This verse actually begins with a particle, “but” (Anchor Bible), rendered by “and” in some translations (Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible). Since this particle (Greek de) merely indicates the continuation of a narrative, Good News Translation, New American Bible, and Moffatt do not translate it.

New American Bible translates the verb followed as “kept following,” to bring out the progressive nature of the Greek imperfect tense. A literal translation of the reason given for the large crowd following Jesus can be misleading. For example, Revised Standard Version sounds as though Jesus was drawing pictures on the sick people, “because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased”; New American Bible reads as if Jesus was giving a public performance for the sick, “because they saw the signs he was performing for the sick” (see also Phillips “they had seen the signs which he gave in his dealings with the sick”). However, the meaning of this clause is perfectly understandable in Greek, and it is presented clearly by Good News Translation, because they had seen his miracles of healing the sick. This clause is similar to 2.23, where John states that many believed in Jesus because they saw the mighty works he did.

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 .