complete verse (John 9:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 9:4:

  • Uma: “While it is still light, we must work, working the work of God who sent me. Because the dark/night is about to come, and there will no longer be anyone working.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “While it is yet day we (dual) should do the works of God, God the one who sent me,’ said Isa. ‘When the night has been reached nobody can work anymore.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “While it is still daytime, which is to say, while we are still alive, it is necessary that we do that which God wants us to do, that God who sent me, because when night comes, no one can work.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘We must do what the one who sent me gave-to-be-done because it is still daytime, meaning to say, we still have opportunity. Because later it will become-night and we will have no way to do-it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “It is necessary that as for us, we will do the things which God is causing to be done, he who sent me to come here. It’s necessary that we do it while we are still alive for that’s like daytime. Because when already dead, there’s no more opportunity to work, a likeness of it being night-time. Well, who would still be able to work? Isn’t it so that no-one can then?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “While there is time it is necessary that I do the work for him who sent me. When the time has come, then I won’t be able to work.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (John 9:4)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse (“we must work” in English translations), translators select the exclusive form (excluding the disciples) (source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.) or the inclusive form, since “Jesus [was] referring primarily to himself….If his disciples were minded to be disciples
indeed, then these were the works which they also must do, in fellowship with their Master” (source: SIL International Translation Department (1999)).

The Yagua and the Tok Pisin translators chose the inclusive form. The Yagua translators justify this by saying “Is this an editorial ‘we’ or a ‘we’ representing the Godhead or does He include his disciples? We chose the inclusive interpretation.” (Source: Paul Powlison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 165ff.)

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.

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("send")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” is used.

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

Translation commentary on John 9:4

The phrase As long as it is day, which must be understood figuratively, in general should be placed close to the expression of “doing.” It may be better to place it at the beginning of the sentence, for example, “as long as it is day, we must keep on doing the works of him who sent me.” Otherwise, the reader might understand it as a qualification of him who sent me.

In Greek an impersonal construction (literally “it is necessary for us to do”) is used, which Good News Translation transforms into a more natural English expression (We must do).

In place of the first person plural we, some manuscripts have the singular “I,” while in the latter half of the verse some Greek manuscripts read “us” in place of me. Good News Translation accepts the reading we because it has the best manuscript support, and because, since Jesus is the speaker, it is more likely that a scribe would change the plural we to the singular “I” than the other way around. The reading “us” is supported by good manuscript evidence, but the UBS Committee on the Greek text suggests that the translator follow the reading me on the assumption that “us” was introduced into the manuscripts in order to conform with we in the first part of the verse. Moffatt, Revised Standard Version, Phillips, New American Bible, and New English Bible all follow the same text as Good News Translation; Jerusalem Bible, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Luther accept the reading of the first person singular in both places (“I … me”). The choice of text is not easy, and the UBS Committee has rated its decision “C,” indicating considerable doubt concerning the reading selected.

Him who sent me clearly refers to God; see Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “I must accomplish the works for which God has sent me.”

It may not be easy to reproduce effectively the meaning of the clause we must do the work of him who sent me. Work refers, of course, to miracles, or “only such works as God himself can do.” It may be possible in some languages to translate “We must keep on doing such wonderful works as only God who sent me can do” or “We must keep on doing what the one who sent me ordered me to do.”

Night is coming, when no one can work may be rendered in some languages “It will soon be night, and then no one can work.” Such a modification must be introduced in languages in which one cannot speak of night “coming.” It is also necessary in this type of context to avoid a term for work which would mean only physical labour. Thus the final clause of the verse may be translated “then no one will be able to do anything.”

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 9:4

9:4a

While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me: The word we probably refers to Jesus and his disciples. They were required to do God’s works while they had the opportunity. If your language has inclusive and exclusive pronouns, it is best to use an inclusive pronoun we here.

While it is daytime: This clause implies that it will not always be day. The time a person can work is limited, as daytime is limited. For example:

as long as it is daytime (NET Bible Bible)

daytime: This word here is a metaphor. In this metaphor, “day” represents the time when Jesus was living on earth. The similarity is that both “day” and Jesus’ time on earth are times when it is good to work because light is present. Jesus himself was the light for the world (see 8:12b). It may help your readers understand this figure of speech if you make explicit that “day” refers to the hours of light. For example:

daylight (Revised English Bible)

we must do the works of Him who sent Me: These clauses indicate that Jesus and his disciples were required to do God’s works. God sent Jesus to the world and told Jesus to do certain miracles (works) to show God’s power. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

We must do the work of him who sent me (Good News Translation)
-or-
We must do what the one who sent me wants us to do (God’s Word)

must do: Jesus was already doing what God had sent him to do. He was healing the sick and preaching the gospel. This was not something he was about to start doing. So in some languages it may be natural to make this clearer. For example:

must keep on working
-or-
must continue doing (New Century Version)

the works of Him who sent Me: This phrase indicates the deeds that God himself does and wanted Jesus and his disciples to do. In this context, Jesus did the work of God, the one who sent him, when he healed the blind man. Your translation of works should not only refer to physical labor. In some languages it may be necessary to make it explicit that God is the one who sent Jesus. For example:

the works/deeds of ⌊God⌋ who sent me
-or-
what ⌊God⌋ who sent me wants/commands

General Comment on 9:4a

In some languages it may be natural to translate the expression “while it is daytime” at the end of the verse. That may make it clearer that “while it is daytime” refers to our working and not God sending. For example:

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day (New Revised Standard Version)

9:4b

Night is coming, when no one can work: The reason why no one could work at night was because it was dark. If people regularly work at night in your culture, it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

the hours of darkness are coming when no one can work

Night is coming: The words Night is coming mean “it will soon be night.” In some languages it is not natural to speak of night as coming. Use the expression that is natural in your language. For example:

night is near
-or-
night is on the way
-or-
it will soon be night

Night: This word here is a metaphor. In this metaphor the evil time when Jesus would die and leave them is referred to as Night. Both night and when Jesus would leave are times when it is hard to work because there is no light. When Jesus would no longer be in the world as its light, there would be spiritual darkness. It may help your readers to understand this figure of speech if you translate Night in this way:

the dark/darkness

General Comment on 9:4b

In some languages it may be natural to reorder the information in 9:4b. For example:

The night when no one can do anything is coming. (God’s Word)

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