“Where have you buried him?” he asked them is literally “and he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ ” (so most translations). The verb translated “laid” by most translations is used elsewhere in the New Testament of the disposal of a body, and so to translate buried is certainly legitimate. It is obvious that the body of Lazarus had not simply been laid aside somewhere, but that Jesus referred to burial in his question. The last part of this verse is also reordered in Good News Translation; literally it reads, “They say to him, ‘Lord, come and see’.” Come and see are the same words used by Jesus in 1.39.

As noted in connection with the translational problems in verse 17, it is necessary to employ a term for buried which will suggest, not a hole in the ground, but rather a place in some kind of tomb or cave. In some instances a very general expression may be used to translate buried, for example, “Where have you put his body?” or “Where is the tomb where his body has been placed?”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .