Translation commentary on John 9:34

They answered is literally “they answered and said to him.” You were born and brought up in sin is literally “you were born in sin altogether.” New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch all understand this phrase as Good News Translation does. New English Bible translates “born and bred in sin as you are”; Jerusalem Bible “and you a sinner through and through, since you were born”; New American Bible “You are steeped in sin from your birth.” Others take this statement, not as a reference to the man’s sinfulness from the time he was born until the present time, but as an indication of the degree of his sinfulness even at the time of his birth, that is, to his absolutely sinful condition even before he was born into this world (Revised Standard Version “You were born in utter sin”; Moffatt “you, born in utter depravity”; Anchor Bible “You were born steeped in sin”). The closest equivalent to You were born and brought up in sin may be “You were always a sinner, right from the time you were born” or “You are completely a sinner and always have been.”

And now you are trying to teach us? is literally “and you are teaching us,” but commentators point out that trying to teach is the real meaning of the verb in the present passage; a number of translations make this information explicit. New English Bible (“Who are you to give us lessons?”) and New American Bible (“and you are giving us lectures”) are both rather high level. The force of the question may be more effectively indicated in some languages by “How is it that you are trying to teach us?” or “How can you try to teach us?”

And they expelled him from the synagogue (New English Bible “Then they expelled him from the synagogue”) is literally “and they threw him out.” Some commentators understand the meaning to be that of physically throwing the man out of their presence rather than that of excommunication. Thus New American Bible translates “With that they threw him out bodily.” Jerusalem Bible also goes in this direction “And they drove him away.” A literal translation of expelled him from the synagogue may suggest something more violent than what really happened. It seems clear that they did not hurl him out the door of the synagogue. A generic expression, such as “expelled him…” or “forcibly made him leave the synagogue,” may be used. Or such an expression as “rushed him…” or “violently pushed him out of the synagogue” may be used.

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 9:34

9:34a

They replied: In some languages it may be natural to make the reference of one or both the pronouns explicit. For example:

The Jewish/religious leaders replied to him

You were born in utter sin: In this clause, the religious leaders insulted the man. They indicated that they thought that the man had been a great sinner at the time he was born. It is also implied that he was still such a sinner. See the disciples’ question in 9:2 and the note there.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

You have been a sinner since the day you were born! (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
You were born full of sin! (New Century Version)
-or-
You were born a total sinner! (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
You have been nothing but a sinner from the day you were born!

9:34b

and you are instructing us?: This is a rhetorical question. The Jewish leaders used it to rebuke the man. They rebuked him for telling them what they should believe. There are two ways to translate this rebuke:

• Use a rhetorical question. For example:

Do you think you can teach us anything? (Contemporary English Version)

• Use a statement or exclamation. For example:

You (sing.) should not try to teach us (excl.) anything!
-or-
how dare you lecture us! (New International Version)

Translate this rebuke in a way that is natural in your language. The contrast between the blind man (you) and the Jewish leaders (us) should be clear. The leaders were proud and did not think that a sinful man could teach them anything. And they thought that the man whom Jesus healed was a sinful man.

9:34c

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And here introduces what the religious leaders did after rebuking the man that Jesus healed. Here are other ways to translate this conjunction:

Then (Revised English Bible)
-or-
So (NET Bible Bible)

they threw him out: It is not clear what this clause indicates. It could indicate that the Jewish leaders threw the man out of the building. Or it could indicate that they banned him from the synagogue. Verse 9:22b talks about banning people from the synagogue if they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but a different verb is used here. Nearly all English translations translate this clause literally and keep the meaning ambiguous. It is recommended that you do the same. For example:

So they put him out. (New American Standard Bible)

© 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.