complete verse (John 10:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 10:19:

  • Uma: “When the Yahudi people heard that speech of Yesus, they also argued among themselves.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When the people heard these words of Isa, they again had different thoughts/were divided in their thinking.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the Jews heard this teaching of Jesus, they could not agree.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “After-that the Jews again contradicted-each-other on-account-of the aforementioned that Jesus had said.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because of that which Jesus had said, the Judio again couldn’t agree.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The Jews, after hearing this, did not agree among themselves.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 10:19

The presence of the adverb again makes this verse more difficult to translate than may be apparent. For example, New English Bible sounds as if the same words had previously caused a division among the Jews (“These words once again caused a split among the Jews”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch resolves the problem of “again” by rendering “Because of this assertion the Jews were again divided in their opinion regarding Jesus.”

In some languages one must make specific the causal relation between the words and the resulting division, for example, “These words of Jesus caused the Jews to be divided again.”

It is important to avoid giving the impression that there was a physical division or separation in the group. It may be necessary to specify that the division was one of argument or viewpoint, for example, “again they argued among themselves” or “again they had two different opinions.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on John 10:19

Paragraph 10:19–21

This paragraph tells how the people responded to what Jesus said. They reacted in different ways, some approving of Jesus and some opposing him.

10:19

Again there was division among the Jews because of Jesus’ message: The things Jesus said caused the people who were listening to him to argue among themselves. They could not agree about who Jesus was. Here are other ways to translate this sentence:

At these words the Jews were again divided. (New International Version)
-or-
When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him. (New Living Translation (2004))

Again: The word Again indicates that this had happened before. The people listening to Jesus had already argued about Jesus because of what he said, in 6:52 and 9:16. See the notes there.

there was division among the Jews: These words here indicate that the people who heard Jesus disagreed and argued with one another about him. There were some who approved of him and some who opposed him. For example:

the Jews did not agree with each other (New Century Version)
-or-
there was a division among the people (Good News Translation)

the Jews: This phrase here probably refers to all the people listening to Jesus, including both the leaders and the ordinary people. They were all Jewish, so it is possible to translate this in these ways:

the Jewish people (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
the people (New Living Translation (2004))

because of Jesus’ message: The phrase Jesus’ message refers to what Jesus just taught in John 10:1–18. Because of what he said, the people disagreed about him. In some languages it is more natural to express this idea using a verb. For example:

because of what Jesus said (God’s Word)
-or-
When he said these things (New Living Translation (2004))

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