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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT ESA WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL 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
Yhn C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21
Yhn 14 V1 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V19 V20 V21 V22 V23 V24 V25 V26 V27 V28 V29 V30 V31
OET (OET-LV) Many dwellings are in the house of_the father of_me, and if not, I_ would _told to_you_all, because I_am_going to_prepare a_place for_you_all.
OET (OET-RV) There are many places to live in my father’s residence—I would have told you if there wasn’t because I’m going there to prepare a place for all of you.
Jesus continued to prepare his disciples for his death. He encouraged them to keep trusting God and told them that he would prepare a place for them in heaven. He also talked about his unity with God the Father and said that he was the way to go to his Father.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Jesus and God the Father are one
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life
Jesus’ disciples were upset because he had told them he was leaving. Jesus comforted and encouraged them. He told them that he would come back for them and take them to live with him in his Father’s house.
In My Father’s house are many rooms.
There are many places to live in my Father’s house.
There is lots of room for you(plur) in the home of God my Father.
In My Father’s house are many rooms: The main idea in this sentence is that there is plenty of room for many people. For example:
In my Father’s compound there are many houses/homes.
There is room for many people to live with/near my Father.
In My Father’s house: The phrase My Father’s house refers to heaven. It is good to keep the metaphor. If the picture of God living in a house seems very strange, it may be possible to say something like:
In my Father’s heavenly home
many rooms: The phrase the BSB has translated as rooms means “places to live.” For example:
many places to live in (NJB)
dwelling places (NRSV)
many apartments
If it were not so,
If there were not,
If there was no room for you,
If it were not so: This clause here means “if there were not many rooms in my Father’s house.” It suggests the possibility that there might not be enough room for all of Jesus’ followers in heaven. This is a possibility that is not true. Translate this in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
If not
If that were not true (GW)
If there were not many rooms there
unless it was true
would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?: There is a textual problem here. Some Greek manuscripts include a word that can mean either that or “for/because.” Some Greek manuscripts do not include this word. Also, the original Greek text did not have any punctuation. So it is difficult to be sure of the original meaning of the text. Here are the possibilities:
The text includes a word that can mean that or “for/because.” For example:
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (ESV) (BSB, RSV, NRSV, ESV, GW, NLT, NIV2011, NASB, REB, NET)
The text does not include that word. For example:
I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. (NCV) (KJV, NIV84, CEV, NCV, NJB, GNT)
It is recommended that you follow option (1). The UBS Greek text includes the Greek word with only some doubt.
There is also an interpretation issue in how to understand the word that the BSB translates as that.
The word means that. For example:
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (ESV) (BSB, RSV, NRSV, ESV, GW, NLT, NIV2011)
The word means “for/because.” For example:
if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you (NASB) (NASB, REB, NET)
It is recommended that you follow option (1) with more of the English translations. That seems to make the best sense of the Greek text. Following option (1) also means that you would understand the Greek as a rhetorical question. The expected answer to the rhetorical question would be “no.” Jesus would not have told his followers something that was not true.
There are two ways to translate this rhetorical question:
Use a rhetorical question. For example:
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? (NLT)
Use a statement. For example:
I would not have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you.
Translate this rhetorical question in a way that is natural for a question that implies and expects the answer “no.” For example:
I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you, would I?
would I have told you
would I have told you(plur)
I would not have told you(plur)
would I have told you: This clause indicates here that Jesus would not have said something to his disciples if something else were not true. He told them that he would go to prepare a place for them (see the next clause). He would not have said that if there were not many places to live in his Father’s house. But there were many places to live there, so he told him that he would prepare a place for them.
you: This pronoun is plural and refers to the disciples.
that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
that I am going to my Father’s house to prepare a place for you(plur)? No!
that I will leave to get/make a place ready for you(plur) there.
that I am going there to prepare a place for you: There is no record that Jesus had previously said these exact words. This may refer to his promise that his followers would always be with him and have eternal life. See, for example, John 12:26.
I am going: These words refer to Jesus going to his Father’s house in heaven, which he just mentioned. He would do that through his death and resurrection. It may be natural to make clearer where he would go. For example:
I go there
I am going there (NIV)
to prepare a place for you: This phrase refers to preparing a place for the disciples in the home of God the Father. Jesus prepared this place by dying for his people and making the way for them to go to God.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μου
in the house ˱of˲_the Father (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μού μοναί Πολλαί εἰσίν εἰ δέ μή εἶπον ἄν ὑμῖν ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν)
Jesus uses house to refer to heaven, which is the place where God dwells. If this would confuse your readers, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [In the place where my Father dwells] or [In heaven where my Father dwells]
Note 2 topic: guidelines-sonofgodprinciples
Πατρός
Father
Father is an important title for God.
εἰ δὲ μή, εἶπον ἂν ὑμῖν, ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν
if (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρός μού μοναί Πολλαί εἰσίν εἰ δέ μή εἶπον ἄν ὑμῖν ὅτι πορεύομαι ἑτοιμάσαι τόπον ὑμῖν)
The word translated for could also be translated “that,” in which case this sentence would be a question instead of a statement. With either interpretation the point of the sentence is the same: Jesus is emphasizing that what he has just said in the previous sentence is true. He is going to heaven to prepare a place for his people. Alternate translation: [But if not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?]
OET (OET-LV) Many dwellings are in the house of_the father of_me, and if not, I_ would _told to_you_all, because I_am_going to_prepare a_place for_you_all.
OET (OET-RV) There are many places to live in my father’s residence—I would have told you if there wasn’t because I’m going there to prepare a place for all of you.
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.