YHN 19:8 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 18:28–19:16a: Pilate investigated Jesus and decided that he should die

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.

Paragraph 19:8–11

Pilate and Jesus spoke together. Jesus showed that he was not afraid of Pilate. He said that it was God who gave Pilate his power.

19:8

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,

¶ So when Pilate heard what the Jews said, he was more afraid.
¶ Hearing that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God caused Pilate to become even more frightened.

The Greek begins this verse with a conjunction that is often translated as “So” indicating a result. In this context it introduces the result of what the Jewish leaders just said. The word “When” also indicates a result here, so many English translations, like the BSB, leave this word implicit. Introduce the result (Pilate’s reaction) in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

Therefore when Pilate heard this statement (NASB)

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid: What the Jews said caused Pilate to be afraid. He did not know before that Jesus said that he was the Son of God. Here are other ways to translate these clauses:

Hearing this, Pilate felt even more fear.

These words caused Pilate to become even more frightened.

This made Pilate even more afraid.

Pilate was more afraid when he heard what the Jews said.

When Pilate heard this statement: The pronoun this refers to what the Jewish high priests just told Pilate, that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. Here is another way to translate this clause:

When Pilate heard what they said (NET)

he was even more afraid: The Greek word that the BSB translates as even more here probably implies that Pilate was already afraid.A few commentaries and CEV understand this word to mean that Pilate was “very much” afraid rather than “more” afraid. And a few commentaries understand it to mean “rather” here as it does in 3:19 and 12:43. However, most commentaries and nearly all English translations understand it to mean “more.” For example:

he was more afraid than ever (NRSV)

In some languages it is natural to say what Pilate was afraid of. Apparently he was afraid to condemn Jesus to death, but he was also afraid to reject the Jewish leaders’ demand. So he delayed making a decision and talked to Jesus again. If you must indicate what Pilate was afraid of, it is best to say something general. For example:

he was even more afraid to judge/act/decide

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

τοῦτον τὸν λόγον

this (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅτε Οὖν ἤκουσεν ὁ Πιλᾶτος τοῦτον τόν λόγον μᾶλλον ἐφοβήθη)

Here, word refers to what the Jewish leaders said in the previous verse. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this plainly. Alternate translation: [what they said about Jesus claiming to be the Son of God]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

μᾶλλον ἐφοβήθη

more ˱he˲_˓was˒_afraid

John is leaving out some of the words that a sentence would need in many languages to be complete. If it would be helpful in your language, you could supply these words from the context. Alternate translation: [he grew even more afraid of condemning Jesus] or [he grew even more afraid than before of what might happen to him if he condemned Jesus]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.

OET interlinear YHN (JHN) 19:8

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)

Section 18:28–19:16a: Pilate investigated Jesus and decided that he should die

Paragraph 19:8–11

19:8

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)