John 9

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind since the day he was born.

1And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2His disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused this? Did this man sin, or did his parents sin, so that he was born blind?"

2And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Note"Master" in the King James translates "Rabbi," a title for a recognized teacher of the law; it does not mean owner or employer. The disciples' question assumes that a particular sin lies behind a particular affliction. Since the man was blind from birth, that leaves only two candidates in their minds: something his parents did, or, in a line of rabbinic speculation, something the child himself did before birth.

3Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This happened so that what God can do would be shown in him.

3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

NoteThe Greek here has no punctuation and no verb in the second half of the sentence. It reads, word for word, "but so that the works of God might be shown in him," and a translator has to decide where the sentence breaks and what exactly is being explained.

4While it is still day, I must do the work of the one who sent me. Night is coming, and then no one can work.

4I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

NoteThe oldest manuscripts read "we must work the works" rather than "I must"; in Greek the two forms differ by a single letter, so copies vary. "Day" and "night" are the ordinary working day: before artificial light, outdoor work simply stopped at sundown.

5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

6After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the spit, and spread the mud on the blind man's eyes.

6When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

NoteSaliva was widely believed in the ancient world to carry healing power, and cures by spittle were credited to doctors and even to emperors. "Anointed" here carries no ceremonial sense; it means smeared or spread on.

7He told him, "Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam." (The name Siloam means "Sent.") So the man went and washed, and he came back able to see.

7And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

NoteThe Pool of Siloam was a large public reservoir at the south end of Jerusalem, fed by water carried through a rock tunnel from the Gihon spring outside the wall. Its Hebrew name, shiloach, comes from a verb meaning "to send," which is the wordplay John stops to point out.

8His neighbors and the people who had seen him begging before began asking, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"

8The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

NoteA blind man in this society had almost no way to earn a living, so begging from a fixed spot was the expected livelihood. That is why a whole neighborhood knew him by sight.

9Some said, "It is him." Others said, "No, he just looks like him." But the man himself kept saying, "I am the one."

9Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

10So they asked him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"

10Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

11He answered, "The man they call Jesus made some mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."

11He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

12They asked him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don't know."

12Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

13They took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees.

13They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

NoteThe Pharisees were a religious movement known for strict and detailed keeping of the law of Moses, including a large body of oral rules developed around it. They were not the priesthood; their influence came from learning and from standing among ordinary people.

14The day Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath, the weekly day of rest.

14And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

NoteTwo points of Sabbath law are in play. Kneading was one of the categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath in the oral tradition, and mixing dirt with spit to make mud counted as kneading. Beyond that, healing a condition that was not life-threatening was held to be something that could wait until the next day.

15So the Pharisees also asked him how he had gotten his sight. He told them, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see."

15Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

16Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a sinful man do such miracles?" So they were divided among themselves.

16Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

Note"Miracles" here translates the word John normally uses for "signs": an act that points beyond itself to who the doer is, rather than a wonder valued for its own sake.

17They asked the man who had been blind again, "What do you say about him, since he was the one who opened your eyes?" The man said, "He is a prophet."

17They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

NoteA prophet, in this setting, is someone who speaks on God's behalf. Predicting the future can be part of that, but the core meaning is spokesman, not fortune teller.

18The Jewish leaders did not believe that the man had been blind and had gotten his sight, until they called in his parents.

18But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.

Note"The Jews" in John's Gospel usually means the Judean authorities who are in dispute with Jesus, not the Jewish people generally. Everyone in this scene is Jewish, including Jesus, the healed man, and his parents.

19They asked them, "Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? Then how is it that he can see now?"

19And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?

20His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and we know that he was born blind.

20His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

21But we do not know how he can see now, and we do not know who opened his eyes. He is old enough. Ask him. He can speak for himself."

21But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

Note"He is of age" means he is legally an adult and can give testimony in his own name. The parents are shifting the legal responsibility for the answer onto him.

22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. The leaders had already decided that anyone who said out loud that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

22These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Note"Christ" translates the Greek for "anointed one," the same word as the Hebrew "Messiah": the awaited deliverer of Israel. To be "put out of the synagogue" meant more than losing a place of worship. The synagogue was the center of local community life, so exclusion cut a family off socially as well as religiously.

23That is why his parents said, "He is old enough. Ask him."

23Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

24So they called the man who had been blind in a second time and said to him, "Give the credit to God. We know that this man is a sinner."

24Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

Note"Give God the praise" is not an invitation to thank God for the cure. It is a formal charge to tell the truth under oath, used the same way in Joshua 7:19, where Joshua presses Achan to confess. They are telling the man to come clean, having already announced their verdict on Jesus.

25He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see."

25He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

26Then they asked him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

26Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

27He answered them, "I already told you, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his followers too?"

27He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?

28Then they insulted him and said, "You are his follower. We are followers of Moses.

28Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.

29We know that God spoke to Moses. As for this man, we do not know where he comes from."

29We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

Note"This fellow" renders a Greek phrase that is simply "this one," used dismissively; the contempt is in the tone rather than in a separate insulting word. To know "from whence he is" means knowing a man's origin and therefore whether he has any authority to teach.

30The man answered them, "Now that is a surprising thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

30The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.

31We know that God does not listen to sinners. But if anyone worships God and does what God wants, God listens to him.

31Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

Note"A worshipper of God" translates a single Greek word for a devout person, someone whose whole manner of life is turned toward God. The principle the man states was a commonplace of the period, which is why he can say "we know."

32In all of history, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of a man who was born blind.

32Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

Note"Since the world began" translates an idiom that runs literally "from the age," meaning in all of recorded time.

33If this man were not from God, he could not do anything like this."

33If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

34They answered him, "You were born completely in sin, and you are trying to teach us?" And they threw him out.

34They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Note"Born in sins" throws the assumption of verse 2 back at the man: to them, his blindness from birth proves he was steeped in sin from the start. "Cast him out" is ambiguous in the Greek. It may mean only that they threw him out of the room, or that they formally excluded him from the synagogue, the punishment mentioned in verse 22.

35Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out. When he found him, he asked, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"

35Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

NoteThe earliest manuscripts read "Son of man," the title Jesus most often uses of himself in the Gospels. "Son of God" appears in later copies, which are the ones the King James translators worked from.

36The man answered, "Who is he, sir? Tell me, so I can believe in him."

36He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

NoteThe word translated "Lord" here is the ordinary Greek term of respect, ranging in force from "sir" to a title for God. At this point the man is addressing a stranger politely; it is the same word he uses in verse 38, after he knows who is speaking.

37Jesus said to him, "You have already seen him. He is the one who is talking with you."

37And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

38The man said, "Lord, I believe." And he bowed down and worshiped him.

38And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

NoteThe verb translated "worshipped" means to bow low or prostrate oneself. That gesture could be offered to a king or a patron as well as to God, so the word alone does not settle how much the man intends by it. A few of the oldest manuscripts omit verse 38 and the opening words of verse 39 altogether.

39Then Jesus said, "I came into this world to judge, so that those who cannot see would see, and those who see would become blind."

39And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

Note"For judgment" uses a Greek word for the act of judging or the verdict it produces. The sense is a sorting, one group separated from another, rather than a sentence of punishment.

40Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, "Are we blind too?"

40And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

41Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you say, 'We see,' your guilt stays."

41Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Note"Your sin remaineth" is about guilt that stays in place because nothing has been acknowledged, not about an offense being repeated.