Translation commentary on John 18:6 - 18:7

When Jesus said to them is literally “when therefore oun he said to them.” But it is necessary to identify Jesus by name rather than by pronominal reference, since the last person referred to in verse 5 is Judas.

They moved back and fell to the ground (so also Jerusalem Bible) is fairly close to most other translations (note Revised Standard Version and New English Bible “they drew back and fell to the ground”). This statement emphasizes Jesus’ absolute authority in the situation; even those who have come to arrest him fall to the ground when he speaks. In some languages it is essential to indicate in which direction the soldiers and guards fell, whether forward or backward. To have them fall forward would seem strange, since they were moving backward. Therefore it seems more plausible to translate “and they fell backward to the ground.” This rendering would also seem to emphasize more the power of Jesus’ statement upon the crowd. Furthermore, if one uses an expressions such as “fall forward,” there is the possibility of interpreting it as a kind of obeisance or expression of reverence.

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 18:6

18:6a

When Jesus said, “I am He,”: Here, after the parenthetical information, the narrative returns to the main story by repeating the last words Jesus had spoken. Indicate the return to the main story in the most natural way in your language. See the General Comment on 18:5–6 after 18:6b for a different way to handle the parenthetical material. In some languages it is more natural to use indirect speech. For example:

When Jesus told them that that he was Jesus of Nazareth
-or-
As soon as Jesus said that he was that one

they drew back and fell to the ground: The crowd of armed men stepped away from Jesus and fell backwards down to the ground. Probably they did this because they felt fear and awe in the presence of Jesus. But the text does not explain why they stepped back. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

they moved back and fell to the ground (Good News Translation)
-or-
the crowd backed away and fell to the ground (God’s Word)

General Comment on 18:5–6

In some languages it may not be natural to repeat the fact that Jesus said, “I am he.” Or you might want to put the parenthetical information in another place. In those languages it may be more natural to combine 8:5–6 and rearrange some of the information. For example:

5–6 “Jesus from-Nazareth,” they answered. “Well I am truly the one,” said Jesus. When he said that, they quickly stepped backward and fell over, along with Judas, who had betrayed him, who was standing with them.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.