OET interlinear 1YHN (1JHN) 5:16

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / hypo

ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, αἰτήσει

if anyone /may/_see the brother ˱of˲_him sinning /a/_sin not to death ˱he˲_/will_be/_requesting

John is describing a hypothetical situation in order to counsel his readers. UST models an alternative way of showing this.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ

the brother ˱of˲_him

See how you translated his brother in 2:9. Alternate translation: “a fellow believer”

Note 3 topic: writing-poetry

ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν

sinning /a/_sin

John is using a construction in which a verb and its object come from the same root. You may be able to use the same construction in your language to express the meaning here. Alternatively, your language may have another way of expressing this. Alternate translation: “committing a sin”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον & τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον & ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον

/a/_sin not to death & ˱to˲_the_‹ones› sinning not to death & /a/_sin to death

The word death in this verse and the next refers to spiritual death, that is, to eternal separation from God. (See the later note to this verse for a discussion of what kind of sin John may have in mind that would lead to that.) Alternate translation: “a sin that does not lead to eternal separation from God … for those whose sin will not lead to eternal separation from God … a sin that does lead to eternal separation from God”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / declarative

αἰτήσει

˱he˲_/will_be/_requesting

John is using a future statement to give an instruction and command. Alternate translation: “he should pray for that fellow believer”

Note 6 topic: writing-pronouns

δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν

˱he˲_/will_be/_giving ˱to˲_him life

In this clause, the pronoun him refers to the believer who is sinning, and the pronoun he could refer to: (1) God since only God can give spiritual life. Alternate translation: “God will give life to the believer who is sinning” (2) anyone, that is, the person praying. In this case, John may be picturing God giving life by means of the person’s prayers, as in James 5:15, 20. Alternate translation: “he will be God’s instrument to give life to the believer who is sinning”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν

˱he˲_/will_be/_giving ˱to˲_him life

The word life here refers to spiritual life, that is, to eternal life with God. Alternate translation: “God will make sure that the believer who is sinning is not separated from him eternally”

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον; οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἵνα ἐρωτήσῃ

˱there˲_is /a/_sin to death not concerning that_‹sin› ˱I˲_/am/_saying that ˱he˲_/may/_ask

If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state more explicitly what this means. In the context of the whole letter, by a sin toward death, John is probably referring to behavior such as the false teachers engaged in and encouraged. As Part 3 of the Introduction to 1 John explains, these false teachers claimed that it did not matter what people did in their bodies, and so they would have been committing many serious sins without feeling any conviction that their actions were wrong. This showed that they had abandoned faith in Jesus and had rejected the influence of the Holy Spirit. John implicitly corrects this false teaching again in 5:18. Here John is not telling the believers not to pray for some people. Rather, he is explaining that it will not do any good to pray for them since they are determined to live in a way that is contrary to faith in Jesus and the influence of the Holy Spirit. Alternate translation: “There are people (such as the false teachers) who are sinning in a way that shows that they have decided to be separated from God for eternity. Praying for them is not likely to make any difference”