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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 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 18 V1 V2 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 V32 V33 V34 V35 V36 V38 V39 V40
OET (OET-LV) Therefore the Pilatos said to_him:
Are you not_then a_king?
The Yaʸsous answered:
You are_saying that I am a_king.
for this I_have_been_born, and for this I_have_come into the world, in_order_that I_may_testify to_the truth.
Everyone which being of the truth, is_hearing of_the voice of_me.
OET (OET-RV) “So you are a king then?” Pilate responded.
¶ “You’re saying that I’m a king,” said Yeshua, “and indeed I was born to be a king. I came into the world so that I could testify to the truth.”
This section tells how the soldiers took Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate. Pilate questioned Jesus to find out why the Jews wanted him to punish Jesus with death. He could find no reason to do that. But the Jewish leaders there insisted that Pilate crucify him. Finally, Pilate agreed that Jesus could be crucified.
Here are other possible section headings:
Pilate questioned the Jews and Jesus and sent Jesus to be crucified
Pilate investigated Jesus and decided that he could be punished with death
Jesus’ trial and judgment before Pilate
This section can be divided into seven smaller pieces, where each piece is a separate event. Jews often arranged written materials to include seven related pieces, where the first and last pieces relate, and the second and sixth relate, and the third and fifth relate. Then the middle piece, the fourth, stands alone and is emphasized. That happens in this section as well. Here is a chart showing the seven pieces of this section and how they relate:
18:28–32: Outside the house; Jews ask for Jesus’ death
18:33–38a: Inside the house; Pilate asks Jesus if he is King of the Jews
18:38b–40: Outside the house; Pilate says, “I find no case against him.”
19:1–3: The soldiers beat Jesus with a whip and pretend that he is the king of the Jews
19:4–8: Outside the house; Pilate says, “I find no case against him.”
19:8–11: Inside the house; Pilate asks Jesus where he came from
19:12–16a: Outside the house; Pilate allows Jews to crucify Jesus
The middle piece, 19:1–3, is different from all the other pieces. Pilate is only mentioned and is not an important person in this event. That is different from all the other pieces. This middle piece therefore is emphasized. The only ones who seem to worship Jesus in the whole section do so in this middle piece. However, they only pretend to worship and are very cruel as they mock Jesus.
In your translation, you may want to find ways to emphasize 19:1–3. Also, try to translate this section in ways that make it possible to see the connections between the pieces.
Jesus explained that he was not a king of an earthly kingdom.
“Then You are a king!” Pilate said.
Pilate asked, “You(sing) are saying that you are a king, then?”
Pilate said, “So that means that you(sing) are a king!”
“Then You are a king!” Pilate said: Pilate returned to his first question, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (18:33). He understood that Jesus was saying that he was a king. This is a rhetorical question that expects the answer yes. Pilate wanted to confirm something that he thought that Jesus implied.
There are two ways to translate this rhetorical question:
Use a rhetorical question. For example:
You are a king, then? (REB)
Use a statement like the BSB. For example:
So you are a king! (NCV)
So you must mean that you are a king.
So that means that you are in fact a king.
“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered.
Jesus answered, “You(sing) give me the title of king.
Jesus said to Pilate, “‘King’ is the word that you(sing) yourself are using.
“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered: There are two ways to interpret the Greek clause that the BSB translates literally as You say that I am a king:
Jesus said that he was a king. He agreed with Pilate that he was a king. For example:
You are right in saying I am a king. (NIV84) (GW, NASB, NIV84, GW)
Jesus did not admit that he was a king. For example:
It is you who say that I am a king. (NJB) (NIV2011, NJB, NCV, probably NLT)
The translations that translate more literally can be understood to follow either interpretation here (KJV, RSV, NRSV, ESV, NET, GNT, CEV). It is good to translate this in an ambiguous way. Jesus probably intended his answer to cause Pilate and others who heard him to think about what being a king meant. They suggested that he was a king, and he did not deny it. But he did not say that he was a political ruler. Try to give an ambiguous answer that introduces Jesus’ explanation of his true mission. For example:
You are calling me a king.
“King” is your word (REB)
“A king” is what you say.
You say: The Greek text emphasizes the pronoun You to contrast it with “I” in 18:37c. Pilate thought that the purpose of Jesus’ life was to be a king. However, Jesus said that he had a different purpose.
“For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth.
But the reason I was born, yes, the reason I came into the world, was to declare what is true.
I was born into this world to tell about the truth. (CEV)
For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth: This sentence indicates that Jesus came into the world to tell people the truth. His purpose in coming was not to be a worldly king.
The phrases I was born and have come into the world both refer to the same event. Jesus came into the world from heaven when he was born. Repeating the idea emphasizes it. Emphasize this idea in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world (ESV)
For this purpose I was born—yes, for this very reason I came into the world—
In some languages it may be necessary to combine the verb phrases. For example:
This is the reason that I was born into this world
The Greek text emphasizes the word I to contrast it with “You” in 18:37b. See the note there.
to testify to the truth: This phrase indicates that Jesus was a witness to the truth, especially the truth about God his Father. He knew his Father personally. During his life on earth he testified (told what he knew) about who God is and what he is like. See how you translated testify in 1:7, 3:11, and 5:31. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
to speak about the truth (GNT)
to tell people the truth (NCV)
the truth: In some languages it may not be possible or natural to talk about truth as a noun. You may want or need to use an adjective form of the word. For example:
to speak about what is true
to declare the true teaching
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”
Everyone who is devoted to believing what is true will listen to what I say.”
All people who want to know the truth will believe/accept my teaching and obey me.”
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice: This sentence serves as an implied challenge to Pilate to listen to Jesus. Jesus implied that if Pilate really wanted to know the truth, he would listen to Jesus. Here are other ways to translate this sentence:
Whoever wants to know the truth will receive/accept what I say
All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true (NLT)
Everyone who belongs to the truth: This phrase means “all the people who want to know the truth” or “everyone who is devoted to believing the truth.” If you translated truth as an adjective in 18:37c, you will want to do the same here. For example:
All who follow what is really true
Whoever wants to know what the true teaching is
listens to My voice: This phrase means “believes/accepts what I say.” It implies that the person will accept and obey what Jesus says. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
listens to me (GW)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / extrainfo
σὺ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος οὐκοῦν βασιλεύς Εἶ σύ ἀπεκρίθη Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Σύ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμί Ἐγώ εἰς τοῦτο γεγέννημαι καί εἰς τοῦτο ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον ἵνα μαρτυρήσω τῇ ἀληθείᾳ Πᾶς ὁ ὤν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μού τῆς φωνῆς)
Here Jesus is probably answering Pilate’s question in the affirmative. However, since he doesn’t clearly say, ‘Yes, I am a king,’ you do not need to explain the meaning further here.
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism
ἐγὼ εἰς τοῦτο γεγέννημαι, καὶ εἰς τοῦτο ἐλήλυθα εἰς τὸν κόσμον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος οὐκοῦν βασιλεύς Εἶ σύ ἀπεκρίθη Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Σύ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμί Ἐγώ εἰς τοῦτο γεγέννημαι καί εἰς τοῦτο ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον ἵνα μαρτυρήσω τῇ ἀληθείᾳ Πᾶς ὁ ὤν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μού τῆς φωνῆς)
These two phrases mean the same thing. The repetition is used to emphasize that Jesus came to the earth to tell people the truth about God. If stating the same thing twice might be confusing for your readers, you can combine the phrases into one. Alternate translation: [For this reason I came here]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τὸν κόσμον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος οὐκοῦν βασιλεύς Εἶ σύ ἀπεκρίθη Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Σύ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμί Ἐγώ εἰς τοῦτο γεγέννημαι καί εἰς τοῦτο ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον ἵνα μαρτυρήσω τῇ ἀληθείᾳ Πᾶς ὁ ὤν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μού τῆς φωνῆς)
Here, world refers to the universe that God created. It does not refer only to the people in the world or only to the earth. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [the universe]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
τῇ ἀληθείᾳ
˱to˲_the truth
Here, truth refers to what Jesus reveals about God, which would include his plan for forgiving sinful people through Jesus’ death on the cross. If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of truth, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [to the true things about God]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας
¬the ¬which (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος οὐκοῦν βασιλεύς Εἶ σύ ἀπεκρίθη Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Σύ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμί Ἐγώ εἰς τοῦτο γεγέννημαι καί εἰς τοῦτο ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον ἵνα μαρτυρήσω τῇ ἀληθείᾳ Πᾶς ὁ ὤν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μού τῆς φωνῆς)
This phrase is an idiom that refers to someone who believes the truth about God. If your readers would not understand this, you could use an equivalent idiom or use plain language. Alternate translation: [Everyone who believes the truth]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἀκούει
˓is˒_hearing
Here, hears means to listen to something with the intent to heed it and respond appropriately. See how you translated this word in [8:43](../08/43.md). Alternate translation: [heeds]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche
μου τῆς φωνῆς
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Οὖν αὐτῷ ὁ Πιλᾶτος οὐκοῦν βασιλεύς Εἶ σύ ἀπεκρίθη Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Σύ λέγεις ὅτι βασιλεύς εἰμί Ἐγώ εἰς τοῦτο γεγέννημαι καί εἰς τοῦτο ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον ἵνα μαρτυρήσω τῇ ἀληθείᾳ Πᾶς ὁ ὤν ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούει μού τῆς φωνῆς)
Jesus uses voice to refer to what Jesus says. If this might confuse your readers, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [to the things I say] or [to me]
OET (OET-LV) Therefore the Pilatos said to_him:
Are you not_then a_king?
The Yaʸsous answered:
You are_saying that I am a_king.
for this I_have_been_born, and for this I_have_come into the world, in_order_that I_may_testify to_the truth.
Everyone which being of the truth, is_hearing of_the voice of_me.
OET (OET-RV) “So you are a king then?” Pilate responded.
¶ “You’re saying that I’m a king,” said Yeshua, “and indeed I was born to be a king. I came into the world so that I could testify to the truth.”
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.