complete verse (John 11:37)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 11:37:

  • Uma: “But there were also some who said: ‘He healed blind people. Couldn’t he heal Lazarus so that he would not have died?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But others also said, ‘This Isa, he could make the blind see. Why did he not help Lasarus so that he did not die?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However there were also people there who said, ‘Why didn’t he cure Lazarus so that he wouldn’t die. Because if he could cure the eyes of the blind person, certainly he could have done this also.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But some said, ‘If he healed that blind-person, is there nothing perhaps he could have done so that Lazarus would not have died?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But others said also, ‘He could make well that the blind person. So why couldn’t he prevent the death of this person?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Some of the Jews said, ‘This one has opened the eyes of the blind. Probably he could have kept Lazarus from dying.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

3rd person pronoun with high register (Japanese)

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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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.

In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.

Translation commentary on John 11:37

In the Greek structure of this verse the people ask only one question; it is made into two questions by Good News Translation. New American Bible translates it as a statement followed by a question: “He opened the eyes of that blind man. Why could he not have done something to stop this man from dying?” It may be noted here that the people in this verse express no doubt regarding the reality of Jesus’ healing of the blind man, as did the Pharisees of Chapter 9.

Some of them said may be better expressed in some languages as “some of them said to one another.”

The relation between the two questions in verse 37 may be better expressed in some languages as a condition, for example, “If he could give sight to the blind man, could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?” Under such circumstances the conditional clause would not suggest any doubt as to Jesus’ ability to give sight to the blind; it is, rather, a means of linking a known fact about Jesus’ ability to their presumption of what he could have done had he been present when Lazarus was ill. The relation between these two clauses may be expressed somewhat differently, for example, “He gave sight to the blind man, then surely he could have kept Lazarus from dying” or “… he could have caused Lazarus not to die.”

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 .