eternal life

Click here to view graphically

The Greek that is translated in English as “eternal life” is translated in various ways:

Lloyd Peckham explains the Mairasi translation: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.”

See also eternity / forever and salvation.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Eternal Life in John .

complete verse (John 10:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 10:28:

  • Uma: “I give them good life forever, and it is clear that they will not be punished hell. No-one can snatch-away my sheep.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I give them life without end. They will not be separated from God forever. And nobody can snatch them away from me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I will give them life forever, and their souls will never die. And no one can snatch them away from me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “and I give them life that is forever. They will never-be-separated from God, and neither will anyone be able-to-snatch them from me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “I am giving them life which has no ending and till forever they won’t be lost. And they won’t be snatched-away from me by anyone at all.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I will give them the new life forever and never will they be lost. No one will grab them from my hand.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on John 10:28

I give them eternal life is similar to verse 10: I have come that you may have eternal life (on the concept of eternal life see 1.4 and 3.15). The verb translated die is the same verb used in 3.16.

Because sheep have been specifically identified in verse 27, it may be misleading to use the pronoun them in verse 28, since it would imply that sheep were to have eternal life. This difficulty may often be avoided by translating “I give to my followers eternal life” or “… those people who follow me….”

No one can snatch them away from me has its counterpart in verse 12. From me (so also Jerusalem Bible) is literally “from my hand.” New English Bible translates “from my care.”

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 .