InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Yhn C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21
Yhn 11 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53 V55 V57
◄ ← YHN (JHN) 11:39 ↓ → ► ║ ≡ ©
OET-LV The Yaʸsous is_saying:
Take_away the stone.
Martha the the_sister of_the one having_died is_saying to_him:
master, he_is_ already _stinking, because/for it_is the_fourth_day.
OET (OET-RV) and Yeshua instructed them to take away the stone.
¶ Marta (the sister of the dead man) spoke up, “Master, the stink will be bad because it’s already been four days.”
In this section Jesus went to Lazarus’ tomb. He ordered that someone remove the stone from the opening of the cave where Lazarus was buried. Martha worried about the bad smell, but Jesus reminded her that if she believed, she would see God’s glory. Jesus prayed and called Lazarus to come out, which he did.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead
God’s glory was revealed when Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead
Jesus went to Lazarus’ tomb and called to him to come out. Lazarus obeyed and came out of his tomb alive.
“Take away the stone,” Jesus said.
Jesus said, “Remove the stone from the entrance.
Jesus said, “Open up the grave.”
Take away the stone: This is a command. Jesus commanded some of the men to remove the stone from the entrance to the cave. Here are other ways to translate this command:
Move the stone away (NCV)
Then he told the people to roll the stone away. (CEV)
“Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to Jesus, “Lord, by this time it/he must smell bad,
Martha, Lazarus’ sister, spoke. “Lord, by now there must be a bad smell
Lord: The Greek word that the BSB translates as Lord means “master.” It was a word used to address someone with respect. See how you translated this in 11:3b and 11:21.
by now he stinks: This clause refers to the fact that by this time the body had a bad smell. This implies that it was not a good idea to roll away the stone. Translate this in a way that would be natural under these circumstances. For example:
by now he will smell (NJB)
There will be a bad smell. (NCV)
The smell will be terrible. (NLT)
His body will already have a bad smell.
he stinks: The Greek words that the BSB translates literally as he stinks means “he has a bad smell.” The words he stinks sound both funny and not polite in English. It is important to express this in a way that is both natural and polite, suitable for reading aloud in church.
said Martha, the sister of the dead man: Martha spoke up and protested against Jesus’ command. The text does not say, but it appears from her behavior that Martha was older than Lazarus and Mary. If you need to say whether she was older or younger than Lazarus, you can say that she was older.
“It has already been four days.”
because he has been buried four days.”
since he died four days ago.”
It has already been four days: This clause begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “for” or “because.” This conjunction introduces the reason that there was a bad smell. A body starts to decompose (rot or decay) before the fourth day, especially in hot weather. The BSB omits this conjunction because the connection is clear in English without it. Consider how you might introduce this clause naturally in your language.
In some languages it may be natural to reverse the order of the clauses in 11:39b–c. For example:
There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days! (GNT)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture
λέγει & λέγει
˓is˒_saying & ˓is˒_saying
Here John uses the present tense in past narration in order to call attention to a development in the story.
Note 2 topic: translate-kinship
ἡ ἀδελφὴ
the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγει Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἄρατε τόν λίθον λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ ἀδελφή τοῦ τετελευτηκότος Μάρθα Κύριε ἤδη ὄζει τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστίν)
Martha was Lazarus’ oldest sister. If your language uses different words for sister depending on birth order, use the word for a older or oldest sister here. Alternate translation: [the oldest sister]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν
˓the˒_fourth_day for (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγει Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ἄρατε τόν λίθον λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ ἀδελφή τοῦ τετελευτηκότος Μάρθα Κύριε ἤδη ὄζει τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστίν)
This means that it has been four days since Lazarus died. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [for he has been dead for four days] or [for it has been four days since he died]
OET-LV The Yaʸsous is_saying:
Take_away the stone.
Martha the the_sister of_the one having_died is_saying to_him:
master, he_is_ already _stinking, because/for it_is the_fourth_day.
OET (OET-RV) and Yeshua instructed them to take away the stone.
¶ Marta (the sister of the dead man) spoke up, “Master, the stink will be bad because it’s already been four days.”
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.
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