse. New American Bible places it in curved brackets, indicating that it is a parenthetical statement. However, it is possible to see a relation between this verse and the total context. In verse 33 a discussion regarding the descendants of Abraham was initiated, and this recalls Genesis 21.10 (see Gal 4.30). Isaac remains a member of the household, while Ishmael, who was born of a slave woman, is driven out. The Jews claim to be the true sons of Abraham, while in fact they are the sons of sin, and so have lost their status as sons. In this brief parable, then, the Jews are spoken of as a slave, while Christ is referred to as the son, as elsewhere in John’s Gospel. By their rejection of the son, the Jews have lost their status in God’s household, but the son will remain there forever.

The verb belong to is literally “remains in,” the same verb discussed in verse 31.

In some languages it may not make sense to say A slave does not belong to a family. He has his own family, of course, but what is involved here is the household he serves. Therefore one may translate “A slave does not continue as a permanent member of a household” or “… may not necessarily continue as a member of a household.”

The final clause may then be translated “but a son is always a member of such a household.” In some languages, however, it is not possible to say “a son.” Such a person must be in a possessed relationship to someone. Therefore one may have to say “a man’s son always belongs to the father’s household” or “… the father’s family” or in some languages, “… his parents’ family.” There are, of course, certain problems involved in such expressions, particularly in matrilineal societies, where it would be necessary to speak of “a son belonging to his mother’s family.”

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 .

This verse initiates a series of dialogues concerning the healing, which continue through verse 34.

Who had seen him begging before this refers to habitual action, as indicated by New American Bible (“who had been accustomed to see him begging”) and Moffatt (“to whom he had been a familiar sight as a beggar”). From Jerusalem Bible (“who earlier had seen him begging”) one could gain the impression that they had seen him begging only once, immediately before the healing.

The question Isn’t this the man…? expects the answer “Yes.” Who used to sit and beg (so many translations) expresses accurately the force of the Greek particles (“the one sitting and begging”).

There is no indication to whom the question in verse 8 is posed; however, one may say “asked one another.” Since the question does expect a positive answer and to this extent is an exclamation, it may be appropriate in some languages to introduce it by a type of exclamatory statement, for example, “exclaimed to one another” or “asked with wonder.”

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 .