Following are a number of back-translations of John 13:7:
Uma: “Yesus said: ‘At this time you (sing.) do not yet know what I am doing. Later on, and then will you (sing.) come to know.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa answered him, he said, ‘You do not understand now as to what I am doing, but you will understand it in the future.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘You do not understand what I am doing now, but in the future, you will understand.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus said in-return, ‘You (sing.) don’t understand now what I am doing. Later so that in a future day, then you (sing.) will understand.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus answered, saying, ‘You don’t understand now this which I am doing, but there in the near-future you will indeed understand it.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Jesus said, ‘Now you don’t know what is the significance of what I am doing, but afterwards you will know.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Following is a painting by Chen Yuandu 陳緣督 (1902–1967):
Image is housed in the Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University and taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
Following is a painting by Ketut Lasia (b. 1945):
Ketut Lasia is one of the last traditional Balinese painters in the Ubud style. As an adult, Lasia converted from Hinduism to Christianity, and he paints primarily biblical scenes. You can find artwork from Ketut Lasia in a variety of formats for sale at Fine Art America .
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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®).
Jesus answered is literally “Jesus answered and said to him,” reflecting once again Semitic redundancy in introducing direct discourse.
The pronouns you … I are emphatic; so also is the phrase what I am doing.
You will understand later is literally “but you will understand after these things.” The phrase “after these things” is vague, but it may refer to when Jesus had been raised to glory (12.16; see also 2.22). That is, only after Jesus’ death and resurrection will the disciples realize the full meaning of what he is now doing.
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 .
You do not realize now what I am doing: This clause means “You do not understand the meaning of what I am doing.” The Greek emphasizes the pronouns You and I. Jesus was teaching the disciples to be humble and to serve one other. But at this time the disciples did not understand why Jesus was washing their feet. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
You do not yet understand why I am washing your feet.
You: The pronoun You is singular and refers to Peter.
now: The word now in this context refers to the time that Jesus washed their feet. Use an expression that is natural in your language. For example:
At the moment (New Jerusalem Bible)
In some languages a literal translation of the word now may be unnatural. Or it may not be needed because the verb “know” is present tense. In those languages it may be natural to leave it implied. For example:
You don’t really know what I am doing. (Contemporary English Version)
13:7b
but later you will understand: Jesus promised that at some time in the future Peter would understand the meaning of Jesus washing his feet. He was probably referring to the near future, after his death. After Jesus died his disciples realized that he lived his whole life and died for the benefit of others.
you: This pronoun is singular and refers to Peter.
General Comment on 13:7
The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “realize” and “understand” are different words but in this context have about the same meaning. Therefore you may want to leave the second verb implied. For example:
You do not understand now what I am doing, but in the future you will.
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