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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 4 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53
OET (OET-LV) (and_yet_indeed Yaʸsous himself was_ not _immersing, but the apprentices/followers of_him),
OET (OET-RV) (although actually it wasn’t Yeshua himself that was immersing them, but his apprentices that were doing it),
In this section Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman who had come to get water from a well. Jesus asked her for a drink of water. The woman was surprised that he spoke to her. Jesus was a Jew, and most Jewish people hated the Samaritans. But Jesus stayed and talked with the woman.
Jesus told the woman that he could give her living water, and he told her that he was the Messiah. The women went back to her town and brought many of the other Samaritan people to Jesus.
It is good to translate the section before giving it a title. Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus brought good news to the hated Samaritan people
The conversation at the well
These verses tell the background to the story of Jesus’ conversation with a woman at a well. The Pharisees knew that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing more people than John, and they were jealous because he was popular. So Jesus decided to leave Judea and travel north through Samaria back to Galilee.
See the General Comment at the end of verse 3 for other ways to order these verses.
(although it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples),
(However, it was not Jesus who baptized these people. His disciples did.)
In fact Jesus himself was not the one who baptized people, but/instead his disciples were baptizing people.
Actually his followers were baptizing people and not Jesus himself/personally.
4:2 gives some parenthetical information that corrects a possible misunderstanding of the previous verse. Jesus himself was not baptizing anyone. His disciples were the ones who were baptizing people.
In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. For example:
(Actually Jesus was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) (GW)
(Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) (GNT)
But Jesus himself did not baptize the people, rather his disciples baptized them.
although: The Greek word that the BSB translates as although introduces the correction of a possible misunderstanding. Readers might think that Jesus himself was baptizing people. This was not so. His disciples were the ones doing that. Introduce this correction in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
although in fact (NIV)
Actually (GW)
But the truth was that it was not Jesus who was doing the baptizing, but rather his disciples only.
it was not Jesus who baptized, but His disciples: This clause explains what actually happened. Place the verb baptized with the subject that is natural in your language. For example:
although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples (NIV)
but: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as but here connects a negative statement (“it was not Jesus himself”) to a positive statement (“his disciples who baptized”). 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.
although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples (NIV)
Use a conjunction other than but. This is a common way in English to show this type of emphasis. For example:
although it was not Jesus himself who baptized. Instead, his disciples did it
Do not use a conjunction. For example:
(Actually, Jesus was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) (GW)
Change the order of the clauses. For example:
though in fact it was his disciples who baptised, not Jesus himself (NJB)
You should translate this emphasis in the way that is most natural in your language.
His disciples: This phrase identifies who were baptizing people instead of Jesus. In some languages it may be more natural to make it clear whose disciples were baptizing. For example:
Jesus’ disciples
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / rpronouns
Ἰησοῦς αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν
Jesus (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καίτοιγε Ἰησοῦς αὐτός οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν ἀλλʼ οἱ μαθηταί αὐτοῦ)
Here, himself is used to emphasize that Jesus was not baptizing disciples, but his disciples were doing the baptizing. Use a way that is natural in your language to indicate this emphasis.
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis
ἀλλ’ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ
but the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καίτοιγε Ἰησοῦς αὐτός οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν ἀλλʼ οἱ μαθηταί αὐτοῦ)
John is leaving out some of the words that a clause would need in many languages to be complete. If it would be helpful in your language, you could supply these words from the previous clause. Alternate translation: [but his disciples were baptizing people]
OET (OET-LV) (and_yet_indeed Yaʸsous himself was_ not _immersing, but the apprentices/followers of_him),
OET (OET-RV) (although actually it wasn’t Yeshua himself that was immersing them, but his apprentices that were doing it),
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.