complete verse (John 9:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 9:23:

  • Uma: “That is why his parents said: ‘He is big now, ask him yourself.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore his parents said hep, ‘Ask him. He is no longer a child.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore his parents said, ‘He is already an adult; you ask him.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That’s what they said, because they were afraid of the rulers of the Jews. Because they had already made-an-agreement that if anyone said that Jesus was the Messiah, he wouldn’t be counted among his fellow Jews.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That’s why the reply of his parents was like that, saying, ‘After all he’s no longer a child. He’s the one for you to ask.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Therefore these old people said, ‘Ask him yourselves. Now he is a big man, he will tell you how come.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Jesus Cures the Man Born Blind

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

In this simply beautiful painting of one of Jesus’ healings, we see a caring Jesus bend over a blind man holding his walking stick. From the story in John’s gospel, we know that the religious leaders struggle with accepting Jesus’ activity and Jesus responds saying, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” The Pharisees do not look at the blind man as a person, but as a symbol and Jesus points out their error. We are reminded that we should see the humanity in all people, refusing to use them for our own ends. We must look past our own issues and see the individuals.

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

Japanese benefactives (kīte)

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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, kīte (聞いて) or “listen” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”

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

Translation commentary on John 9:23

The man’s parents are afraid to answer in his behalf, for fear that they themselves would be put out of the synagogue.

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 9:23

9:23

That was why his parents said: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as That was why here introduces a result. Because of the parents’ fear of the Jews (9:22), they said, “He is of age; ask him.” John repeats that quotation here from what they had said in 9:21b. It indicates that it was because the parents were afraid that they spoke as they did. For example:

Therefore his parents said (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
It was this fear which made his parents say (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

He is old enough. Ask him: This sentence is repeated from 9:21b, though the clauses are reversed. In some languages repeating these clauses may not be natural. It may be possible to translate them in this way:

That was why his parents spoke as they did.

See also the General Comment on 9:22–23.

General Comment on 9:22–23

In some languages it may be natural to combine 9:22–23 and remove some of what is repeated in Berean Standard Bible. For example:

9:22–23 The man’s parents said this because they were afraid of their leaders. The leaders had already agreed that no one was to have anything to do with anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah. (Contemporary English Version)

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