1
Καὶ παράγων εἶδεν ἄνθρωπον τυφλὸν ἐκ γενετῆς.
And passing by, he saw a man blind from birth.
From birth is repeated through this chapter (verses 2, 19, 20, 32).
pronoun he = Jesus
2
καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· Ῥαββί, τίς ἥμαρτεν, οὗτος ἢ οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, ἵνα τυφλὸς γεννηθῇ;
And his disciples asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The disciples do not ask for a healing; they ask whose sin it was.
pronoun his = Jesus
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun this man = the blind man
3
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Οὔτε οὗτος ἥμαρτεν οὔτε οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ἵνα φανερωθῇ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
The frame of the question is refused outright — not sin, but made manifest.
first here Jesus Ἰησοῦς Iēsous
pronoun his = the blind man
pronoun him = the blind man
4
⸀ἡμᾶς δεῖ ἐργάζεσθαι τὰ ἔργα τοῦ πέμψαντός με ἕως ἡμέρα ἐστίν· ἔρχεται νὺξ ὅτε οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐργάζεσθαι.
We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
We must work, but it is me who was sent — the persons shift inside one sentence.
pronoun We = Jesus and the disciples
pronoun me = Jesus
5
ὅταν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὦ, φῶς εἰμι τοῦ κόσμου.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
It takes up 8:12 and adds while I am.
pronoun I = Jesus
6
ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἔπτυσεν χαμαὶ καὶ ἐποίησεν πηλὸν ἐκ τοῦ πτύσματος, καὶ ⸀ἐπέχρισεν ⸀αὐτοῦ τὸν πηλὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς ⸀ὀφθαλμούς,
Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay from the spittle, and spread the clay on his eyes,
Spittle and clay. This is the only place in the book where something is spread on to heal.
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun his = the blind man
7
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ὕπαγε νίψαι εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τοῦ Σιλωάμ (ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται Ἀπεσταλμένος). ἀπῆλθεν οὖν καὶ ἐνίψατο, καὶ ἦλθεν βλέπων.
and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” — Siloam translated means Sent. So he went and washed, and came seeing.
The writer stops to translate Siloam — sound kept, sense added. That the sense is Sent joins it to “him who sent me” in verse 4.
first here Siloam Σιλωάμ Silōam
pronoun him = the blind man
pronoun he = the blind man
Why this rendering
John.9.7 Observation
Syntactic observation
ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται is a place where the author translates a word inside his own text. There are four such places in John — μεθερμηνεύω at 1:38 and 1:41, and ἑρμηνεύω at 1:42 and here at 9:7. GLOSSARY fixed the rendering in chapter 1 and settled that such notes are not shut into parentheses but left in the run of the text. Ἀπεσταλμένος is the perfect passive participle of ἀποστέλλω, one who has been sent. John repeatedly calls Jesus the one sent, and the Father the one who sent.
Rendering options · 2
Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which means Sent)
Basis Puts the note in parentheses, marking it off from the text.
Rejected Parentheses make it look like an editor's supplement rather than the author's own words. But the note is the author's, and that the author is doing translation work is itself part of what this Gospel says. There is no reason to change here what was settled in chapter 1. The Synodal and the Japanese Shinkyōdōyaku set it in the sentence without brackets.
Adopted and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” — Siloam translated means Sent. So he went and washed, and came seeing.
Basis Takes the note out of brackets and gives it a sentence, applying the treatment fixed in chapter 1.
Lost in translation
that the author is translating In brackets a reader takes it for a modern editor's footnote. What disappears is that a first-century author is rendering an Aramaic place name into Greek. Three set it inside the sentence without brackets — the Synodal, the Church Slavonic 1900 and the Coptic. The Shinkyōdōyaku sets it off with dashes; the Vulgate, KJV, Luther, Elberfelder and the Armenian put it in brackets; the Peshitta carries no gloss at all.
Survives in · Синодальный перевод / 新共同訳聖書 (1987)† / Delitzsch Hebrew NT (1877) / Salkinson-Ginsburg 1885 / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
8
οἱ οὖν γείτονες καὶ οἱ θεωροῦντες αὐτὸν τὸ πρότερον ὅτι ⸀προσαίτης ἦν ἔλεγον· Οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ καθήμενος καὶ προσαιτῶν;
So the neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”
The neighbours cannot place him; verse 9 records the dispute.
pronoun him = the man
9
ἄλλοι ἔλεγον ὅτι Οὗτός ἐστιν· ἄλλοι ⸂ἔλεγον· Οὐχί, ἀλλὰ⸃ ὅμοιος αὐτῷ ἐστιν. ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγεν ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι.
Some were saying, “This is he”; others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am.”
I am here is the same phrase (ἐγώ εἰμι, egō eimi) as 4:26 and 8:24, read on this man's lips as plain “it is I”. The book lets one phrase be heard two ways.
pronoun This = the man
pronoun he = the man
pronoun him = the man
Why this rendering
John.9.9 Observation
Syntactic observation
The man who had been blind says Ἐγώ εἰμι — letter for letter the same two words Jesus uses at 4:26, 8:24, 8:28 and 8:58, and here too without a predicate. The Greek carries no mark distinguishing the two places. ἔλεγεν is imperfect: he kept saying it. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂ἔλεγον· ἀλλὰ⸃).
Rendering options · 2
He kept saying, “I am the man.”
Basis The scene is ordinary, so the predicate is filled in for readability.
Rejected Filling in is unavoidable in itself; the problem is that the same two words are handled differently according to who speaks them. The Japanese Shinkyōdōyaku wraps Jesus' occurrences in quotation marks as a formula, 『わたしはある』, and unpacks this one as 「わたしがそうなのです」. The Greek marks no such difference. The translation decides the weight of a phrase by its speaker.
Adopted He kept saying, “I am.”
Basis Leaves the predicate empty. The Vulgate has ego sum here exactly as in Jesus' occurrences. That the scene is ordinary is said by the context, not by the words.
Lost in translation
that the phrase does not vary by speaker In John both Jesus and the man born blind say Ἐγώ εἰμι. If a translation marks only one as a formula, it creates a distinction the text does not make, and the reader takes the phrase to have been always special. Two keep the two alike — the Vulgate and the Church Slavonic 1900 (а҆́зъ є҆́смь in both).
Survives in · Vulgata Clementina / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)
10
ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ· ⸀Πῶς ἠνεῴχθησάν σου οἱ ὀφθαλμοί;
So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?”
Opened is this chapter's word (verses 14, 17, 21, 26, 30, 32).
pronoun they = the neighbours
pronoun him = the man
pronoun your = the man
11
ἀπεκρίθη ⸀ἐκεῖνος· ⸂Ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ⸃ λεγόμενος Ἰησοῦς πηλὸν ἐποίησεν καὶ ἐπέχρισέν μου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ εἶπέν μοι ⸀ὅτι Ὕπαγε εἰς ⸀τὸν Σιλωὰμ καὶ νίψαι· ἀπελθὼν ⸀οὖν καὶ νιψάμενος ἀνέβλεψα.
He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and spread it on my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received sight.”
He calls him the man called Jesus. By verse 17 it is prophet, by 33 from God, by 38 Lord.
pronoun He = the man
pronoun my = the man
pronoun me = the man
12
⸂καὶ εἶπαν⸃ αὐτῷ· Ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος; λέγει· Οὐκ οἶδα.
And they said to him, “Where is that man?” He says, “I do not know.”
I do not know — as with the healed man of 5:13.
pronoun they = the neighbours
pronoun him = the man
pronoun He = the man
13
Ἄγουσιν αὐτὸν πρὸς τοὺς Φαρισαίους τόν ποτε τυφλόν.
They bring him to the Pharisees — the man who had once been blind.
The scene moves from neighbours to Pharisees.
first here Pharisee Φαρισαῖος Pharisaios
pronoun They = the neighbours
pronoun him = the man
14
ἦν δὲ σάββατον ⸂ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ⸃ τὸν πηλὸν ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἀνέῳξεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.
Now it was a Sabbath on the day Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
The Sabbath is named after the healing — the same shape as 5:9.
pronoun his = the blind man
15
πάλιν οὖν ἠρώτων αὐτὸν καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι πῶς ἀνέβλεψεν. ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Πηλὸν ἐπέθηκέν μου ἐπὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, καὶ ἐνιψάμην, καὶ βλέπω.
So again the Pharisees also were asking him how he had received sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
His account shortens — he put, I washed, I see.
pronoun him = the man
pronoun he = the man
pronoun them = the Pharisees
pronoun He = Jesus
pronoun my = the man
16
ἔλεγον οὖν ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων τινές· ⸂Οὐκ ἔστιν οὗτος παρὰ θεοῦ ὁ ἄνθρωπος⸃, ὅτι τὸ σάββατον οὐ τηρεῖ. ⸀ἄλλοι ἔλεγον· Πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος ἁμαρτωλὸς τοιαῦτα σημεῖα ποιεῖν; καὶ σχίσμα ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς.
So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a split among them.
Division renders σχίσμα (schisma), the word of 7:43.
pronoun This man = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
17
λέγουσιν ⸀οὖν τῷ τυφλῷ πάλιν· ⸂Τί σὺ⸃ λέγεις περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἠνέῳξέν σου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς; ὁ δὲ εἶπεν ὅτι Προφήτης ἐστίν.
So they say to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
He names him a prophet — the same step the Samaritan woman took at 4:19.
pronoun they = the Pharisees
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun your = the man
pronoun He = Jesus
18
Οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι ⸂ἦν τυφλὸς⸃ καὶ ἀνέβλεψεν, ἕως ὅτου ἐφώνησαν τοὺς γονεῖς αὐτοῦ ⸂τοῦ ἀναβλέψαντος⸃
So the Jews did not believe about him that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received sight
They doubt the blindness itself.
first here Jews Ἰουδαῖος Ioudaios
pronoun him = the man
pronoun he = the man
19
καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτοὺς λέγοντες· Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς ὑμῶν, ὃν ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι τυφλὸς ἐγεννήθη; πῶς οὖν ⸂βλέπει ἄρτι⸃;
and asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
Three questions at once, put to the parents.
pronoun them = the parents
pronoun your = the parents
pronoun you = the parents
pronoun he = the son
20
ἀπεκρίθησαν ⸀οὖν οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπαν· Οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς ἡμῶν καὶ ὅτι τυφλὸς ἐγεννήθη·
So his parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind;
The parents answer only what they know.
pronoun his = the man
pronoun We = the parents
pronoun our = the parents
pronoun he = the son
21
πῶς δὲ νῦν βλέπει οὐκ οἴδαμεν, ἢ τίς ἤνοιξεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἡμεῖς οὐκ οἴδαμεν· ⸂αὐτὸν ἐρωτήσατε, ἡλικίαν ἔχει⸃, αὐτὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λαλήσει.
but how he now sees we do not know, nor who opened his eyes do we know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak about himself.”
Of age means old enough to answer for himself.
pronoun he = the son
pronoun we = the parents
pronoun his = the son
pronoun him = the son
pronoun himself = the son
22
ταῦτα εἶπαν οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἐφοβοῦντο τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, ἤδη γὰρ συνετέθειντο οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἵνα ἐάν τις αὐτὸν ὁμολογήσῃ χριστόν, ἀποσυνάγωγος γένηται.
His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
The writer gives the ground of the fear — the agreement to put such a one out of the synagogue.
first here Christ Χριστός Christos
pronoun His = the man
pronoun they = the parents
pronoun him = Jesus
Why this rendering
John.9.22 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἀποσυνάγωγος is an adjective from ἀπό and συναγωγή, occurring three times in the New Testament and all in John (9:22, 12:42, 16:2). It is one word, and with γένηται it forms “to become out-of-the-synagogue.” Ἰουδαῖοι occurs twice in this verse. The blind man's parents are themselves Jews, and what they fear is the Ἰουδαῖοι — one word set so that it appears to name two groups inside a single verse.
Rendering options · 2
they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders
Basis Since the reference is to the authorities, the rendering names them.
Rejected It breaks what GLOSSARY settled in chapter 2: the original has one word and we do not split it. And this verse is the test of that decision. The parents are themselves Jews; rendering the object as “Jewish leaders” removes the awkwardness of one word naming two groups in a single verse, and the reader cannot see that the awkwardness is the text's.
Adopted His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
Basis Keeps one word for both occurrences of Ἰουδαῖοι. The awkwardness belongs to the text and is not smoothed away.
Lost in translation
that ἀποσυνάγωγος is one word Greek states the status in a single adjective, out-of-the-synagogue. English must unpack it into a phrase — put out of the synagogue takes five words where the Greek has one. The 출교 of Kaeyŏk Hangŭl is a rare case of taking it in one.
this edition — none of the nine carries it (measured)
23
διὰ τοῦτο οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ εἶπαν ὅτι Ἡλικίαν ἔχει, αὐτὸν ⸀ἐπερωτήσατε.
For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
Verse 21 is repeated to fix the fear.
pronoun his = the man
pronoun He = the son
pronoun him = the son
24
Ἐφώνησαν οὖν ⸂τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ δευτέρου⸃ ὃς ἦν τυφλὸς καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Δὸς δόξαν τῷ θεῷ· ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι ⸂οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος⸃ ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν.
So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.”
Give glory to God is a form of oath — tell the truth.
pronoun they = the Jews
pronoun him = the man
pronoun we = the Jews
pronoun this man = Jesus
25
ἀπεκρίθη οὖν ⸀ἐκεῖνος· Εἰ ἁμαρτωλός ἐστιν οὐκ οἶδα· ἓν οἶδα ὅτι τυφλὸς ὢν ἄρτι βλέπω.
So he answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I know: that being blind, now I see.”
He divides what he knows from what he does not — the shortest witness in the chapter.
pronoun he = the man
pronoun I = the man
26
εἶπον ⸂οὖν αὐτῷ⸃· Τί ἐποίησέν σοι; πῶς ἤνοιξέν σου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς;
So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
They put the question of verse 15 again.
pronoun they = the Jews
pronoun him = the man
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun you = the man
pronoun your = the man
27
ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς· Εἶπον ὑμῖν ἤδη καὶ οὐκ ἠκούσατε· τί πάλιν θέλετε ἀκούειν; μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς θέλετε αὐτοῦ μαθηταὶ γενέσθαι;
He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”
Do you also want to become his disciples — the questioning is turned around.
pronoun He = the man
pronoun them = the Jews
pronoun I = the man
pronoun you = the Jews
28
⸀ἐλοιδόρησαν αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπον· Σὺ ⸂μαθητὴς εἶ⸃ ἐκείνου, ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐσμὲν μαθηταί·
And they reviled him and said, “You are that man's disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
That man's disciple is set against disciples of Moses.
first here Moses Μωϋσῆς Mōysēs
pronoun they = the Jews
pronoun him = the man
pronoun You = the man
pronoun we = the Jews
29
ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι Μωϋσεῖ λελάληκεν ὁ θεός, τοῦτον δὲ οὐκ οἴδαμεν πόθεν ἐστίν.
We know that God has spoken to Moses; but this man, we do not know where he is from.”
Where he is from is the question of 7:27.
pronoun We = the Jews
pronoun this man = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
30
ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἐν ⸂τούτῳ γὰρ τὸ⸃ θαυμαστόν ἐστιν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἐστίν, καὶ ἤνοιξέν μου τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς.
The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is the marvel — that you do not know where he is from, and he opened my eyes.
He turns the not-knowing back on them as the marvel.
pronoun them = the Jews
pronoun you = the Jews
pronoun he = Jesus
pronoun my = the man
31
⸀οἴδαμεν ὅτι ⸂ἁμαρτωλῶν ὁ θεὸς⸃ οὐκ ἀκούει, ἀλλ’ ἐάν τις θεοσεβὴς ᾖ καὶ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιῇ τούτου ἀκούει.
We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, him he hears.
God-fearing names one who reveres God.
pronoun his = God
pronoun him = the one who is God-fearing
32
ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος οὐκ ἠκούσθη ὅτι ἠνέῳξέν τις ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλοῦ γεγεννημένου·
From of old it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
From of old — this is the text making its own claim, not a count by this edition.
33
εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος παρὰ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἠδύνατο ποιεῖν οὐδέν.
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
It arrives where some of the Pharisees stood in verse 16.
pronoun this man = Jesus
pronoun he = Jesus
34
ἀπεκρίθησαν καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· Ἐν ἁμαρτίαις σὺ ἐγεννήθης ὅλος, καὶ σὺ διδάσκεις ἡμᾶς; καὶ ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω.
They answered and said to him, “You were born wholly in sins, and you teach us?” And they cast him outside.
The putting-out foretold in verse 22 happens here.
pronoun They = the Jews
pronoun him = the man
pronoun You = the man
pronoun us = the Jews
35
⸀Ἤκουσεν Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω, καὶ εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ⸀εἶπεν· Σὺ πιστεύεις εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ⸀ἀνθρώπου;
Jesus heard that they had cast him outside, and finding him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
Jesus comes after the man has been cast out.
pronoun they = the Jews
pronoun him = the man
pronoun he = Jesus
36
ἀπεκρίθη ἐκεῖνος καὶ εἶπεν· Καὶ τίς ἐστιν, κύριε, ἵνα πιστεύσω εἰς αὐτόν;
He answered and said, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
He says he will believe while still not knowing who.
pronoun He = the man
pronoun he = the Son of Man
pronoun him = the Son of Man
37
⸀εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Καὶ ἑώρακας αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ λαλῶν μετὰ σοῦ ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν.
Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who is speaking with you.”
You have seen him — said to the man who has just been given eyes.
pronoun him = the man
pronoun You = the man
pronoun he = the Son of Man
38
ὁ δὲ ἔφη· Πιστεύω, κύριε· καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ.
And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he bowed down to him.
Bowed down renders προσκυνέω (proskyneō), the word rendered worship in chapter 4.
pronoun he = the man
pronoun him = Jesus
39
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Εἰς κρίμα ἐγὼ εἰς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον ἦλθον, ἵνα οἱ μὴ βλέποντες βλέπωσιν καὶ οἱ βλέποντες τυφλοὶ γένωνται.
And Jesus said, “For judgement I came into this world, so that those not seeing may see, and those seeing may become blind.”
Seeing and blindness are turned over — the blindness this chapter opened with changes its sense here.
Why this rendering
John.9.39 Observation
Syntactic observation
βλέπω occurs three times in this verse — οἱ μὴ βλέποντες, βλέπωσιν, οἱ βλέποντες — with τυφλός set between them. The arrangement is a crossing: those not seeing see, and those seeing become blind. In this chapter τυφλός occurs thirteen times and βλέπω seven. They lock again at v.41 — “if you were blind” against “we see.” γένωνται is γίνομαι, the verb handled at 1:3 and 8:58.
Rendering options · 2
that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind
Basis Renders the crossing as it stands.
Rejected There is nothing wrong with this option as such. But 소경 has settled into a slur in Korean, and carrying the thirteen occurrences of τυφλός through the chapter with one word requires a word still in use.
Adopted And Jesus said, “For judgement I came into this world, so that those not seeing may see, and those seeing may become blind.”
Basis One word for all three occurrences of βλέπω and one for τυφλός, so that the two lock together through the chapter.
Lost in translation
βλέπω against ὁράω Two verbs for seeing run through this chapter — βλέπω seven times and ὁράω at 9:1 and 9:37. At 9:37, “you have ἑώρακας him”, it is ὁράω. English renders both as see, so the opened eyes and the recognition of Jesus become one word.
this edition — none of the nine carries it (measured)
40
⸀ἤκουσαν ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων ταῦτα οἱ ⸂μετ’ αὐτοῦ ὄντες⸃, καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ· Μὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς τυφλοί ἐσμεν;
Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
The Pharisees hear it as said of them.
pronoun him = Jesus
pronoun we = the Pharisees
41
εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Εἰ τυφλοὶ ἦτε, οὐκ ἂν εἴχετε ἁμαρτίαν· νῦν δὲ λέγετε ὅτι Βλέπομεν· ⸀ἡ ἁμαρτία ὑμῶν μένει.
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”
Saying we see is what makes the sin remain.
pronoun them = the Pharisees
pronoun you = the Pharisees
pronoun your = the Pharisees
Why this rendering
John.9.41 Observation
Syntactic observation
The last verb is μένει, the word GLOSSARY fixed in chapter 1 as “remain.” In John it is used of the Spirit remaining on Jesus (1:32–33), of the disciples remaining with him (1:38–39), of the word remaining in a person (5:38, 8:31). Here sin remains. For the first time the same verb attaches to something negative. ἁμαρτία is singular. GLOSSARY settled at 1:29 not to pluralise the singular, and this verse is singular too — a state rather than a tally of acts. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀ἡ).
Rendering options · 2
your sin remains
Basis Unpacks μένει into “stays as it is.”
Rejected Having rendered 1:32–33 and 8:31 with one word, unpacking it here splits the word inside the four Gospels. That the same verb is used of the Spirit and of sin is the weight of this place.
Adopted Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”
Basis Keeps μένω as fixed in GLOSSARY and leaves ἁμαρτία singular.
Lost in translation
that μένω is used of both the Spirit and sin At 1:32–33 the Spirit remains on Jesus; at 9:41 sin remains on a person. It is one verb. Unpacking either removes the pair. Consistency preserves it, but no version marks the link on the page.
Survives in · 개역한글† / Young's Literal 1898 / King James 1769 / New American Standard (1995)† / English Standard Version† / Vulgata Clementina / Elberfelder 1871 / Синодальный перевод / this edition — 9 of the nine carry it (this language among them)