YHN 7:38 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 7:37–39: Jesus promised living water

During the festival of Booths the Jewish people remembered how God provided what they needed. He provided water for them in the past and continued to do so. Each day of the festival, the priests took some water from the pool of Siloam. Then they poured it out before the Lord at the base of the altar. This represented God’s gift of water and life. This ritual reminded the people that God had given them water and that he would also give them the Holy Spirit. On this occasion Jesus stood up and claimed that he fulfilled the hope expressed in this ritual.

Here are some other possible section headings:

Jesus told those who were thirsty to come to him

Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit

7:38a

Whoever believes in Me,

The one/person who believes in me,
And you^(plur) who believe in me

Whoever believes in Me: This refers to anyone and everyone who believes on Jesus Christ. For example:

If anyone believes in me (NCV)

believes in Me: 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 similar phrases in 1:12b, 7:5, and 7:31a. Here are other ways to translate this idea:

Have faith in me (CEV)

trusts in me

7:38b

as the Scripture has said:

as scripture says/states,
it is written in God’s Word,

as the Scripture has said: This clause probably refers to Isaiah 58:11, which says, “You will be like…a spring whose waters never fail” (NIV). But it is not an exact quotation, and several OT passages talk about God giving water to his people. Those passages include Ezekiel 47:1–12 and Zechariah 14:8.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

As the scripture says (GNT)

according to God’s written word

7:38c

‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

‘From his heart will flow streams of life-giving water.’”
‘From inside him/you will pour/flow the water that brings life.’”

Streams of living water will flow from within him: This is a further development of the metaphor in 7:37c. Refer to the story of the woman at the well, 4:10–15, to see how Christ used this metaphor earlier. Here, as there, it refers to the Holy Spirit as the one who brings true and plentiful life. It is good to keep the metaphor because Scripture uses it in other places.

Here are other ways to translate this sentence:

Rivers of living water will flow from his heart. (NLT)

You will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you. (CEV)

in his heart will be that which gives life which will be like water that flows from a spring

Streams of living water will flow: This expression indicates that the living water will flow and be plentiful. In some languages it may be natural to leave the idea of Streams implicit. Instead, you can indicate that the water is plentiful in the verb flow or in an adjective. For example:

shall flow/rush plentiful life-giving water

water flowing (CEV)

Streams of living water: The Greek word that the BSB translates literally as living in this context means “life-giving,” something that gives life. See also 4:14c and the notes there, and the note on living water at 4:10d. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

streams of life-giving water (GNT)

from within him: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as from within him is more literally “out of his stomach.” The pronoun “his” in the Greek probably refers to whoever believes in Jesus (7:38a).There are actually two ways to interpret the pronoun “his” here: (1) It refers to the person who believes in Jesus. For example: If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says (NCV) (BSB, NLT, CEV, NIV, RSV, REB, NRSV, GW, ESV, GNT76, KJV. NASB) (2) It refers to Jesus himself. For example: As the scripture says, ‘Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.’” (GNT92) (GNT92) It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) and most Bible scholars. By using a plural pronoun, NIV forces that interpretation. It is recommended that you use a singular pronoun here like all other English translations (CEV uses “you,” which could be singular or plural in English). The NIV uses a plural pronoun here because there are many who believe in Jesus. However, the Greek text has a singular pronoun to refer to “the one believing in me.” The BSB, like nearly all English translations, uses a singular pronoun.

The most probable Scripture that this refers to is Isaiah 58:11. There the pronoun is “you” (“You will be like…a spring”). See the previous note at 7:38b.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

From his heart (NJB)

within him: The Greek word that the BSB translates as within him is more literally “his stomach.” At that time, people saw the stomach as the center of one’s feelings and desires. Today, most English speakers see the heart that way, so some English translations translated the phrase as “his heart.” Other English translations just refer to inside a person without saying a specific body part. For example:

there will flow what gives true life, coming from inside him, like a spring of water

you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you (CEV)

Translate this word in a way that is natural in your language. You may mention a specific body part that people see as the center or source of feelings and desires. Or you may just refer to the water coming from inside a person.

General Comment on 7:38a–c

This verse can be difficult to understand because the phrase “as the Scripture has said” interrupts the flow of the sentence. It separates the subject (“Whoever believes in me”) from what Jesus said about him. It may be clearer to change the order of the sentence. For example:

^38bScripture says this about ^38cthe one who believes in me. ^38a‘Rivers of water that give life will flow from his heart.’

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure

ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ Γραφή

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ καθώς εἶπεν ἡ Γραφή Ποταμοί ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος)

If it would be natural in your language, you could change the order of these phrases. You will also need to adjust some words to fit the new order. Alternate translation: [As the scripture says about anyone who believes in me]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / quotesinquotes

καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ Γραφή, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος

If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate this so that there is not a quotation within a quotation. Alternate translation: [rivers of living water will flow from the stomach of the one believing in me, just as the scripture says]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

εἶπεν ἡ Γραφή

said the Scripture

Jesus uses scripture as if it were a person who could speak. If this might confuse your readers, you could express this meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [the prophets spoke in the scriptures]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ποταμοὶ & ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος

Jesus uses rivers to refer to a constant and abundant flow of living water. If this might confuse your readers, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [An abundance of living water will flow]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / extrainfo

ὕδατος ζῶντος

˱of˲_water living

Jesus uses living water here to refer to the Holy Spirit who works in a person to save and transform them. However, since John explains this meaning in the next verse, you do not need to explain it further here. See how you translated living water in [4:10](../04/10.md).

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὕδατος ζῶντος

˱of˲_water living

Here, living is used to mean “giving eternal life” or “causing people to live forever.” You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [of water that gives eternal life]

Note 7 topic: writing-pronouns

αὐτοῦ

˱of˲_him

The pronoun his could refer to: (1) the person who believes in Jesus. This meaning is used in most Bible translations and assumes that a new sentence begins at the beginning of this verse. Alternate translation, as in the ULT: [his] (2) Jesus. This meaning is used in some ancient church writings and assumes that the sentence at the end of the previous verse continues through the one believing in me in this verse. Alternate translation: [my]

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ

out_of the belly ˱of˲_him

The stomach is used to refer to the non-physical part of a person. If this might confuse your readers, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [from inside of him] or [from his heart]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

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.