1
Ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων, Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων·
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews.
2
οὗτος ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν νυκτὸς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ῥαββί, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐλήλυθας διδάσκαλος· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ⸂δύναται ταῦτα τὰ σημεῖα⸃ ποιεῖν ἃ σὺ ποιεῖς, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ὁ θεὸς μετ’ αὐτοῦ.
He came toward him by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
3
⸀ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Why this rendering
John.3.3 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἄνωθεν is an adverb and occurs three times in this chapter — 3:3, 3:7 and 3:31. The first two are in the dialogue with Nicodemus; 3:31 is narration. And 3:31 settles the sense from inside the text. That verse carries the present middle participle ἐρχόμενος twice: once as Ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμενος and once as ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐρχόμενος, both governed by the same predicate ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν. The author sets ἄνωθεν beside ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ so that they name the same thing. That Nicodemus answers in 3:4 by asking about a second entry into the womb is the text showing, on its own, that the word can also be heard as “again.” SBLGNT marks a variant (⸀) at the opening ἀπεκρίθη.
Rendering options · 2
unless one is born again
Basis Takes the sense Nicodemus hears — “again.”
Rejected The same word is rendered “from above” at 3:31. One word becomes two inside a single chapter, and the definition the author placed at 3:31 no longer reaches 3:3. It fixes as the text's meaning the sense Nicodemus mishears.
Adopted unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God
Basis Since 3:31 sets ἄνωθεν beside ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, all three occurrences take the same rendering. Nicodemus' misunderstanding is displayed by 3:4 itself, so the translation need not encode it.
Lost in translation
the doubleness of ἄνωθεν One Greek word carries both “from above” and “again”, and the dialogue turns on the pair. Korean and English must choose, and either choice discards the other. KJV prints “again” and notes “or, from above” in the margin, marking that both are there.
Survives in · YLT / NET / SYNOD / KJV
one word across the chapter 3:3, 3:7 and 3:31 are the same word. Rendering the first two as “again” and the third as “from above” severs that identity. 개역한글, CUV and the Japanese Shinkyōdōyaku all split it.
Survives in · YLT / NET / SYNOD
4
λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ⸀ὁ Νικόδημος· Πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων ὤν; μὴ δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γεννηθῆναι;
Nicodemus says toward him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”
5
⸀ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.
Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6
τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν.
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
7
μὴ θαυμάσῃς ὅτι εἶπόν σοι Δεῖ ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν.
Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born from above.
8
τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις, ἀλλ’ οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγει· οὕτως ἐστὶν πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος.
The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone born of the Spirit.”
Why this rendering
John.3.8 Observation
Syntactic observation
πνεῦμα occurs twice in one verse — nominative τὸ πνεῦμα and genitive ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος, the same word. The verb between them, πνεῖ, is πνέω, from the same root as πνεῦμα. So πνεῦμα … πνεῖ … πνεύματος stand in a single sentence. The ordinary word for wind, ἄνεμος, appears nowhere in John 3. The author had another word available and chose πνεῦμα.
Rendering options · 2
The wind blows where it wishes … born of the Spirit
Basis Splits the two into a natural image and the Spirit so each reads smoothly.
Rejected Splitting one word into two removes the hinge on which the figure turns. The sentence links “it” and “the one born of it” by repeating a single word; wind-then-Spirit turns a figure into an explanation. The cognate verb πνεῖ goes with it.
Adopted The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone born of the Spirit.
Basis Keeping one word as one word preserves the structure of the verse. The Vulgate carries even the cognate relation — Spiritus … spirat … ex Spiritu — and YLT and the Synodal likewise use a single word. English “blows” cannot carry the root link to “Spirit”, and that loss is recorded below.
Lost in translation
πνεῦμα as one word Most versions split it into “wind” and “Spirit”. The original has one word, and that identity is the axis of the figure. Only the Vulgate, YLT and the Synodal keep it single.
Survives in · VULG / YLT / SYNOD
the πνεῦμα / πνέω root Noun and verb share a root, something like “the spirit spirates.” Korean and English have no pair that carries this. Only Latin reproduces it, Spiritus / spirat.
Survives in · VULG
9
ἀπεκρίθη Νικόδημος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι;
Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can these things come to be?”
10
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Σὺ εἶ ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ γινώσκεις;
Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?
11
ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι ὅτι ὃ οἴδαμεν λαλοῦμεν καὶ ὃ ἑωράκαμεν μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν οὐ λαμβάνετε.
Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness.
12
εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια εἶπον ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς ἐὰν εἴπω ὑμῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια πιστεύσετε;
If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13
καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ⸀ἀνθρώπου.
And no one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man.
14
καὶ καθὼς Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσεν τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου,
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15
ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ⸂ἐν αὐτῷ⸃ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
so that everyone believing in him may have life eternal.”
16
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον ὥστε τὸν ⸀υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλὰ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
For this is how God loved the world: he gave the Son, the unique one, so that everyone believing in him might not perish but have life eternal.
Why this rendering
John.3.16 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
The opening word Οὕτως is an adverb and occurs three times in this chapter — 3:8, 3:14 and 3:16. At 3:8 it is “so is everyone born of the Spirit” (οὕτως ἐστὶν); at 3:14 — καθὼς Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσεν … οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ. There it means “as Moses did, so”, a matter of manner, and every version renders it that way. The Οὕτως of 3:16 is that word returning. μονογενῆ is an accusative adjective and the order is τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ — “the Son, the unique one”, the adjective set after the noun in its own article. SBLGNT marks a variant (⸀) at υἱόν.
Rendering options · 2
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son
Basis Reads Οὕτως as degree and renders μονογενής as “only begotten.”
Rejected “Only begotten” is a rendering GLOSSARY already set aside at 1:14 and 1:18: the root is γένος (kind), not γεννάω (to beget), so importing birth comes by way of the Latin unigenitus. Rendering 1:14 as “unique” and 3:16 as “only begotten” breaks consistency inside one corpus. English “so loved” is easily heard as degree, while the same word two verses earlier is rendered as manner by everyone.
Adopted For this is how God loved the world: he gave the Son, the unique one, so that everyone believing in him might not perish but have life eternal.
Basis It is the word of 3:14, so it is read as manner — what follows states not the size of the love but the way it took. μονογενής follows the term fixed in GLOSSARY, and the order τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ is kept with the adjective trailing.
Lost in translation
the link between Οὕτως and 3:14 The same adverb stands twice within two verses. At 3:14 everyone renders it as manner and at 3:16 as “so”, so the reader cannot see that the two are one word. Only NET makes the manner explicit with “For this is the way.”
Survives in · NET
the root of μονογενής The root is γένος, kind. “Only begotten” imports begetting, which the root does not carry. It is the same word as at 1:14 and 1:18, so only a single rendering keeps the link visible across the corpus.
Survives in · ESV / NET / NIV2011
17
οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ⸀υἱὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ’ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι’ αὐτοῦ.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through him.
18
ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται· ὁ ⸀δὲ μὴ πιστεύων ἤδη κέκριται, ὅτι μὴ πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ.
The one believing in him is not judged; but the one not believing has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the unique Son of God.
19
αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ κρίσις ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐλήλυθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον καὶ ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μᾶλλον τὸ σκότος ἢ τὸ φῶς, ἦν γὰρ ⸂αὐτῶν πονηρὰ⸃ τὰ ἔργα.
And this is the judgement: that the light has come into the world, and people loved the dark rather than the light, for their works were evil.
20
πᾶς γὰρ ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ·
For everyone who practises base things hates the light and does not come toward the light, lest his works be exposed.
21
ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα φανερωθῇ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα ὅτι ἐν θεῷ ἐστιν εἰργασμένα.
But the one who does the truth comes toward the light, so that his works may be made manifest as wrought in God.
22
Μετὰ ταῦτα ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν, καὶ ἐκεῖ διέτριβεν μετ’ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐβάπτιζεν.
After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the Judean land, and there he stayed with them and was baptising.
23
ἦν δὲ καὶ ⸀ὁ Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων ἐν Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλείμ, ὅτι ὕδατα πολλὰ ἦν ἐκεῖ, καὶ παρεγίνοντο καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο·
And John too was baptising, at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and being baptised.
24
οὔπω γὰρ ἦν βεβλημένος εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν ⸀ὁ Ἰωάννης.
For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25
Ἐγένετο οὖν ζήτησις ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ἰωάννου μετὰ Ἰουδαίου περὶ καθαρισμοῦ.
There arose then a dispute between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification.
26
καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Ῥαββί, ὃς ἦν μετὰ σοῦ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ᾧ σὺ μεμαρτύρηκας, ἴδε οὗτος βαπτίζει καὶ πάντες ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτόν.
And they came toward John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness — look, this man is baptising, and all are coming toward him.”
27
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰωάννης καὶ εἶπεν· Οὐ δύναται ἄνθρωπος λαμβάνειν ⸂οὐδὲ ἓν⸃ ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ δεδομένον αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
John answered and said, “A man can receive not one thing unless it has been given him out of heaven.
28
αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς ⸀μοι μαρτυρεῖτε ὅτι ⸀εἶπον· Οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγὼ ὁ χριστός, ἀλλ’ ὅτι Ἀπεσταλμένος εἰμὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἐκείνου.
You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I have been sent ahead of him.
29
ὁ ἔχων τὴν νύμφην νυμφίος ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου ὁ ἑστηκὼς καὶ ἀκούων αὐτοῦ, χαρᾷ χαίρει διὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ νυμφίου. αὕτη οὖν ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ πεπλήρωται.
The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine, then, has been made full.
30
ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι.
He must increase, and I must decrease.”
31
Ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν. ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐστιν καὶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ· ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν·
The one coming from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. The one coming out of heaven is above all.
32
⸀ὃ ἑώρακεν καὶ ἤκουσεν τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει.
He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, and no one receives his witness.
33
ὁ λαβὼν αὐτοῦ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐσφράγισεν ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἀληθής ἐστιν.
The one who received his witness has set a seal on it: that God is true.
Why this rendering
John.3.33 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
ἐσφράγισεν is the aorist of σφραγίζω, the verb for pressing a seal. It names the act of stamping a document to warrant that it is true. The preceding verse, 3:32, ends τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει — no one receives it — and 3:33 opens with ὁ λαβὼν, the one who received: the same verb λαμβάνω. This is the verse where the modern versions agree least in the whole chapter (0.268 on the detector). λαμβάνω occurs four times in the chapter (3:11, 27, 32, 33), and 3:11's τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν οὐ λαμβάνετε is nearly the same sentence as 3:32's τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει. Verse 33 turns that negation around. That σφραγίζω names the pressing of a seal is lexical knowledge rather than something the morphology shows, so this unit is published as a hypothesis.
Rendering options · 2
Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified that God is true
Basis Replaces the seal with a modern idiom of confirming or certifying.
Rejected The concrete act of stamping disappears. The point is not that a person “proves” God, but that the act of receiving is itself the pressing of a seal on a document. “Certify” keeps the conclusion and erases the picture. The detector rates this the least-agreed verse in the chapter precisely because the modern versions part here.
Adopted The one who received his testimony has set a seal on it: that God is true
Basis Keeps the concreteness of the verb. 개역한글 has 인쳤느니라, the Vulgate signavit, the Synodal запечатлел, Elberfelder besiegelt.
Lost in translation
the seal σφραγίζω is the pressing of a seal. NET, NIV, NLT and the Japanese Shinkyōdōyaku replace it with certifying or confirming and the picture goes. 개역한글 keeps it with 인쳤느니라 — a place where an older Korean version holds what the modern English ones drop.
Survives in · 개역한글 / YLT / KJV / NASB / ESV / VULG / ELB / SYNOD
34
ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ θεοῦ λαλεῖ, οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου ⸀δίδωσιν τὸ πνεῦμα.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit by measure.
35
ὁ πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν υἱόν, καὶ πάντα δέδωκεν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ.
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
36
ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον· ὁ δὲ ἀπειθῶν τῷ υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν, ἀλλ’ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ μένει ἐπ’ αὐτόν.
The one believing in the Son has life eternal; but the one disobeying the Son will not see life, and the wrath of God remains on him.
Why this rendering
John.3.36 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
Two participles stand opposite each other in the same form — ὁ πιστεύων and ὁ ἀπειθῶν, both present active nominative singular masculine. But the stems differ: the first is πιστεύω, the second ἀπειθέω. The author could have written the negated participle οὐ πιστεύων and did not. The cases differ too — belief takes εἰς with the accusative (εἰς τὸν υἱόν), while ἀπειθέω takes the dative (τῷ υἱῷ). The last verb is μένει, the word GLOSSARY fixed as “remain” in chapter 1.
Rendering options · 2
he that believeth not the Son
Basis Reads the second as the negation of the first, simplifying the pair.
Rejected It renders the text with a word the author did not use. οὐ πιστεύων was available; a different stem was chosen, and it governs a different case. That the opposite of belief is set down as disobedience rather than unbelief is what the sentence says.
Adopted The one believing in the Son has life eternal; but the one disobeying the Son will not see life, and the wrath of God remains on him.
Basis Two stems become two words, keeping the pair the author built. 개역한글 already has 순종치 아니하는 자, and NASB, ESV and the Japanese Shinkyōdōyaku also choose obedience. The closing μένει follows GLOSSARY as “remains.”
Lost in translation
the stem of ἀπειθέω The word set opposite belief is not “not believing” but “not obeying.” KJV, the Vulgate, the Synodal and YLT render it as unbelief and collapse the two stems; NET and NIV neutralise it to “rejects.” 개역한글 keeps it with 순종치 아니하는.
Survives in · 개역한글 / NASB / ESV / NLT / JPNICT