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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 V32 V33 V34 V35
OET (OET-LV) The one believing in the son, is_having eternal life, but the one disbelieving in_the son, not will_be_seeing life, but the severe_anger of_ the _god is_remaining on him.
OET (OET-RV) Anyone who believes God’s son will live forever, but anyone who disobeys the son won’t be seeing life, but will feel God’s severe anger instead.”
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.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
The person who trusts in the Son will have forever life from God.
All people who trust in the Son live forever with God.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life: This is one of the most important ideas in the chapter. In some languages it is more natural to put in something to emphasize the idea. For example:
Whoever believes in the Son has truly/really got the life that continues forever.
Whoever believes in the Son: This refers to anyone and everyone who trusts Jesus. So in some languages it may be more natural to use a plural noun or pronoun. For example:
All those people who believe in the Son
Everyone who has faith in the Son (CEV)
believes in the Son: This phrase includes the idea of believing the facts about who Jesus was and what he did. But it also includes the idea of trusting Jesus instead of trusting oneself or someone else. Both ideas are very closely related. If someone believes the facts about Jesus, it should result in trusting him. See how you translated this idea in 1:7b, 1:12b, 3:15, 3:16b, and 3:18. Here are other ways to translate this idea here:
has faith in the Son (CEV)
trusts in the Son
puts their faith in the Son (REB)
the Son: See how you translated this phrase in 3:35a.
eternal life: These people have spiritual life from God, life that continues forever. See the note at 3:15, where the same phrase is used. See also how you translated the phrase there.
Whoever rejects the Son will not see life.
But the person who rejects the Son, he will not live forever.
However, no one who refuses to believe the Son will ever see/receive this life.
Whoever rejects the Son will not see life: This expression refers to anyone and everyone who rejects the Son. The people who reject the Son are those who disobey him and refuse to believe what he says. By rejecting their Savior, they reject eternal life. For example:
all those who disobey the Son will never see/enter that life
none who disobey will see/receive eternal life
no one who rejects him will ever share in that life (CEV)
see life: This phrase here means to experience the true spiritual life mentioned in 3:36a, life with God forever. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
experience eternal life (NLT)
share in that life (CEV)
Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
God will continue to be angry with him.
Instead, God will continue to reject him/them in his anger.
Instead: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as Instead here connects a negative statement (“will not see life”) to a positive statement (“must endure God’s wrath”). This kind of sentence emphasizes the positive statement. Languages have different ways to indicate this type of emphasis. Here are some ways to show the emphasis:
Use the conjunction “but” as in the NRSV.
will not have life, but will remain under God’s punishment (GNT)
Use a conjunction other than “but.” This is a common way in English to show this type of emphasis. For example:
will not see life. Instead, he will see God’s constant anger. (GW)
Do not use a conjunction. For example:
will never have life. God’s anger stays on them. (NCV)
Change the order of the clauses. For example:
will continue to experience God’s anger and not enjoy eternal life
You should translate this emphasis in the way that is most natural in your language.
the wrath of God remains on him: This Greek that the BSB translates literally as the wrath of God remains on him means “God will continue to be angry with him.” It indicates that God will continue to reject people who do not want to believe. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
God’s wrath rests upon him (REB)
remains under God’s angry judgment (NLT)
God will be angry with them forever (CEV)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun
ὁ πιστεύων
the_‹one› (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τόν Υἱόν ἔχει ζωήν αἰώνιον ὁ δέ ἀπειθῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν ἀλλʼ ἡ ὀργή τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπʼ αὐτόν)
This phrase does not refer to a specific person, but to any person who does this thing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [Anyone who believes]
Note 2 topic: guidelines-sonofgodprinciples
εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν & τῷ Υἱῷ
in (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τόν Υἱόν ἔχει ζωήν αἰώνιον ὁ δέ ἀπειθῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν ἀλλʼ ἡ ὀργή τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπʼ αὐτόν)
Son is an important title for Jesus.
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun
ὁ δὲ ἀπειθῶν
the_‹one› (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τόν Υἱόν ἔχει ζωήν αἰώνιον ὁ δέ ἀπειθῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν ἀλλʼ ἡ ὀργή τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπʼ αὐτόν)
This phrase does not refer to a specific person, but to any person who does this thing. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [but anyone who disobeys]
ὁ δὲ ἀπειθῶν
the_‹one› (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τόν Υἱόν ἔχει ζωήν αἰώνιον ὁ δέ ἀπειθῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν ἀλλʼ ἡ ὀργή τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπʼ αὐτόν)
The word translated disobeys can also be translated “does not believe.” Alternate translation: [but the one who does not believe]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν
not ˓will_be˒_seeing life
John the Baptist uses see metaphorically to refer to experiencing or participating in something. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [will not experience life]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν
not ˓will_be˒_seeing life
Here, life refers to eternal life, as indicated by the previous clause.You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [will not see eternal life]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπ’ αὐτόν
the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τόν Υἱόν ἔχει ζωήν αἰώνιον ὁ δέ ἀπειθῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν ἀλλʼ ἡ ὀργή τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπʼ αὐτόν)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of wrath, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [God will continue to be angry against him]
OET (OET-LV) The one believing in the son, is_having eternal life, but the one disbelieving in_the son, not will_be_seeing life, but the severe_anger of_ the _god is_remaining on him.
OET (OET-RV) Anyone who believes God’s son will live forever, but anyone who disobeys the son won’t be seeing life, but will feel God’s severe anger instead.”
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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