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Mark 6:45-56
New English Translation

Walking on Water

45 Immediately Jesus[a] made his disciples get into the boat[b] and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd. 46 After saying goodbye to them, he went to the mountain to pray. 47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the land. 48 He[c] saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. As the night was ending,[d] he came to them walking on the sea,[e] for[f] he wanted to pass by them.[g] 49 When they saw him walking on the water[h] they thought he was a ghost. They[i] cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them:[j] “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 Then he went up with them into the boat, and the wind ceased. They were completely astonished, 52 because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Healing the Sick

53 After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret[k] and anchored there. 54 As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus.[l] 55 They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be.[m] 56 And wherever he would go—into villages, towns, or countryside—they would place the sick in the marketplaces,[n] and would ask him if[o] they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 6:45 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  2. Mark 6:45 sn See the note at Mark 1:19 for a description of the first-century fishing boat discovered in 1986 near Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
  3. Mark 6:48 tn This verse is one complete sentence in the Greek text, but it has been broken into two sentences in English for clarity.
  4. Mark 6:48 tn Grk “about the fourth watch of the night,” between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.
  5. Mark 6:48 tn Or “on the lake.”
  6. Mark 6:48 tn The καί (kai) was translated so as to introduce a subordinate clause, i.e., with the use of “for.” See BDF §442.9.
  7. Mark 6:48 sn The statement he wanted to pass by them is somewhat difficult to understand. There are at least two common interpretations: (1) it refers to the perspective of the disciples, that is, from their point of view it seemed that Jesus wanted to pass by them; or (2) it refers to a theophany and uses the language of the Greek Old Testament (LXX) when God “passed by” Moses at Sinai (cf. Exod 33:19, 22). According to the latter alternative, Jesus is “passing by” the disciples during their struggle, in order to assure them of his presence with them. See W L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 236.
  8. Mark 6:49 tn Grk “on the sea,” “on the lake.” The translation “water” has been used here for stylistic reasons (cf. the same phrase in v. 48).
  9. Mark 6:49 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
  10. Mark 6:50 tn Grk “he spoke with them, and said to them.”
  11. Mark 6:53 sn Gennesaret was a fertile plain south of Capernaum (see also Matt 14:34). This name was also sometimes used for the Sea of Galilee (Luke 5:1).
  12. Mark 6:54 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  13. Mark 6:55 tn Grk “wherever they heard he was.”
  14. Mark 6:56 sn The marketplaces (Greek agora) were not only places of trade and commerce in the first century Greco-Roman world. They were places of discussion and dialogue (the “public square”), places of judgment (courts held session there), places for idle people and those seeking work, and places for children to play.
  15. Mark 6:56 tn Grk “asked that they might touch.”
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Mark 5
Mark 7
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Matthew 14:22-36
New English Translation

Walking on Water

22 Immediately Jesus[a] made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dispersed the crowds. 23 And after he sent the crowds away, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile the boat, already far from land,[b] was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it. 25 As the night was ending,[c] Jesus came to them walking on the sea.[d] 26 When[e] the disciples saw him walking on the water[f] they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear. 27 But immediately Jesus[g] spoke to them:[h] “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 Peter[i] said to him,[j] “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.” 29 So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out,[k] “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

34 After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.[l] 35 When the people[m] there recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding area, and they brought all their sick to him. 36 They begged him if[n] they could only touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 14:22 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  2. Matthew 14:24 tn Grk “The boat was already many stades from the land.” A stade (στάδιον, stadion) was a unit of distance about 607 feet (185 meters) long.
  3. Matthew 14:25 tn Grk “In the fourth watch of the night,” that is, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.
  4. Matthew 14:25 tn Or “on the lake.”
  5. Matthew 14:26 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
  6. Matthew 14:26 tn Grk “on the sea”; or “on the lake.” The translation “water” has been used here for stylistic reasons (cf. the same phrase in v. 25).
  7. Matthew 14:27 tc Most witnesses have ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (ho Iēsous, “Jesus”), while a few lack the words (א* D 073 892 ff1 syc sa bo). Although such additions are often suspect (due to liturgical influences, piety, or for the sake of clarity), in this case it is likely that ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς dropped out accidentally. Apart from a few albeit significant witnesses, as noted above, the rest of the tradition has either ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς αὐτοῖς (ho Iēsous autois) or αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (autois ho Iēsous). In majuscule letters, with Jesus’ name as a nomen sacrum, this would have been written as autoisois_ or ois_autois. Thus homoioteleuton could explain the reason for the omission of Jesus’ name. (This same phenomenon occurs in P137 at Mark 1:17 where the original text no doubt read αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς, but this papyrus accidentally omits the nomen sacrum.)
  8. Matthew 14:27 tn Grk “he said to them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legōn) is redundant and has not been translated.
  9. Matthew 14:28 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
  10. Matthew 14:28 tn Grk “answering him, Peter said.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokritheis) is redundant and has not been translated.
  11. Matthew 14:30 tn Grk “he cried out, saying.” The participle λέγων (legōn) is redundant and has not been translated.
  12. Matthew 14:34 sn Gennesaret was a fertile plain south of Capernaum (see also Mark 6:53). The Sea of Galilee was also sometimes known as the Sea of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1).
  13. Matthew 14:35 tn Grk “men”; the word here (ἀνήρ, anēr) usually indicates males or husbands, but occasionally is used in a generic sense of people in general, as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 1.a, 2).
  14. Matthew 14:36 tn Grk “asked that they might touch.”
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Matthew 15
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John 6:16-24
New English Translation

Walking on Water

16 Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the lake,[a] 17 got into a boat,[b] and started to cross the lake[c] to Capernaum.[d] (It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.)[e] 18 By now a strong wind was blowing and the sea was getting rough. 19 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles,[f] they caught sight of Jesus walking on the lake,[g] approaching the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land where they had been heading.

22 The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake[h] realized that only one small boat[i] had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded[j] it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came to shore[k] near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.[l] 24 So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats[m] and came to Capernaum[n] looking for Jesus.

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Footnotes

  1. John 6:16 tn Or “sea.” The Greek word indicates a rather large body of water, but the English word “sea” normally indicates very large bodies of water, so the word “lake” in English is a closer approximation.
  2. John 6:17 sn A boat large enough to hold the Twelve would be of considerable size. In 1986 following a period of drought and low lake levels, a fishing boat from the first century was discovered on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was excavated and preserved and can now be seen in the Yigal Allon Museum in Kibbutz Ginosar north of Tiberias. The remains of the boat are 27 ft (8.27 m) long and 7.5 ft (2.3 m) wide; it could be rowed by four rowers and had a mast for a sail. The boat is now known as the “Jesus boat” or the “Sea of Galilee boat” although there is no known historical connection of any kind with Jesus or his disciples. However, the boat is typical for the period and has provided archaeologists with much information about design and construction of boats on the Sea of Galilee in the first century.
  3. John 6:17 tn Or “sea.” See the note on “lake” in the previous verse.
  4. John 6:17 sn Capernaum was a town located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It existed since Hasmonean times and was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region. The population in the first century is estimated to be around 1,500. Capernaum became the hub of operations for Jesus’ Galilean ministry (Matt 4:13; Mark 2:1). In modern times the site was discovered in 1838 by the American explorer E. Robinson, and major excavations began in 1905 by German archaeologists H. Kohl and C. Watzinger. Not until 1968, however, were remains from the time of Jesus visible; in that year V. Corbo and S. Loffreda began a series of annual archaeological campaigns that lasted until 1985. This work uncovered what is thought to be the house of Simon Peter as well as ruins of the first century synagogue beneath the later synagogue from the fourth or fifth century A.D. Today gently rolling hills and date palms frame the first century site, a favorite tourist destination of visitors to the Galilee.
  5. John 6:17 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
  6. John 6:19 tn Grk “about twenty-five or thirty stades” (a stade as a unit of linear measure is about 607 feet or 185 meters).sn About three or four miles. The Sea of Galilee was at its widest point 7 mi (11.6 km) by 12 mi (20 km). So at this point the disciples were in about the middle of the lake.
  7. John 6:19 tn Or “sea.” See the note on “lake” in v. 16. John uses the phrase ἐπί (epi, “on”) followed by the genitive (as in Mark, instead of Matthew’s ἐπί followed by the accusative) to describe Jesus walking “on the lake.”
  8. John 6:22 tn Or “sea.” See the note on “lake” in v. 16.
  9. John 6:22 tc Most witnesses have after “one” the phrase “which his disciples had entered” (ἐκεῖνο εἰς ὃ ἐνέβησαν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, ekeino eis ho enebēsan hoi mathētai autou) although there are several permutations of this clause ([א* D] Θ [ƒ13 33] M [sa]). The witnesses that lack this expression are, however, significant and diffused (P75 א2 A B L N W Ψ 1 565 579 1241 al lat). The clarifying nature of the longer reading, the multiple variants from it, and the weighty testimony for the shorter reading all argue against the authenticity of the longer text in any of its variations.
  10. John 6:22 tn Grk “entered.”
  11. John 6:23 tn Or “boats from Tiberias landed”; Grk “came.”
  12. John 6:23 tc D 091 a e sys,c lack the phrase “after the Lord had given thanks” (εὐχαριστήσαντος τοῦ κυρίου, eucharistēsantos tou kuriou), while almost all the rest of the witnesses (P75 א A B L W Θ Ψ 0141 [ƒ1] ƒ13 33 M as well as several versions and fathers) have the words (though l672 l950 syp read ᾿Ιησοῦ [Iēsou, “Jesus”] instead of κυρίου). Although the shorter reading has minimal support, it is significant that this Gospel speaks of Jesus as Lord in the evangelist’s narrative descriptions only in 11:2; 20:18, 20; 21:12; and possibly 4:1 (but see tc note on “Jesus” there). There is thus but one undisputed preresurrection text in which the narrator calls Jesus “Lord.” This fact can be utilized on behalf of either reading: The participial phrase could be seen as a scribal addition harking back to 6:11 but which does not fit Johannine style, or it could be viewed as truly authentic and in line with what John indisputably does elsewhere even if rarely. On balance, in light of the overwhelming support for these words it is probably best to retain them in the text.
  13. John 6:24 tn Or “embarked in the boats.”
  14. John 6:24 sn See the note on Capernaum at John 6:17.
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John 6:25-59
New English Translation

Jesus’ Discourse About the Bread of Life

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake,[a] they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”[b] 26 Jesus replied,[c] “I tell you the solemn truth,[d] you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.[e] 27 Do not work for the food that disappears,[f] but for the food that remains to eternal life—the food[g] which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.”[h]

28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds[i] God requires?”[j] 29 Jesus replied,[k] “This is the deed[l] God requires[m]—to believe in the one whom he[n] sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors[o] ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”[p]

32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth,[q] it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who[r] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 So they said to him, “Sir,[s] give us this bread all the time!”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.[t] 36 But I told you[u] that you have seen me[v] and still do not believe. 37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.[w] 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39 Now this is the will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up[x] at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up[y] at the last day.”[z]

41 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus[aa] began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus replied,[ab] “Do not complain about me to one another.[ac] 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,[ad] and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’[ae] Everyone who hears and learns from the Father[af] comes to me. 46 (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—he[ag] has seen the Father.)[ah] 47 I tell you the solemn truth,[ai] the one who believes[aj] has eternal life.[ak] 48 I am the bread of life.[al] 49 Your ancestors[am] ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This[an] is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person[ao] may eat from it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread[ap] that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus[aq] began to argue with one another,[ar] “How can this man[as] give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth,[at] unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,[au] you have no life[av] in yourselves. 54 The one who eats[aw] my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.[ax] 55 For my flesh is true[ay] food, and my blood is true[az] drink. 56 The one who eats[ba] my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.[bb] 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes[bc] me will live because of me. 58 This[bd] is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread your ancestors[be] ate, but then later died.[bf] The one who eats[bg] this bread will live forever.”

Many Followers Depart

59 Jesus[bh] said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue[bi] in Capernaum.[bj]

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Footnotes

  1. John 6:25 tn Or “sea.” See the note on “lake” in v. 16.
  2. John 6:25 sn John 6:25-31. The previous miracle of the multiplication of the bread had taken place near the town of Tiberias (cf. John 6:23). Jesus’ disciples set sail for Capernaum (6:17) and were joined by the Lord in the middle of the sea. The next day boats from Tiberias picked up a few of those who had seen the multiplication (certainly not the whole 5,000) and brought them to Capernaum. It was to this group that Jesus spoke in 6:26-27. But there were also people from Capernaum who had gathered to see Jesus, who had not witnessed the multiplication, and it was this group that asked Jesus for a miraculous sign like the manna (6:30-31). This would have seemed superfluous if it were the same crowd that had already seen the multiplication of the bread. But some from Capernaum had heard about it and wanted to see a similar miracle repeated.
  3. John 6:26 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
  4. John 6:26 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
  5. John 6:26 tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”
  6. John 6:27 tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).sn Do not work for the food that disappears. Note the wordplay on “work” here. This does not imply “working” for salvation, since the “work” is later explained (in John 6:29) as “to believe in the one whom he (the Father) sent.”
  7. John 6:27 tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.
  8. John 6:27 tn Grk “on this one.”
  9. John 6:28 tn Grk “the works.”
  10. John 6:28 tn Grk “What must we do to work the works of God?”
  11. John 6:29 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
  12. John 6:29 tn Grk “the work.”
  13. John 6:29 tn Grk “This is the work of God.”
  14. John 6:29 tn Grk “that one” (i.e., God).
  15. John 6:31 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
  16. John 6:31 sn A quotation from Ps 78:24 (referring to the events of Exod 16:4-36).
  17. John 6:32 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
  18. John 6:33 tn Or “he who.”
  19. John 6:34 tn Or “Lord.” The Greek κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage it is not at all clear at this point that the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as Lord. More likely this is simply a form of polite address (“sir”).
  20. John 6:35 tn Grk “the one who believes in me will not possibly thirst, ever.”sn The one who believes in me will never be thirsty. Note the parallelism between “coming to Jesus” in the first part of v. 35 and “believing in Jesus” in the second part of v. 35. For the author of the Gospel of John these terms are virtually equivalent, both referring to a positive response to Jesus (see John 3:17-21).
  21. John 6:36 tn Grk “But I said to you.”
  22. John 6:36 tc A few witnesses lack με (me, “me”; א A a b e q sys,c), while the rest of the tradition has the word (P66,75vid rell). It is possible that the mss that lack the pronoun preserve the original wording here, with the rest of the witnesses adding the pronoun for clarity’s sake. This likelihood increases since the object is not required in Greek. Without it, however, ambiguity increases: The referent could be “me” or it could be “signs,” reaching back to vv. 26 and 30. However, the oblique form of ἐγώ (egō, the first person personal pronoun) occurs some two dozen times in this chapter alone, yet it vacillates between the emphatic form and the unemphatic form. Although generally the unemphatic form is used with verbs, there are several exceptions to this in John (cf. 8:12; 12:26, 45, 48; 13:20; 14:9). If the pronoun is a later addition here, one wonders why it is so consistently the unemphatic form in the mss. Further, that two unrelated Greek witnesses lack this small word could easily be due to accidental deletion. Finally, the date and diversity of the witnesses for the pronoun are so weighty that it is likely to be authentic and should thus be retained in the text.
  23. John 6:37 tn Or “drive away”; Grk “cast out.”
  24. John 6:39 tn Or “resurrect them all,” or “make them all live again”; Grk “raise it up.” The word “all” is supplied to bring out the collective nature of the neuter singular pronoun αὐτό (auto) in Greek. The plural pronoun “them” is used rather than neuter singular “it” because this is clearer in English, which does not use neuter collective singulars in the same way Greek does.
  25. John 6:40 tn Or “resurrect him,” or “make him live again.”
  26. John 6:40 sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here (looks on the Son and believes in him).
  27. John 6:41 tn Grk “Then the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the “crowd” mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as “Rabbi” (6:25). Likewise, the designation “Judeans” does not fit here because the location is Galilee rather than Judea.
  28. John 6:43 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
  29. John 6:43 tn Or “Do not grumble among yourselves.” The words “about me” are supplied to clarify the translation “complain to one another” (otherwise the Jewish opponents could be understood to be complaining about one another, rather than complaining to one another about Jesus).
  30. John 6:44 tn Or “attracts him,” or “pulls him.” The word is used of pulling or dragging, often by force. It is even used once of magnetic attraction (A. Oepke, TDNT 2:503).sn The Father who sent me draws him. The author never specifically explains what this “drawing” consists of. It is evidently some kind of attraction; whether it is binding and irresistible or not is not mentioned. But there does seem to be a parallel with 6:65, where Jesus says that no one is able to come to him unless the Father has allowed it. This apparently parallels the use of Isaiah by John to reflect the spiritual blindness of the Jewish leaders (see the quotations from Isaiah in John 9:41 and 12:39-40).
  31. John 6:45 sn A quotation from Isa 54:13.
  32. John 6:45 tn Or “listens to the Father and learns.”
  33. John 6:46 tn Grk “this one.”
  34. John 6:46 sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Although some would attribute these words to Jesus himself, the switch from first person in Jesus’ preceding and following remarks to third person in v. 46 suggests that the author has added a clarifying comment here.
  35. John 6:47 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
  36. John 6:47 tc Most witnesses (A C2 D Ψ ƒ1,13 33 M lat and other versions) have “in me” (εἰς ἐμέ, eis eme) here, while the Sinaitic and Curetonian Syriac versions read “in God.” These clarifying readings are predictable variants, being motivated by the scribal tendency toward greater explicitness. That the earliest and best witnesses (P66,75vid א B C* L T W Θ 892) lack any object is solid testimony to the shorter text’s authenticity.
  37. John 6:47 tn Cf. John 6:40.
  38. John 6:48 tn That is, “the bread that produces (eternal) life.”
  39. John 6:49 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
  40. John 6:50 tn Or “Here.”
  41. John 6:50 tn Grk “someone” (τις, tis).
  42. John 6:51 tn Grk “And the bread.”
  43. John 6:52 tn Grk “Then the Jews began to argue.” Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the “crowd” mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as “Rabbi” (6:25). See also the note on the phrase “the Jews who were hostile to Jesus” in v. 41.
  44. John 6:52 tn Grk “with one another, saying.”
  45. John 6:52 tn Grk “this one,” “this person.”
  46. John 6:53 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
  47. John 6:53 sn Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. These words are at the heart of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and have created great misunderstanding among interpreters. Anyone who is inclined toward a sacramental viewpoint will almost certainly want to take these words as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, because of the reference to eating and drinking. But this does not automatically follow: By anyone’s definition there must be a symbolic element to the eating which Jesus speaks of in the discourse, and once this is admitted, it is better to understand it here, as in the previous references in the passage, to a personal receiving of (or appropriation of) Christ and his work.
  48. John 6:53 tn That is, “no eternal life” (as opposed to physical life).
  49. John 6:54 tn Or “who chews”; Grk ὁ τρώγων (ho trōgōn). The alternation between ἐσθίω (esthiō, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trōgō, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) may simply reflect a preference for one form over the other on the author’s part, rather than an attempt to express a slightly more graphic meaning. If there is a difference, however, the word used here (τρώγω) is the more graphic and vivid of the two (“gnaw” or “chew”).
  50. John 6:54 sn Notice that here the result (has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day) is produced by eating (Jesus’) flesh and drinking his blood. Compare John 6:40 where the same result is produced by “looking on the Son and believing in him.” This suggests that the phrase here (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood by the phrase in 6:40 (looks on the Son and believes in him).
  51. John 6:55 tn Or “real.”
  52. John 6:55 tn Or “real.”
  53. John 6:56 tn Or “who chews.” On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esthiō, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trōgō, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.
  54. John 6:56 sn Resides in me, and I in him. Note how in John 6:54 eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood produces eternal life and the promise of resurrection at the last day. Here the same process of eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood leads to a relationship of mutual indwelling (resides in me, and I in him). This suggests strongly that for the author (and for Jesus) the concepts of ‘possessing eternal life’ and of ‘residing in Jesus’ are virtually interchangeable.
  55. John 6:57 tn Or “who chews”; Grk “who eats.” Here the translation “consumes” is more appropriate than simply “eats,” because it is the internalization of Jesus by the individual that is in view. On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esthiō, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trōgō, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.
  56. John 6:58 tn Or “This one.”
  57. John 6:58 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
  58. John 6:58 tn Grk “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not just like your ancestors ate and died.” The cryptic Greek expression has been filled out in the translation for clarity.
  59. John 6:58 tn Or “who chews.” On the alternation between ἐσθίω (esthiō, “eat,” v. 53) and τρώγω (trōgō, “eats,” vv. 54, 56, 58; “consumes,” v. 57) see the note on “eats” in v. 54.
  60. John 6:59 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.
  61. John 6:59 sn A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (cf. Luke 8:41). Though the origin of the synagogue is not entirely clear, it seems to have arisen in the postexilic community during the intertestamental period. A town could establish a synagogue if there were at least ten men. In normative Judaism of the NT period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present (see the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2).
  62. John 6:59 sn See the note on Capernaum at John 6:17.
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