the Jews (the authorities in Jerusalem)

In the English Good News Bible (2nd edition of 1992), this occurrence of the Greek hoi Ioudaioi, traditionally “the Jews” in English, is translated with “the authorities (in Jerusalem)” in contexts that imply that the referred groups are hostile to Jesus For an explanation of the differentiated translation in English as well as translation choices in a number of languages, see the Jews.

complete verse (John 7:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 7:11:

  • Uma: “At that feast, the Yahudi rulers continually searched for him, they said: ‘Where is Yesus?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He was searched for by the leaders of the Yahudi there at the festival. They asked where he was.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there at the feast the leaders of the Jews looked for him, and they said, ‘Where is he perhaps?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That being so, the leaders of the Jews who attended-the-fiesta, they were-searching-and-searching-for Jesus repeatedly-inquiring as to where he was.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There at the fiesta-place, he was being looked for by the Judio. ‘Where is that fellow?’ they said.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The Jews who were leaders hunted for Jesus at the celebration. They said, ‘Where is that man?'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

3rd person pronoun with high register (Japanese)

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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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.

Translation commentary on John 7:11

The fact that the Jewish authorities (Greek “the Jews”) are contrasted with the crowd of the following verse indicates that, by his use of “the Jews,” John means more than simply the Jewish people in general. This contrast is brought out even more clearly in verse 13.

Were looking for him at the festival can be understood to mean “were expecting him to come to the festival.” However, it is better understood in the sense of “went around looking for him.”

Where is he? is literally “Where is that one?” “That one” is possibly used in a derogatory sense, and so New American Bible translates “Where is that troublemaker?” Phillips has “Where is that man?” But it is not necessary that “that one” be taken in a derogatory sense, and most translations employ an expression similar to that of Good News Translation.

In many languages it is necessary to indicate clearly to whom such a question was asked. One may translate, therefore, “that asked the people there” or “they asked those attending the festival.”

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 7:11

7:11a

So: In the Greek text this clause connects to the previous sentence with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So. It introduces a result of Jesus’ coming secretly: the Jewish leaders were forced to ask where he was. Some translations does not explicitly translate this conjunction, but you should do so if it is natural in your language.

the Jews were looking for Him at the feast: The Jewish leaders expected that Jesus would be at the festival and they wanted to know where he was. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

at the Feast the Jews were watching for him (New International Version)
-or-
The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
During the festival the leaders looked for Jesus (Contemporary English Version)

the Jews: This is a term often used in John to refer to the Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus. In 7:12a John used the phrase “the crowds” to refer to all the Jews. That means that the Jews here probably refers to just a group of Jews, the leaders. See how you translated this term in 7:1c. In some languages it is more natural to be more explicit. For example:

the Jewish leaders (NET Bible Bible)

for Him: The pronoun Him refers to Jesus.

7:11b

and asking, “Where is He?”: In some languages it is more natural to use an indirect quote here. For example:

asking where he was (Revised English Bible)
-or-
kept asking if anyone had seen him (New Living Translation (2004))

and asking: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and asking is more literally “and they were saying.” This phrase here introduces a question, so it may be more natural to use a word like asking, as the Berean Standard Bible does. In some languages you may also need to explicitly say who they were talking to. For example:

and asking ⌊people⌋

Where is He?: The Greek question that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Where is He? is more literally “Where is that one?” Some commentaries say that this is a slightly insulting way to refer to Jesus. It implies that the leaders did not think that he was good. Consider how it is natural to imply this in your language. For example:

Where is that man? (New International Version)
-or-
Where is that person?

In other languages it may be necessary to name Jesus. For example:

Where is that Jesus?

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