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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 1 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51
OET (OET-LV) And this is the testimony of_ the _Yōannaʸs, when the Youdaiōns sent_out priests and Levites from Hierousalaʸm/(Yərūshālayim), in_order_that they_may_ask him:
Who are you?
OET (OET-RV) Yohan explained some of this when the Jewish leaders sent out priests and temple workers from Yerushalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
In this section John the Baptist told messengers from the Jewish leaders that he himself was not the Messiah. He had come to prepare people for the coming of someone else, someone much greater than he was. He was referring to Jesus.
Here are other possible section headings:
John the Baptist said that he prepared people for someone much greater than him
John the Baptist told about his mission
John the Baptist was not the Messiah
The Jewish religious leaders sent priests and Levites to John to ask him who he claimed to be. They believed that he had no right to baptize if God had not sent him. He told them that he was preparing people to believe in the Messiah, the Chosen One. He quoted from Isaiah the prophet about a voice shouting in the wilderness to describe himself.
And this was John’s testimony
¶ This was what John said about what he witnessed
¶ Here is what John testified/answered
And: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as And introduces the next event in the story. In some languages it may be more natural not to translate it. You should introduce this new event in the story in a way that is natural in your language.
this was John’s testimony: The word this refers forward to the testimony John gave in 1:20, “I am not the Christ.” (The word testimony means a statement where you tell what you know.) See the General Comment after 1:20 for a possible way to reorder this information.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
This was John’s answer (GW)
Here is the truth John told (NCV)
testimony: The Greek word that the BSB translates as testimony can also be translated as “statement about what one saw.” See the note on 1:7a, where the same word refers to a person, John the Baptist himself. Here it refers to John the Baptist’s message. In some languages it is more natural to use a verb phrase instead of a noun. For example:
John told what he witnessed, saying….
John declared the truth in this way:
when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites
when the leaders of the Jewish nation sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem
when the religious leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and other Levites from there
when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites: The phrase the Jews here probably refers to the Jewish religious leaders. They lived and worked in the city of Jerusalem. In some languages it is more natural to make it explicit that these Jews were leaders based in Jerusalem. For example:
the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites (NIV)
The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites (GNT)
The leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers (CEV)
The priests and the Levites were probably from Jerusalem, in addition to the Jewish leaders. In your translation, you should indicate that they all lived in Jerusalem. Also indicate that the leaders sent a group of priests and Levites from Jerusalem to question John. John was not in Jerusalem, but in a desert where nobody lived.
priests: Jewish priests were men who served God in the temple in Jerusalem. They served as mediators between God and the Jewish people. They offered animal sacrifices to God for the people. The priests also did other religious rituals and were in charge of the ceremonies in the temple. Here are some other ways to translate priests:
sacrificers
men who offer sacrifices
men who are representatives of people to God
See also KBT priest, meaning 1.
Levites: The Levites were men who helped the priests in the temple. They were descendants of Levi and therefore were members of the tribe of Levi. Priests were Levites, but also had to be descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother. So all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. In the Bible, the word Levites refers to the descendants of Levi who were not priests. See Levite in KBT. Here are other ways to translate this word:
members of the tribe/clan of Levi
descendants of Levi
Temple assistants (NLT)
to ask him, “Who are you?”
to John to ask, “Who are you(sing)?”
to ask John who he was. (CEV)
to ask him, “Who are you?”: The pronouns him and you both refer to John the Baptist. The Jewish leaders wanted to know what his authority was; in other words, what right did he have to baptize people.
In some languages it may be better to use indirect speech for this question. For example:
to ask him who he was (NIV)
to ask John who he was (CEV)
Refer to the General Comment after 1:23 on indirect speech in 1:19–23.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τοῦ Ἰωάννου
¬the ˱of˲_John
John refers to Jesus’ cousin, often referred to as “John the Baptist.” (See: johnthebaptist) It does not refer to the apostle John, who wrote this Gospel. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [of John the Baptist] or [of John the Immerser]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / synecdoche
ἀπέστειλαν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι
sent_out the Jews
Here, the Jews refers to the “Jewish leaders.” If this might confuse your readers, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [the Jewish leaders sent]
OET (OET-LV) And this is the testimony of_ the _Yōannaʸs, when the Youdaiōns sent_out priests and Levites from Hierousalaʸm/(Yərūshālayim), in_order_that they_may_ask him:
Who are you?
OET (OET-RV) Yohan explained some of this when the Jewish leaders sent out priests and temple workers from Yerushalem to ask him, “Who are 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.
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