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OET (OET-LV) The Yaʸsous saw the Nathanaaʸl coming to him and he_is_saying concerning him:
Behold, truly an_Israelite in whom is not deceit.
This section tells how Philip and Nathaniel became disciples of Jesus. Jesus showed them his power to know all things. He told Nathaniel that he had seen him under a fig tree. That showed Nathaniel that Jesus was the Son of God and King of Israel.
Here are other possible section headings:
Jesus called Philip and Nathanael to be his disciples/followers
Jesus invited two more men to follow him
Philip and Nathanael became disciples
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him,
Jesus saw Nathanael approaching him and said about him,
Nathanael went to meet Jesus. Jesus saw him approaching and said to the others,
There is implied information here: Nathanael decided to go and see Jesus, and then set out. In some languages it may be natural to make this explicit:
So Nathanael went to meet Jesus.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him: The pronoun He refers to Jesus and him refers to Nathanael. In some languages it may be natural to use one or both of these names. For example:
As Jesus saw Nathanael come toward him, Jesus spoke to the other disciples about Nathanael.
“Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”
“This man is a true Israelite. He does not deceive/lie.”
“Here is a real/genuine Israelite, a sincere man.”
Here is a true Israelite: When Jesus said the words Here is a true Israelite, he was saying something good about Nathanael. He was saying that Nathanael deserved to be called an Israelite.
Here are other ways to translate this statement:
Here is an Israelite who deserves the name
Now here is a true man of Israel (JBP)
Here is a real Israelite. (GNT)
How here is a genuine son of Israel. (NLT)
in whom there is no deceit: Jesus was saying that Nathaniel was not a liar or a hypocrite. Nathanael said what he believed and did not try to trick others. The word deceit refers to an act of deceiving or not telling the truth. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
There is no deceit in him. (JBP)
And he isn’t deceitful. (CEV)
in whom there is nothing false (NIV)
In some languages it may be natural to translate this using a positive statement. For example:
a man who is completely honest
who is sincere (GW)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture
λέγει
˱he˲_˓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: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἴδε
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶδεν Ὁ Ἰησοῦς τόν Ναθαναήλ ἐρχόμενον πρός αὐτόν καί λέγει περί αὐτοῦ Ἴδε ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλίτης ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἐστίν)
John records Jesus using the term Behold to call his audience’s attention to what he is about to say. Your language may have a similar expression that you can use here.
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / litotes
ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἔστιν
in whom deceit not (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶδεν Ὁ Ἰησοῦς τόν Ναθαναήλ ἐρχόμενον πρός αὐτόν καί λέγει περί αὐτοῦ Ἴδε ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλίτης ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἐστίν)
Jesus is using a figure of speech that expresses a strong positive meaning by using a negative word together with a word that means the opposite of the intended meaning. If this is confusing in your language, you can express the meaning positively. Alternate translation: [a completely truthful man]
1:47 Jesus referred to Nathanael as a man of complete integrity, contrasting him with Jacob, the scheming, deceitful patriarch whom God renamed Israel (see Gen 25:27-34; 27:1-36; 32:22-32). It is as though Nathanael embodied God’s ideal for Israel.
OET (OET-LV) The Yaʸsous saw the Nathanaaʸl coming to him and he_is_saying concerning him:
Behold, truly an_Israelite in whom is not deceit.
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.