Translation commentary on John 6:30

The first part of this verse in Greek is literally “Therefore they said to him, ‘Therefore what sign are you doing….’ ” As noted earlier, the word “therefore” (Greek oun) is used frequently in John’s Gospel without any particular grammatical force. For example, it appears again at the beginning of verses 32 and 34 (see under 2.18).

Once again, miracle translates the word “sign,” used so often in John’s Gospel. In the present passage it refers to some miraculous act of power by which Jesus could prove to the crowd who he was. They have already seen Jesus perform a sign of power, but they want a further sign. If he claims to be greater than Moses, then he must perform some sign of power greater than the signs that Moses did (see verses 31-32).

Will you perform. The pronoun you is emphatic in Greek.

It, as the object of the verb see, is supplied translationally in Good News Translation; it is implicit in the Greek text.

Believe you is taken by some translators in the sense of “believe in you.” The Greek construction is not the one normally used for believing in Jesus. Here the Jews are considering nothing more than accepting Jesus’ words as true.

It may be important to indicate clearly the relation between the expressions we may see it and believe you. The relation is one of reason and result; it may be made specific as “in order that we may see the miracle and as a result believe you” or “… believe what you say.”

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 6:30

6:30a–b

So they asked Him: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So here introduces a result. Here, the result is the people’s response to what Jesus had just said. Some English translations do not translate this word. Do what is natural in your language to introduce a result or a response.

What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You?: This is a rhetorical question. The people used it to challenge Jesus. The people challenged him to show them a miracle. They had just seen the miracle of feeding the five thousand (5000), but they wanted to see a different miracle. Or possibly they were hungry again and just hoped that Jesus would provide another meal.

There are at least two ways to translate this challenge:

• Use a rhetorical question. For example:

What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? (Good News Translation)

• Use a statement. Make it clear that the purpose of the sign was that the people would believe. For example:

Give us (excl.) a sign so that we will believe you (sing.).
-or-
Show us a sign so that we can believe you.

then: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as then is more literally “therefore.” It introduces what the people thought Jesus should do if he wanted them to believe on him. Some English translations do not explicitly translate this word. If it is more natural in your language, you may leave it implicit, or you may use another word. For example:

So

so that we may see it and believe You?: The phrase so that in this context introduces the purpose of doing a miracle.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

so that when we see it, we can believe you

believe You: Here the phrase is not “believe in you” as was the idea in 6:29. Although Jesus spoke about believing in him, the people just spoke about believing him (what he said). Perhaps they did not understand that God wanted them to trust in Jesus, not just believe what he said.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

believe what you say
-or-
believe that you are from God

6:30c

What will You do?: The people were asking what new miracle Jesus would do for them. It was an unfriendly question that continued the challenge in 6:30a–b.

Here are other ways to translate this question:

What can you do? (New Living Translation (2004))

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