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Yhn 11 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53 V55 V57
OET (OET-LV) The Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) said to_her:
I am the resurrection and the life, the one believing in me, even_if he_may_die_off, will_be_living,
OET (OET-RV) But Yeshua continued, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes that I’m from God, even if they die they’ll still be living,
In this section, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus and his sisters lived. His sister Martha came out to greet Jesus, and told him that if he had been there, Lazarus would still be alive. Jesus told her that Lazarus would rise again, but Martha thought that he was talking about the last day. Jesus then told her that he was the resurrection and the life, and that those who believed in him would never die. Martha then said that she believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus told Martha that Lazarus would live again
Those who believe in Jesus will never die
Martha went to meet Jesus and expressed her faith and trust in him.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection. I am also the life.
Jesus told Martha, “I am the one who restores the dead to life and who gives life.
I am the resurrection and the life: This clause indicates that Jesus is the one who makes dead people live and gives them true life. There is a textual problem here:
Most Greek manuscripts say “I am the resurrection and the life.” This is followed by most English translations including the BSB.
(BSB, KJV, NASB, RSV, NRSV, ESV, NIV, GW, NET, REB, NCV)
A few ancient manuscripts do not include the words and the life and just say “I am the resurrection.” For example:
I am the resurrection. (NJB)
(NJB, CEV)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with the great majority of Greek manuscripts and English translations.The UBS Greek text gives option (1) a B rating, indicating that there is some degree of doubt.
the resurrection and the life: The words resurrection and life refer to similar but not the same ideas. The word resurrection refers to rising from the dead, probably on the last day. And life refers to eternal, spiritual life. Jesus is the source of all life.
the resurrection: In some languages it may be natural to translate the resurrection using a verb phrase. For example:
I am the one who brings people back to life. (GW)
I am the one who raises the dead to life! (CEV)
the life: This phrase refers to Jesus as the source of all true life. And even more, he is life, so if we have Jesus, we have life. In some languages it may be natural to say:
I am life itself. (GW)
I am the one who gives life
I cause people to live
I am the source of life
Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die: These sentences can be rather confusing, partly because they seem to repeat the same idea. However, it helps to understand that 11:25b (Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies) seems to explain “I am the resurrection.” And then 11:26a (And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die) explains “I am…the life.”
There is another reason that this sentence is confusing. It is not always clear whether the verbs live and die refer to living/dying physically or spiritually. It seems that Jesus meant, “Those who believe in me, even though they die physically, will come to life again on the last day. And everyone who lives spiritually and believes in me will never die spiritually.” However, see the notes below for other interpretations.
Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
Those people who trust in me will live, even though they die physically,
A person who believes in me may die physically, but he will continue to live.
Whoever believes in Me: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as Whoever believes in Me is more literally “the one who believes in me.” It refers to anyone and everyone who trusts Jesus. The subject can be singular or plural, whichever is natural in your language. For example:
Anyone who believes in me (NLT)
believes in Me: This phrase includes the idea of believing the facts about who Jesus was and what he did. But it also includes the idea of trusting Jesus instead of trusting oneself or someone else. Both ideas are very closely related. If someone believes the facts about Jesus, it should result in trusting him. See how you translated similar phrases in 1:12b, 7:31a, and 7:38a. Here are other ways to translate this idea:
has faith in me (CEV)
trusts in me
will live: Scholars interpret this phrase in different ways:
Many scholars say that it refers to the resurrection at the end of time. It means “will come to life.”
Other scholars say that it refers to eternal, spiritual life. It means “will have eternal life.”
All English translations can be understood either way. It is recommended that you translate live literally so that it can also be understood either way. However, it seems likely that this clause explains “I am the resurrection” in 11:25a. Therefore, if you must choose one of the interpretations, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). But if a major translation in your area follows interpretation (2), you may follow that. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. (CEV)
Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. (NLT)
Even if he dies, the one who believes in me will come to life again
Even if someone dies, he will have eternal life if he believes in me
In some languages it may be natural to reorder the phrases in 11:25b. See the examples above for different ways to do that.
even though he dies: This clause refers to physical death. Believers may die in the normal physical way.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἡ ἀνάστασις
the resurrection
Here, Jesus calls himself the resurrection in order to say that he is the one who causes dead people to come back to life. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [the one who resurrects dead people] or [the one who brings dead people back to life]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἡ ζωή
the the life
Here, Jesus calls himself the life in order to say that he is the one who gives people eternal life. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [the one who makes people live forever] or [the one who causes people to live forever]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
κἂν ἀποθάνῃ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν αὐτῇ Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἐγώ εἰμί ἡ ἀνάστασις καί ἡ ζωή ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ κἄν ἀποθάνῃ ζήσεται)
Here, dies refers to physical death. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [even if his body dies]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ζήσεται
˓will_be˒_living
Here, live refers to having eternal life. If this might confuse your readers, you could express the meaning explicitly. Alternate translation: [will have eternal life]
11:25 Jesus helped Martha to believe in him not simply as a healer, but as one who vanquishes death.
• I am the resurrection and the life: Victory over death is an aspect of living in association with Jesus. Although his followers are still mortal, they will enjoy eternal life after death. Regarding Jesus’ I am statements, see the study note on 6:35.
OET (OET-LV) The Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) said to_her:
I am the resurrection and the life, the one believing in me, even_if he_may_die_off, will_be_living,
OET (OET-RV) But Yeshua continued, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes that I’m from God, even if they die they’ll still be living,
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.