complete verse (John 9:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 9:5:

  • Uma: “While I am still in the world, I am the light that enlightens the hearts of men.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “As long as I am here in the world, I am the one giving light to the thoughts/mind of mankind.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “While I am still on the earth I am the light which illuminates all mankind because I teach the true teaching.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But here-now I am still in this world, and I am like a light that illuminates people.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “What I am like is a lamp/light. And for the time that I am here in the world, I continue to shine-on/enlighten the mind/thinking of people.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “While I am here in the world, I am going to give understanding to men.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 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 9:5

In Greek for the world is a genitive expression, literally “of the world,” but the preposition for expresses the meaning more clearly. Moffatt translates this verse in the same way. In some languages I am the light for the world may be rendered “I am the one who causes light for people in the world.” It is important to avoid a literal translation which would suggest that Jesus is the sun.

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 .