Jesus ordered is literally “Jesus says.” Most translations have “Jesus said,” but the Greek verb “to say” covers a large area of meanings, and it is legitimate to see here the meaning of “to order” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “he ordered”; New American Bible “Jesus directed”). In some languages it may be necessary to specify those whom Jesus ordered to take the stone away, for example, “Jesus ordered some of the people there, ‘Take the stone away’.”

In some languages it may seem unnecessary, or even artificial, to use the explanation the dead man’s sister, for Martha has already been identified in the story as the sister of Lazarus. However, the translator’s task is not to edit a story but to translate it, and therefore one should perhaps introduce this sentence as “the sister of the man who had died,” omitting “Martha.”

There will be a bad smell is literally “already he stinks.” Several other translations likewise handle this statement impersonally: Revised Standard Version “there will be an odor”; New American Bible “surely there will be a stench”; New English Bible “by now there will be a stench.” Goodspeed translates “by this time he is decaying.” Moffatt is quite blunt: “he will be stinking by this time.” Rather than a general expression there will be a bad smell, it may be necessary in some languages to say “you will smell a bad stink.” In other languages, however, one may say “his body is already stinking.”

He has been buried four days is literally “he is a four day man.” Most translations have something like “for he has been dead four days.” New American Bible reverses the order of the two clauses to gain effect: “Lord, it has been four days now; surely there will be a stench!” As indicated earlier, according to popular Jewish belief there was no hope for a person who had been dead for four days; by then the body showed recognizable decay, and the soul, which was thought to hover over the body for three days, had left. The passive expression He has been buried four days may be made active in some languages as “We buried him four days ago.” In other languages one must speak, not of “him,” but of “his body,” for example, “We buried his body four days ago.”

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 .