This verse begins in the Greek with “So then the Jews answered and said to him.” The words “so then” represent the Greek particle oun, sometimes referred to as “John’s favorite particle,” because it is found in this Gospel much more frequently than in any other part of the New Testament. John uses oun over 200 times, whereas the three Gospels together use it only 111 times. Furthermore, John’s use of this particle is confined to the narrative portions of his Gospel; it is seldom found in discourse material.

A particle is a small word with rather limited grammatical force and often does not need to be translated. John sometimes uses oun to indicate either a transition or a climax in the narrative, but often it carries no real grammatical force; it merely represents a trait of John’s style. Good News Translation and many other modern translations vary in their treatment of this peculiarity of style. Sometimes oun is rendered by actual words in the translation, for example, so then. At other times the introduction of a new paragraph represents sufficiently John’s use of the particle. Occasionally it is passed over and not represented at all in the translation. A translator should not assume that oun must always be represented in translation.

To show the relationship between Jesus’ action and the question posed by the Jewish authorities, verse 18 may begin with such a phrase as “As a result of what Jesus had done” or “Because of what Jesus did in the Temple.”

Jewish authorities translates “the Jews.” See the discussion at 1.19 and Appendix I, “The Jews in the Gospel of John.”

“Answered and said” is again an example of Semitic Greek style, which frequently uses two verbs to introduce direct discourse where English only uses one. Good News Translation translates came back at him with a question, and New English Bible has “challenged Jesus.”

The word translated miracle is literally “sign,” (see the comments at 2.11). In the present passage it refers to the Jewish leaders’ demand that Jesus perform a miracle as proof to them of who he is. The Greek term here translated “miracle” is not used precisely as in contexts in which Jesus’ deeds are spoken of as signs of his power and glory. Nevertheless, the Jewish authorities are concerned with a miracle which would not merely demonstrate his supernatural power, but would indicate as well a corresponding right to act in a way which seemed a gross violation of the existing tradition. In a sense, therefore, the use of the special Greek term meaning “sign” is appropriate in this context.

To show us that you have the right to do this? is literally “do you show us, that (or “because”) you do these things?” The question clearly concerns the right or authority Jesus has for his actions in the Temple. A number of translations make this information explicit. Note, for example, New English Bible “What sign … can you show as authority for your action?”; New American Bible “What sign can you show us authorizing you to do these things?”; Jerusalem Bible “What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?” A literal rendering, by failing to make the question of authority explicit, may fail to convey the significance of the question.

It may not be easy to find precisely the correct wording for the expression to show us that you have the right to do this. In some languages an equivalent may be “prove to us that your doing this was all right.” Since, in a sense, the right to cleanse the Temple could come only from God himself, it may be appropriate in some languages to say “to show that God has given you the right to do what you have done” or “to show that God said that you may do this.”

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 .