John 1:14-18 Translation

14.  And word became flesh dwelt in (among) us and we beheld his glory,  glory as only (one or unique one) from the father full of grace and truth.


15. John witnessed concerning him and cried out saying, "this is the one whom  I said after me is coming who was in front of me having been born, because first of me he was. ( Really a tough verse. I left it as literal as I could so we could see what it was originally saying. If you have any suggestion please add them in on the comments.

16. For (because) from (out of ) his fullness we all received, even grace for grace.  Variant reading here has kai instead of oti, which is picked up in the KJV.

17.  That the law through Moses was given, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ came.


18. No one has seen God ever, God only begotten who is in the bosom of the father, he explained him. 
Verse 18 is the finish of the prologue. I am including Robertson's comments as it is a very important verse that has Variant readings. The variant readings probably caused by a scribe trying to work out the trinity. The mistake is found in the Textus Receptus. I quote Robertson:

 The only begotten Son (ho monogeneœs huios). This is the reading of the Textus Receptus and is intelligible after hoœs monogenous para patros in verse 14. But the best old Greek manuscripts (Aleph B C L) read monogeneœs theos (God only begotten) which is undoubtedly the true text. Probably some scribe changed it to ho monogeneœs huios to obviate the blunt statement of the deity of Christ and to make it like 3:16. But there is an inner harmony in the reading of the old uncials. The Logos is plainly called theos in verse 1. The Incarnation is stated in verse 14, where he is also termed monogeneœs. He was that before the Incarnation. So he is “God only begotten,” “the Eternal Generation of the Son” of Origen’s phrase.
 First aorist (effective) middle indicative of exeœgeomai, old verb to lead out, to draw out in narrative, to recount. Here only in John, though once in Luke’s Gospel (24:35) and four times in Acts (10:8; 15:12, 14; 21:19). This word fitly closes the Prologue in which the Logos is pictured in marvellous fashion as the Word of God in human flesh, the Son of God with the Glory of God in him, showing men who God is and what he is.

John 1:14-18

Here is the next set of scriptures. 


14 καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξανὡς μονογενοῦς  παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης  χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας. 15 Ἰωάννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αὐτοῦκαὶ κέκραγεν λέγων· οὗτος ἦν ὃν εἶπον· ὁ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτιπρῶτός μου ἦν. 16 ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος⁵ αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος·17 ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. 18 θεὸνοὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε·  ὁ μονογενὴς³ υἱὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον⁷ τοῦ πατρός, ἐκεῖνοςἐξηγήσατο.

John 1:6-13 Translation

If you are using the NA27 ed. you may notice in the apparatus at the bottom of the opening page of John that some manuscripts include euaggelion as part of the title. Thus it is not uncommon for scholars to refer to John as the evangelists.

Translation John 1:6-13. - Again I am giving a more literal translation so we can look at the Greek more clearly.

6. There was a man sent from God name to him was John. (Here you may notice in your Greek Bible that some manuscripts witness to a "en"[eimi - to be 3ms impf] being placed before "name" so that it reads more smoothly. Most manuscripts witness to it not being there.)

7. That one, or He came (as) a witness in order or because he might witness concerning the light (definite purpose clause) in order that  all men (persons) might believe through him. (John's gospel emphasizes John the Baptist more as a witness than a baptizer.)

8. I'll confess I don't know what to do with ekeinos. Is it the "same" which I sometimes find ekeinos being translated in other verses or is it "that"? or something else?  That was not the light, but he came that he might bear witness concerning the light. The verb is not here! It is to be supplied by elthen from verse 7.


9. There was the light the true (one) or more smoothly, There was the true light which enlightens every one (who is)  coming into the world.


10. (very yoda like) In the world he was, and the world through him was created, and/but the world did not know him. 


11. He came to his own and/but his own did not receive him.  (idioi - we get idiot from his word).

12. And/But as many as received him, he gave to them the power to become the children of god, those who believe on/in his name.

13. Which were born not of blood, nor out of the will of the flesh, neither out of the will of man, but out of God. 


Well that certainly is a rough translation, but it helps to see why there are so many different translations. Which under grids the idea that we should know Greek ourselves. I'll post verses 14-19 on Saturday.

John 1:6-13

6 Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ,
 ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης·
 7 οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ 
περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι’ αὐτοῦ. 
8 οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς,
 ἀλλ’ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός. 
9 Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν¹, ὃ φωτίζει² πάντα
ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. 
10 ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο,
 καὶ ὁκόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω. 
11 εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον. 
12 ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβοναὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα 
θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
 13 οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς 
οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλ’ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν.


Pretty straight forward. Again there is an argument in verse 13, the witness list evolves a lot of patristic scholars. (bottom of GNT page 313.)
Fun question. What word do we get from idioi ?

John 1:1-5 Translation

1. in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the word was god.
2. this one was in the beginning with god.
3. all things through him were created and without him were created not even one (thing). which has been created
4. in him life was, and the life was the light of men (mankind).
5. and the light in the darkness shines, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Well that is my more literal (wooden) attempt. How did you do? There is a lot of subtlety. Keep in mind that there can be some differences in our translations.

1. The first sentence with "and the word was god" is often argued that "word" comes first because the subject usually has an article and the predicate does not. Good rule except it is broken in John's "I am...." ex. 11:25 et al.
2. The variant reading of verse 3 is interesting. In my GNT and I don't have the NA27 with me but in the GNT the 3rd  verse ends with en.  Ho really begins the 4 verse but is still stuck in the 3rd verse. Many translation absorb this into the 3rd verse and add it on the end. Underneath the 5th verse you can see the arguments for and against this construction, if you are using your GNT or NA27.   If you get Metzger's little book called A Textual Commentary On the Greek New Testament, he gives the behind the scenes look at the committee's decisions on most of the variant inclusions.
Comments/ Questions?

John 1:1-5

 

1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν  πρὸς τὸν θεόν, 
     καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
 2 οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
 3 πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς
     αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν ὃ γέγονεν 
 4 ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἐστιν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
 5 καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

Points to ponder: 

1. At the end of verse 3 there is a variant reading in case you are interested. You can find this in your GNT or NA27 at the bottom of the page  of this passage. This is called the apparatus and we will be talking about it from time to time.

2. Translations of the last noun clause in verse one is contested by different faiths (hint: the use of the article is important).

Introduction

Hello and welcome.
This site is for those who would like to practice reading koine Greek with others. We will begin with the Gospel of John. I will post several Greek verses and we will translate the verses at our own pace. During the week following the post we can ask each other questions or make comments and then after 5 or 6 days I will post the translation. At that time more comments can be made and then I will post the next set of verses. This is a work in progress so suggestions and advice are welcome, but not always taken.