OET interlinear 1YHN (1JHN) 1:2

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἐφανερώθη

and the life /was/_revealed

See the discussion of the term “appear” in Part 3 of the Introduction to 1 John. Here the term could mean one of two things. (1) John could be emphasizing how Jesus came to this earth. (See the UST.) It may be helpful to begin a new sentence here. Alternate translation: [Indeed, the life came right here] (2) John could be emphasizing how God revealed Jesus to the world and thereby revealed himself to the world through Jesus. To bring out that emphasis, you could translate this with a passive verbal form or, if your language does not use passive forms, you can use an active form and say who did the action. Alternate translation: [Indeed, the life was made visible] or [Indeed, God made the life visible]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

ἡ ζωὴ

the life

John is speaking of Jesus, whom he calls the “Word of life” in the previous verse, by referring to the life that is associated with him. In this case it seems to describe the life that Jesus embodies rather than the life that he gives. Alternate translation: [Jesus] or [Jesus, who is life]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive

ἑωράκαμεν & μαρτυροῦμεν & ἀπαγγέλλομεν & ἡμῖν

˱we˲_/have/_seen & ˱we˲_/are/_testifying & ˱we˲_/are/_reporting & ˱to˲_us

John is speaking on behalf of himself and the other eyewitnesses to the earthly life of Jesus, so the pronouns we and us are exclusive in this verse.

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / you

ὑμῖν

˱to˲_you_all

As the General Introduction explains, John is writing this letter to believers in various churches, and so the pronouns you, “your,” and “yourselves” are plural throughout the entire letter.

Note 5 topic: writing-pronouns

ἑωράκαμεν, καὶ μαρτυροῦμεν,

˱we˲_/have/_seen and ˱we˲_/are/_testifying

If you decided to use personal pronouns in 1:1, you could use them in these cases as well. Alternate translation: [we have seen him, and we are testifying that we saw him]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ ἀπαγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν

˱we˲_/are/_testifying and ˱we˲_/are/_reporting ˱to˲_you_all

These two phrases mean similar things. John is likely using repetition for emphasis. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine these phrases and express the emphasis in another way, as UST does. Alternate translation: [we are enthusiastically telling you about]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον

the life ¬the eternal

As earlier in the verse, John is speaking of Jesus by referring to the life that is associated with him. Alternate translation: [Jesus, the eternal life] or [Jesus, the one who has always been alive,]

Note 8 topic: guidelines-sonofgodprinciples

τὸν Πατέρα

the Father

The title the Father is an important title for God. Alternate translation: [God the Father]

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

καὶ ἐφανερώθη ἡμῖν

and and and and and /was/_revealed ˱to˲_us

See how you translated appeared earlier in this verse. Alternate translation: [and came right to us] or [and was made visible to us] or [and whom God made visible to us]