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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 3 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 V33 V34 V35 V36
OET (OET-LV) What he_has_seen and heard, this he_is_testifying, but no_one is_receiving the testimony of_him.
John the gospel writer says that Jesus is greater than everyone else. He is greater because he came from heaven and knows the truth about heavenly things. God the Father sent Jesus and given him authority over all things. However, people did not accept what Jesus said and so they will experience God’s anger. On the other hand, those who believe in Jesus, God’s Son, have eternal life.
Here are some other possible section headings:
Jesus was more important than John the Baptist
God sent Jesus to tell his message
Those who believe in God’s Son have eternal life
The Greek text does not have quotation marks, so it is not certain when John the Baptist stops speaking. There are two possible ways to understand where John the Baptist stops speaking:
John stops speaking at the end of 3:30. (NRSV, GNT, ESV, NIV2011, REB, NET, probably CEV)
John stops speaking at the end of 3:36. (BSB, NIV84, NJB, NASB, GW, NLT, NCV) The KJV does not use quotation marks and so does not indicate when the speaker changes.
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). These Notes end John the Baptist’s words at the end of verse 30. This is the view of many commentators.Kostenberger (p. 133) cites Dodd, Morris, Carson, Borchert, Beasley-Murray, Burge, Witherington, and Schnackenburg. The author probably wrote this paragraph in his own words. It is recommended that you translate these verses as the author’s words. But if other translations in your area have translated them as John the Baptist’s own words, that is acceptable.
In this paragraph the author states that Jesus is superior to John the Baptist.
He testifies to what He has seen and heard,
He tells us what he has seen and heard in heaven.
Jesus tells us what he has seen and heard in heaven.
He testifies: The Greek word that the BSB translates as testifies means “tells what he witnessed.” It implies that what he says is true. Jesus told about things he personally knew and he told the truth.
to what He has seen and heard: Jesus saw and heard the truth about God in heaven. He knew what God was like because he had been with God. In some languages it may be necessary to make a reference to heaven explicit. For example:
because he has actually seen and heard it in heaven
yet no one accepts His testimony.
But not many believe what he says.
However, only a few accept that what he said is true.
yet no one accepts His testimony: This is a figure of speech called a hyperbole, an exaggeration. Here it indicates that many or most people did not accept Jesus’ testimony (what he testified). There were in fact some who accepted what Jesus had to say, but they were not the majority. In some languages it may be necessary to remove the figure of speech and say this explicitly. For example:
but how few believe what he tells them! (NLT)
Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns
ὃ ἑώρακεν καὶ ἤκουσεν, τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ & μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὅ ἑώρακεν καί ἤκουσεν τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ καί τήν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδείς λαμβάνει)
He and his in this verse refer to Jesus. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [Jesus testifies about that which he has seen and heard … Jesus’ testimony]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ὃ ἑώρακεν καὶ ἤκουσεν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὅ ἑώρακεν καί ἤκουσεν τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ καί τήν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδείς λαμβάνει)
John assumes that his readers will understand that this phrase refers to what Jesus saw and heard while he was in heaven. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [which he has seen and heard in heaven]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / hyperbole
τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ, οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὅ ἑώρακεν καί ἤκουσεν τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ καί τήν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδείς λαμβάνει)
John the Baptist exaggerates to emphasize that only a few people believed Jesus. If this might confuse your readers, you could use a different expression. Alternate translation: [very few people receive his testimony] or [it seems like no one receives his testimony]
3:22-36 John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the one who is truly from above (3:31); this requires John’s followers to shift their allegiance to Jesus.
OET (OET-LV) What he_has_seen and heard, this he_is_testifying, but no_one is_receiving the testimony of_him.
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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