4:10 Jesus answered 1 her, “If you had known 2 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water 3 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 4
12:40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart, 5
so that they would not see with their eyes
and understand with their heart, 6
and turn to me, 7 and I would heal them.” 8
12:42 Nevertheless, even among the rulers 9 many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees 10 they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, 11 so that they would not be put out of 12 the synagogue. 13
1 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
2 tn Or “if you knew.”
3 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
4 tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.
sn The word translated living is used in Greek of flowing water, which leads to the woman’s misunderstanding in the following verse. She thought Jesus was referring to some unknown source of drinkable water.
5 tn Or “closed their mind.”
6 tn Or “their mind.”
7 tn One could also translate στραφῶσιν (strafwsin) as “repent” or “change their ways,” but both of these terms would be subject to misinterpretation by the modern English reader. The idea is one of turning back to God, however. The words “to me” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
8 sn A quotation from Isa 6:10.
9 sn The term rulers here denotes members of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in 3:1.
10 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.
11 tn The words “Jesus to be the Christ” are not in the Greek text, but are implied (see 9:22). As is often the case in Greek, the direct object is omitted for the verb ὡμολόγουν (Jwmologoun). Some translators supply an ambiguous “it,” or derive the implied direct object from the previous clause “believed in him” so that the rulers would not confess “their faith” or “their belief.” However, when one compares John 9:22, which has many verbal parallels to this verse, it seems clear that the content of the confession would have been “Jesus is the Christ (i.e., Messiah).”
sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
12 tn Or “be expelled from.”
13 sn Compare John 9:22. See the note on synagogue in 6:59.
14 tn Grk “written”; the word “down” is supplied in keeping with contemporary English idiom.
15 tn Grk “the world itself.”
16 tc Although the majority of
sn The author concludes the Gospel with a note concerning his selectivity of material. He makes it plain that he has not attempted to write an exhaustive account of the words and works of Jesus, for if one attempted to do so, “the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” This is clearly hyperbole, and as such bears some similarity to the conclusion of the Book of Ecclesiastes (12:9-12). As it turns out, the statement seems more true of the Fourth Gospel itself, which is the subject of an ever-lengthening bibliography. The statement in v. 25 serves as a final reminder that knowledge of Jesus, no matter how well-attested it may be, is still partial. Everything that Jesus did during his three and one-half years of earthly ministry is not known. This supports the major theme of the Fourth Gospel: Jesus is repeatedly identified as God, and although he may be truly known on the basis of his self-disclosure, he can never be known exhaustively. There is far more to know about Jesus than could ever be written down, or even known. On this appropriate note the Gospel of John ends.