Discovery BoxJohn 9:29-34 
Context9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man 1 comes from!” 9:30 The man replied, 2 “This is a remarkable thing, 3 that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see! 4 9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to 5 sinners, but if anyone is devout 6 and does his will, God 7 listens to 8 him. 9 9:32 Never before 10 has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see. 11 9:33 If this man 12 were not from God, he could do nothing.” 9:34 They replied, 13 “You were born completely in sinfulness, 14 and yet you presume to teach us?” 15 So they threw him out.
1 tn Grk “where this one.”
2 tn Grk “The man answered and said to them.” This has been simplified in the translation to “The man replied.”
3 tn Grk “For in this is a remarkable thing.”
4 tn Grk “and he opened my eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
5 tn Grk “God does not hear.”
6 tn Or “godly.”
7 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Or “hears.”
9 tn Grk “this one.”
10 tn Or “Never from the beginning of time,” Grk “From eternity.”
11 tn Grk “someone opening the eyes of a man born blind” (“opening the eyes” is an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
12 tn Grk “this one.”
13 tn Grk “They answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “They replied.”
14 tn Or “From birth you have been evil.” The implication of this insult, in the context of John 9, is that the man whom Jesus caused to see had not previously adhered rigorously to all the conventional requirements of the OT law as interpreted by the Pharisees. Thus he had no right to instruct them about who Jesus was.
15 tn Grk “and are you teaching us?”
