OET interlinear 1YHN (1JHN) 1:1

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: headings

If you are using section headings, you could put one here before verse 1. Suggested heading: “The Word of Life”

Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns

ὃ ἦν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν, ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν, περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς—

what was from /the/_beginning what ˱we˲_/have/_heard what ˱we˲_/have/_seen ˱with˲_the eyes ˱of˲_us what ˱we˲_saw and the hands ˱of˲_us touched concerning the word ¬the ˱of˲_life

See the discussion in the General Notes to this chapter for how to translate the long sentence in 1:1–3. If you follow the suggestion to translate the phrase regarding the Word of life as a topical introduction to this letter, you will already have indicated that the four clauses in this verse refer to a person, Jesus. If you have pronouns in your language that refer to people, such as “he,” “who,” and “whom,” it would be appropriate to use them here. Alternate translation: “Regarding the Word of life—he is the one who has existed from all eternity, whom we heard speak, whom we saw with our own eyes, and whom we looked at and touched with our own hands”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς

from /the/_beginning

John uses the phrase from the beginning in various ways in this letter. Here it refers to the fact that Jesus has always existed. Alternate translation: “from all eternity”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive

ἀκηκόαμεν & ἑωράκαμεν & ἡμῶν & ἐθεασάμεθα & ἡμῶν

˱we˲_/have/_heard & ˱we˲_/have/_seen & ˱of˲_us & ˱we˲_saw & ˱of˲_us

Here the pronouns we and our are exclusive, since John is speaking on behalf of himself and the other eyewitnesses to the earthly life of Jesus, but the people to whom he is writing did not see Jesus. So use exclusive forms here if your language marks that distinction.

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν

what what ˱we˲_/have/_heard

The implication is that what John and the other eyewitnesses heard was Jesus speaking. If it would be helpful in your language, you could include this information, as in the UST. Alternate translation: “whom we heard speak”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα

what what what ˱we˲_/have/_seen ˱with˲_the eyes ˱of˲_us what ˱we˲_saw

These two phrases mean the same thing. John is likely using repetition for emphasis. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine these phrases and show the emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: “whom we saw clearly ourselves”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo

ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν

what what what ˱we˲_/have/_seen ˱with˲_the eyes ˱of˲_us

In your language, it might seem that this phrase expresses unnecessary extra information. If so, you could abbreviate it. However, your language may have its own way of using such extra information for emphasis, and you could also do that in your translation. Alternate translation: “whom we saw” or “whom we saw with our own eyes”

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo

αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν

the hands ˱of˲_us touched

In your language, it might seem that this phrase expresses unnecessary extra information. If so, you could abbreviate it. However, your language may have its own way of using such extra information for emphasis, and you could also do that in your translation. Alternate translation: “whom we touched” or “whom we touched with our own hands”

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν & αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν

˱we˲_/have/_seen ˱with˲_the eyes ˱of˲_us & the hands ˱of˲_us touched

The false teachers were denying that Jesus was a real human being and saying that he was only a spirit. But the implications of what John is saying here are that Jesus was a real human being. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly, as in the UST.

Note 10 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure

περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς

concerning the word ¬the ˱of˲_life

As the General Notes to this chapter suggest, you could put your translation of this phrase, regarding the Word of life, at the beginning of this verse and present it as a sentence of its own as a topical introduction to the letter, as UST does. Alternate translation: “This is about Jesus, the Word of life”

Note 11 topic: writing-pronouns

περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς

concerning the word ¬the ˱of˲_life

Letter writers of this time typically began by giving their own names. That is the case for most of the letters in the New Testament. This letter is an exception, but if it would be helpful to your readers, you could supply John’s name here, as UST does. As noted above, John uses the plural pronoun “we” because he is speaking on behalf of himself and the other eyewitnesses to Jesus’ earthly life. But it may be more natural in your language for him to refer to himself with a singular pronoun, and if so, you could also do that in your translation, as in the UST. Alternate translation: “This is John, writing to you about Jesus, the Word of life”

Note 12 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς

the word ¬the ˱of˲_life

Here, the Word of life is implicitly a description of Jesus. As the General Introduction explains, there are many similarities between this letter and the Gospel of John. That gospel begins by saying about Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word.” So when John speaks in this letter of the Word of life that was from the beginning, he is also speaking about Jesus. ULT indicates this by capitalizing Word to indicate that this is a title for Jesus. Alternate translation: “Jesus, the Word of God, who gives life”

Note 13 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

τῆς ζωῆς

¬the ˱of˲_life

This could be referring either to the life that Jesus has or to the life that Jesus gives. But since John is writing this letter to reassure believers, it seems more likely that this expression is referring to the life that “the Word” (Jesus) gives to those who believe. Alternate translation: “who gives life to everyone who believes in him”

Note 14 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

τῆς ζωῆς

¬the ˱of˲_life

In this letter, John uses life in different ways, either to refer literally to physical life or to spiritual life. Here the reference is to spiritual life. Alternate translation: “of spiritual life”