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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 6 V1 V4 V7 V10 V13 V16 V19 V22 V25 V31 V34 V37 V40 V43 V46 V49 V52 V55 V58 V61 V64 V67 V70
OET (OET-LV) Therefore they_said to him:
What may_we_be_doing, in_order_that we_may_be_doing the works of_ the _god?
In this section Jesus spoke in figurative language about how he himself is the source of eternal life. He called himself “the bread of life” and said that people must “eat” his flesh and “drink” his blood. These words caused a lot of argument.
In the previous paragraph Jesus claimed that God approved of him. Now the people who were listening asked Jesus what they could do to do the works of God. Jesus told them to believe in him. The people then asked what miraculous sign he would show them.
Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”
¶ So the people asked Jesus, “What does God want us(excl) to do?”
¶ Then the people asked Jesus, “What deeds should we do so that God will accept us?”
Then: This new paragraph connects to the previous paragraph with a conjunction that indicates a result. It is often translated as “therefore.” The BSB translates it as Then. The question that follows was a response to what Jesus had just said.
Here are other ways to translate this word:
So (GNT)
Therefore (NASB)
they inquired: The quotation that follows is a question. So it may be natural to indicate that here. For example:
they asked him (GNT)
If you started a new paragraph here, it may be natural to make it explicit that they refers to the people. For example:
the people asked
What must we do to perform the works of God?: The Greek phrase that the BSB has translated literally as perform the works of God here refers to doing what pleases God.
Here are other ways to translate this question:
What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do? (GNT)
What are the things God wants us to do? (NCV)
We want to perform God’s works too. What should we do? (NLT)
What exactly does God want us to do? (CEV)
we: The pronoun we is exclusive in this context. It does not include Jesus. The speakers understood that God already approved of him (6:27d).
perform: The Greek word that the BSB translates as perform means “to work” or “to do.”
the works of God: This phrase refers to the deeds that God wants people to do (not to the deeds that God does). In some languages it may be necessary to translate this noun phrase using a verb phrase. For example:
what God wants us to do (GNT)
OET (OET-LV) Therefore they_said to him:
What may_we_be_doing, in_order_that we_may_be_doing the works of_ the _god?
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.