YHN 20:29 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) “So you believe now because you’ve seen me,” said Yeshua. “The ones who haven’t seen me, but who believe anyway, will certainly be rewarded.”

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Jesus says to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are the ones not having seen, and having believed.”

UST Jesus told him, “Now you believe that I have become alive again because you see me. God surely blesses those who have not seen me but yet believe that I have become alive again.”

BSB Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed [are] those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

MSB Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me,[fn] you have believed; blessed [are] those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

BLB Jesus says to him, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those not having seen, yet having believed."

AICNT Jesus says to him, “Have you believed [[Thomas]][fn] because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

20:29, Thomas: Some manuscripts include

OEB ‘Is it because you have seen me that you have believed?’ said Jesus. ‘Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed!’

WEBBE Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me,[fn] you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

20:29 TR adds “Thomas,”

WMBB Yeshua said to him, “Because you have seen me,[fn] you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

20:29 TR adds “Thomas,”

NET Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people who have not seen and yet have believed.”

LSV Jesus says to him, “Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed [are] those having not seen, and having believed.”

FBV “You trust in me because you've seen me,” Jesus told him. “Happy are those that haven't seen me yet still trust in me.”

TCNT Then Jesus said to him, “Because yoʋ have seen [fn]me, have yoʋ come to believe? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

20:29 me, ¦ me, Thomas, TR

T4T Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed that about me. But God is truly pleased with those who have believed that about me, even though they have not seen me!”

LEB Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

BBE Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me you have belief: a blessing will be on those who have belief though they have not seen me!

Moff Jesus said to him, "You believe because you have seen me? Blessed be those who believe though they have never seen me."

Wymth "Because you have seen me," replied Jesus, "you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

ASV Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

DRA Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.

YLT Jesus saith to him, 'Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed; happy those not having seen, and having believed.'

Drby Jesus says to him, Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed they who have not seen and have believed.

RV Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
(Jesus saith/says unto him, Because thou/you hast seen me, thou/you hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. )

SLT Jesus says to him, Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: happy they not having seen, and having believed.

Wbstr Jesus saith to him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

KJB-1769 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
(Jesus saith/says unto him, Thomas, because thou/you hast seen me, thou/you hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. )

KJB-1611 Iesus saith vnto him, Thomas, because thou hast seene mee, thou hast beleeued: blessed are they that haue not seene, and yet haue beleeued.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps Iesus sayth vnto hym: Thomas, because thou hast seene me, thou hast beleued: Blessed are they that haue not seene, and yet haue beleued.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from marking of added words (and possibly capitalisation and punctuation))

Gnva Iesus said vnto him, Thomas, because thou hast seene me, thou beleeuest: blessed are they that haue not seene, and haue beleeued.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him, Thomas, because thou/you hast seen me, thou/you believest: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed. )

Cvdl Iesus sayde vnto him: Thomas, because thou hast sene me, thou hast beleued. Blessed are they, that se not, and yet beleue.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him: Thomas, because thou/you hast seen me, thou/you hast believed. Blessed are they, that see not, and yet believe.)

TNT Iesus sayde vnto him. Thomas because thou hast sene me therfore thou belevest: Happy are they that have not sene and yet beleve.
(Yesus/Yeshua said unto him. Thomas because thou/you hast seen me therefore thou/you believest: Happy are they that have not seen and yet believe. )

Wycl Jhesus seith to him, Thomas, for thou hast seyn me, thou bileuedist; blessid ben thei, that seyn not, and han bileued.
(Yhesus saith/says to him, Thomas, for thou/you hast seen me, thou/you believedist; blessed been they, that seen not, and have believed.)

Luth Spricht JEsus zu ihm: Dieweil du mich gesehen hast, Thomas, so glaubest du. Selig sind, die nicht sehen und doch glauben.
(Speakt Yesus to/for him: Dieweil you(sg) me seen have, Thomas, so believe you(sg). Blessed are, the not see and though/but believe.)

ClVg Dixit ei Jesus: Quia vidisti me, Thoma, credidisti: beati qui non viderunt, et crediderunt.[fn]
(He/She_said to_him Yesus: Because did_you_see me, Thoma, credidisti: happy who/which not/no they_saw, and they_believed. )

20.29 Quia vidisti me, Thoma, credidisti. Non ait tetigisti, sed vidisti: quia visus quodam modo generalis sensus est qui de aliis quatuor dici solet. Forsitan non fuit ausus tangere; sed aspiciendo tantum, seu etiam tangendo credit. Beati. Commendat fidem gentium, sed præterito utitur, ut qui quod erat futurum, in sua prædestinatione noverat jam factum.

20.29 Because did_you_see me, Thoma, credidisti. Not/No he_said tetigisti, but did_you_see: because sight(n) a_certain just/only generals sense it_is who/which from/about to_others four to_be_said usually. Forsitan not/no it_was ausus to_touch; but aspiciendo only, seu also tangendo he_believes. Blessed. Commendat faith nations, but passedo uses, as who/which that was future, in/into/on his_own beforedestinatione he_knew already done.

UGNT λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ὅτι ἑώρακάς με, πεπίστευκας; μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες, καὶ πιστεύσαντες.
(legei autōi ho Yaʸsous, hoti heōrakas me, pepisteukas; makarioi hoi maʸ idontes, kai pisteusantes.)

SBL-GNT λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ὅτι ἑώρακάς με πεπίστευκας; μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες.
(legei autōi ho Yaʸsous; Hoti heōrakas me pepisteukas; makarioi hoi maʸ idontes kai pisteusantes.)

RP-GNT Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὅτι ἑώρακάς με, πεπίστευκας; Μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες, καὶ πιστεύσαντες.
(Legei autōi ho Yaʸsous, Hoti heōrakas me, pepisteukas; Makarioi hoi maʸ idontes, kai pisteusantes.)

TC-GNT Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Ὅτι ἑώρακάς [fn]με, πεπίστευκας; Μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες, καὶ πιστεύσαντες.
(Legei autōi ho Yaʸsous, Hoti heōrakas me, pepisteukas; Makarioi hoi maʸ idontes, kai pisteusantes. )

20:29 με ¦ με θωμα TR

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 20:24–29: Jesus appeared to Thomas

Thomas was not in the room when Jesus showed himself to the other disciples. He did not believe the other disciples when they said that Jesus rose from the dead. He wanted to see himself. A week later Jesus showed himself to his disciples again and Thomas was there. He told Thomas to touch the wounds on his body. That way he would know that it was Jesus and believe that he had risen from the dead. When Thomas saw Jesus’ wounds, he realized that he was his Lord and his God.

Here are other possible section headings:

Jesus invited Thomas to touch his wounds

Thomas saw Jesus and believed

Thomas saw Jesus and realized that he was God

20:29a

Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed;

Jesus said, “Because you^(sing) have seen me you believe.
Then Jesus said to him, “So, you^(sing) have seen me and believed because of that.

Jesus said to him: This phrase introduces what Jesus replied to Thomas. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

Then Jesus told him (NCV)

Because you have seen Me, you have believed: The earliest Greek manuscripts did not have punctuation, so there was no question mark here. There are two ways to interpret this sentence:

It is a statement, not a question. For example:
You believe because you see me. (NCV) (BSB, NIV, REB, NJB, KJV, GW, NLT, NCV)
It is a rhetorical question, expecting the answer “yes.” For example:
Do you believe because you see me? (GNT) (GNT, NET, NASB, CEV, RSV, NRSV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) and many English translations and Bible scholars. However, the meaning of the two interpretations is nearly the same. So you may want to follow interpretation (2) if a major language translation in your area follows it.

There may be a stronger rebuke in a rhetorical question than in a statement. Either way, the rebuke here is gentle at most. The rebuke is that Thomas should have believed what the other disciples said and not only when he saw Jesus. Yet the next verse speaks about the importance of the disciples seeing Jesus’ signs. But people in the future would have to believe without seeing, and they are blessed in 20:29b.

General Comment on 20:29a

In some languages it may be natural to reverse the order of the clauses in 20:29a. For example:

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed…” (NIV)

20:29b

blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Blessed are those people who have not seen me alive and yet believe in me.”
But great is the joy of those who believe in me without seeing me!”

blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed: This sentence probably implies that those who believe in Jesus without seeing him are more blessed than Thomas (see 4:48). He did not mean that Thomas himself was not blessed. It is important to avoid this wrong meaning. To do this you may want to use a comparative. For example:

Even more blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed in me.

See the General Comment on 20:30a for ways to rearrange the information in this clause.

blessed are: The Greek word that the BSB translates as blessed here refers to being in a good situation, enjoying God’s favor. When God does something good to a person and is kind to him, that person is blessed. See how you translated this word in 13:17, Matthew 5:3–11, and Luke 6:20–22. For example:

Great is the joy of those…

those who have not seen and yet have believed: This expression refers to people who trust Jesus without ever seeing him during this life. It includes everyone who would believe in him after he returned to heaven. In some languages it may be necessary to add an object, indicating that Jesus was referring to people seeing him. For example:

those who believe without seeing me (GNT)

and yet: The BSB has added the word yet in order to indicate that what follows is not expected. People expect that if someone does not see, he will not believe. But Jesus spoke about those who would believe in him although they did not see him. You may also want to indicate that this is not expected. For example:

Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe. (GW)

have believed: The Greek verb form that the BSB translates as have believed can refer to beginning to believe. Some translations make that meaning explicit. However, the verb can also refer to believing in general. Because Jesus is making a general statement, it may be more natural to use a general form of the verb.

When the word believed is used without an object, it is usually a short way of saying “believe in Jesus.” So this word includes the idea of believing the facts about Jesus (here that he rose from the dead). 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. Here are other ways to translate this idea:

have faith in me (CEV)

believed in me

General Comment on 20:29b

In some languages it may be more natural to rearrange the information in this sentence. For example:

How happy are those who believe without seeing me! (GNT)

The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed! (CEV)

But they will be full of joy who believe even though they have not seen me.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture

λέγει

˓is˒_saying

Here John uses the present tense in past narration in order to call attention to a development in the story.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

πεπίστευκας & πιστεύσαντες

˓have˒_believed & ˓having˒_believed

Jesus is leaving out some of the words that a sentence would need in many languages to be complete. If it would be helpful in your language, you could supply these words from the context. Alternate translation: [you have believed that I have become alive again … having believed that I have become alive again]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες

blessed_‹are› the_‹ones› (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγει αὐτῷ Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ὅτι ἑώρακας μέ πεπίστευκας μακάριοι οἱ μή ἰδόντες καί πιστεύσαντες)

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can state this in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [God blesses those not having seen]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

μὴ ἰδόντες

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγει αὐτῷ Ὁ Ἰησοῦς Ὅτι ἑώρακας μέ πεπίστευκας μακάριοι οἱ μή ἰδόντες καί πιστεύσαντες)

Parallel YHN 20:29

Section 20:24–29: Jesus appeared to Thomas

20:29a

General Comment on 20:29a

20:29b

General Comment on 20:29b