John 9:15-17

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. John 9:15 tn Or “how he had become able to see.”sn So the Pharisees asked him. Note the subtlety here: On the surface, the man is being judged. But through him, Jesus is being judged. Yet in reality (as the discerning reader will realize) it is ironically the Pharisees themselves who are being judged by their response to Jesus who is the light of the world (cf. 3:17-21).
2. John 9:15 tn Grk “And he said to them.”
3. John 9:15 tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).
4. John 9:15 tn The word “now” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate the contrast between the man’s former state (blind) and his present state (able to see).
5. John 9:16 tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).
6. John 9:16 tn Grk “he does not keep.”
7. John 9:16 sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.
8. John 9:16 tn Grk “do.”
9. John 9:16 tn Or “So there was discord.”
10. John 9:17 tn Grk “the blind man.”
11. John 9:17 tn Grk “since he opened your eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
12. John 9:17 tn Grk “And he said, ‘He is a prophet.’”sn At this point the man, pressed by the Pharisees, admitted there was something special about Jesus. But here, since prophet is anarthrous (is not accompanied by the Greek article) and since in his initial reply in 9:11-12 the man showed no particular insight into the true identity of Jesus, this probably does not refer to the prophet of Deut 18:15, but merely to an unusual person who is capable of working miracles. The Pharisees had put this man on the spot, and he felt compelled to say something about Jesus, but he still didn’t have a clear conception of who Jesus was, so he labeled him a “prophet.”