complete verse (John 4:51)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 4:51:

  • Uma: “While still on the way, several of his slaves met him, they said to him: ‘Your (sing.) child is well!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “While he was still on his way to his home, his servants met him and they told him, they said, ‘Your child is well.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the person was going on his way home, some of his servants met him and they said, ‘Your child is well.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “While he was still on the way the next day, he met a servant of his who said that his child was living.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Next day some of his servants came to meet him, and told him that the illness of his son had now stopped. He was okay now.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When he was about to arrive at his house, his servants went to meet him and said, ‘Your son has become well.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 4:51

On his way home represents the Greek “as he was going down.” The use of “to go down” shows that the author had an accurate knowledge of the geographical situation. To get from Cana to Capernaum, it is necessary to go eastward across the hills of Galilee and then down to the Sea of Galilee. New English Bible translates the last part of verse 50 “and started for home” and then begins verse 51 “He was on his way down,” thus making the meaning clear.

Met him with the news (so also New English Bible and Jerusalem Bible; see Moffatt) is literally “met him saying to him.” The natural equivalent in many languages is “met him and said to him.”

While Good News Translation and New English Bible use direct discourse (“Your boy is going to live!”), the best Greek manuscripts use indirect discourse, “that his boy was going to live.” Some Greek manuscripts do have direct discourse, but Good News Translation and New English Bible use direct discourse mainly for stylistic reasons.

To be consistent with the will live in verse 50, it may be important to translate verse 51 “is going to get well again” or “is going to recover” or “is recovering.”

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 .