4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back. 1 They were shocked 2 because he was speaking 3 with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” 4 or “Why are you speaking with her?”
1 tn Or “his disciples returned”; Grk “came” (“back” is supplied in keeping with English usage). Because of the length of the Greek sentence it is better to divide here and begin a new English sentence, leaving the καί (kai) before ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon) untranslated.
2 tn BDAG 444 s.v. θαυμάζω 1.a.γ has “be surprised that” followed by indirect discourse. The context calls for a slightly stronger wording.
3 tn The ὅτι (Joti) could also be translated as declarative (“that he had been speaking with a woman”) but since this would probably require translating the imperfect verb as a past perfect (which is normal after a declarative ὅτι), it is preferable to take this ὅτι as causal.
4 tn Grk “seek.” See John 4:23.
sn The question “What do you want?” is John’s editorial comment (for no one in the text was asking it). The author is making a literary link with Jesus’ statement in v. 23: It is evident that, in spite of what the disciples may have been thinking, what Jesus was seeking is what the Father was seeking, that is to say, someone to worship him.
5 tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.
6 tn Grk “receives circumcision.”
7 sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca.
8 tn Or “made an entire man well.”
9 tn Grk “He answered them.” The indirect object αὐτοῖς (autois) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
10 tn Grk “you did not hear.”
11 tn “It” is not in the Greek text but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when they were clearly implied in the context.
12 tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.