42Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue,
The Hebrew, Ge’ez and Greek that is typically translated as “confess” in English in the context of these verses is translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:
Huastec: “to take aim at one’s sin” (“an idiom which is derived from the action of a hunter taking aim at a bird or animal”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Tabasco Chontal: “say, It is true, I’ve done evil” (source: Larson 1998, p. 204)
Central Pame: “pull out the heart” (“so that it may be clearly seen — not just by men, but by God”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 155)
Shipibo-Conibo: “say, It is true I have sinned” (source: Nida 1964, p. 228)
Obolo: itutumu ijo isibi: “speak out sin” (source: Enene Enene).
Tagbanwa: “testify that one would now drop/give-up sin” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated as “acknowledge” or “confess” in English is rendered as “say openly … that they have believed” (Tzeltal), “approves” (Chichewa), “declares/mentions (my) name” (Kekchí, Sranan Tongo), “talks (my) good name” (Northern Grebo), “testifies to (me)” (Zarma, Pohnpeian), “takes (my) side” (Shona, translation of 1966), or “speaks for (me)” (Ekari). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 12:42:
Uma: “But even so, there were many Yahudi leaders who believed in Yesus. But they just believed secretly, because they were afraid lest the Parisi people expel them from the house of prayer.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But even though it was like that, many of the Yahudi leaders believed in Isa but they did not speak openly about this, because they were afraid that perhaps the Pariseo would know it and then they would no longer be allowed in the prayer-house.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “In spite of that, many of the rulers of the Jews believed in Jesus, but they didn’t say that they believed in him because they were afraid of the Pharisees because their right to enter the churches might be taken away from them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Many nonetheless of the leaders of the Jews believed in Jesus. But they didn’t admit their belief on-account-of their fear that the Pharisees would punish them by their not being-counted among their fellow Jews.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “However even though it was like that now, even the leaders of the Judio, there were now many who believed-in/obeyed Jesus. But their belief was only in secret, they weren’t admitting it, for they were evading the Pariseo, because maybe they would be removed from the place-for-worship, no longer included as being a Judio.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “However, many Jews who had authority believed in Jesus. Yet they didn’t tell the people what they believed because they feared the Pharisees and wanted to keep from having their names taken out of the church.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Even then may be rendered “There were in fact” or “Actually there were.” This verse serves to emphasize what is to follow and suggests a certain amount of contrast with what has preceded.
Many Jewish authorities is literally “many authorities.” The reference is to the Jewish leaders. “The leading men” of Jerusalem Bible seems to imply that a number of leading citizens believed in Jesus, whereas the emphasis is that a number of the Jewish authorities believed in Jesus (note, for example, New American Bible “There were many, even among the Sanhedrin, who believed in him”). Goodspeed translates “… even among the members of the Council, many came to believe in him.” It is quite likely that authorities in this context is to be understood specifically as members of the Jewish Council (see 3.1; 7.26,48).
The expression because of the Pharisees may require further expansion in some languages, for example, “because of fear of the Pharisees” or “because they feared what the Pharisees might do to them.”
In Jesus is literally “in him.” It is necessary to make the pronominal reference explicit; otherwise it may be taken as referring back to Isaiah in verse 41, since he is the last person mentioned by name.
Talk about it openly is the verb spoke out clearly (1.20; see also 9.22). Goodspeed translates “would not acknowledge it” (New English Bible “would not acknowledge him”); Phillips has “would not admit it” (Jerusalem Bible “did not admit it”; New American Bible “refused to admit it”). It may be necessary in some languages to say “would not say to others that they believed in Jesus.”
Be expelled from the synagogue is the same expression used in 9.22.
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 paragraph tells about the Jewish people who did put their faith in Jesus.
12:42a
Nevertheless: This word introduces a contrast. The contrast is with the main theme of the previous paragraph, that not many people believed in Jesus (12:37). Even though most people did not believe in Jesus, many did believe in him, even some of the Jewish leaders. Here are other ways to introduce this contrast:
Yet (New International Version)
-or-
But (New Century Version)
-or-
Even though it was like that
many of the leaders believed in Him: The word many means “many people.” John was thinking particularly of the Jewish people. This clause indicates that not all the Jewish people rejected Jesus. Even among the Jewish leaders there were many who believed in him. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
even among the rulers many believed in him (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
many believed in Jesus, even many of the leaders (New Century Version)
-or-
Many people did believe in him…including some of the Jewish leaders. (New Living Translation (2004))
of the leaders: The Greek phrase here contains a word that several English versions translate as “even.” The word here indicates something less expected than that many people believed in Jesus. The fact that some (or many) of the leaders believed was less expected than that regular people believed. Here is another way to translate this clause to include the word:
even of the authorities (New Revised Standard Version)
leaders: The word leaders here refers to the Jewish religious leaders, members of the Sanhedrin or ruling council. The same word is used in 3:1. Here are other ways to translate this word:
Jewish leaders (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
rulers (God’s Word)
12:42b
but: This word contrasts the belief of the Jews with their failure to confess that they believed in Jesus.
because of the Pharisees: This phrase states the reason that these believers did not confess that they believed. They were afraid that the Pharisees would no longer allow them to worship in the synagogue (see 12:42c).
the Pharisees: This phrase refers to the members of a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws very carefully and exactly. See the note on 11:46a and how you translated the word there.
they did not confess Him: This clause indicates that those who believed did not say so publicly. They did not tell other people that they believed in Jesus. The pronoun they could refer to all those who believed, although many think that it just refers to the authorities who believed. If possible, use a pronoun that could refer to either group. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
they wouldn’t admit it publicly (God’s Word)
-or-
they did not say they believed in him (New Century Version)
12:42c
for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue: This is a negative purpose clause. The Jews did not say in public that they believed in Jesus because they wanted to avoid something. They were afraid that the Jewish leaders would reject them and expel (remove) them from their religious community. They did not want this to happen. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
so that they would not be put out of the synagogue (English Standard Version)
-or-
so as not to be expelled from the synagogue (Good News Translation)
they would be put out of the synagogue: This clause refers to some kind of possible punishment for those who believed in Jesus. Scholars disagree about whether this was a temporary and limited punishment (banned from being a leader) or something more serious. If more serious, they might not even allow that person to worship in the synagogue. See also the note on 9:22b. The verb would be put out is passive. There are at least two ways to translate it:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
being banned from the synagogue (New Jerusalem Bible)
• Use an active verb. For example:
the Pharisees would have thrown them out of the synagogue (God’s Word)
the synagogue: A synagogue was a building where Jews gathered to pray, read the Scriptures, teach their beliefs, and worship. The Jews also gathered there for cultural activities. There was only one temple (in Jerusalem), but there were many synagogues. Each Jewish community had its own synagogue. So the phrase the synagogue does not refer to one specific synagogue, but to the synagogue system in general. The believers feared they would be forbidden to attend the meeting of any synagogue. Here are some ways to translate synagogue :
prayer-house ⌊of the Jews⌋
-or-
meeting-place ⌊of the Jews⌋
-or-
worship building
-or-
house for gathering together
Consider using a footnote that contains some of the information above. See the note and how you translated synagogue in 9:22b. See Key Biblical Terms, synagogue.
General Comment on 12:42
This verse appears to give two reasons why these believing Jews did not confess Jesus. First, it was because of the Pharisees, and second, because they would be put out of the synagogue. It was the Pharisees who would put them out of the synagogue, so it may be natural to combine these two ideas into one clause. For example:
However, they wouldn’t admit it publicly because the Pharisees would have thrown them out of the synagogue. (God’s Word)
-or-
But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. (New Living Translation (2004))
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