John 9:2

His disciples asked him, ¹  “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man ²  or his parents?” ³ 

His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"

"Teacher," his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it a result of his own sins or those of his parents?"

His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?"

And his disciples put a question to him, saying, Master, was it because of this man’s sin, or the sin of his father and mother, that he has been blind from birth?

His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

His disciples asked him, ¹  “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man ²  or his parents?” ³ 

¹ tn Grk “asked him, saying.”

² tn Grk “this one.”

³ tn Grk “in order that he should be born blind.”

sn The disciples assumed that sin (regardless of who committed it) was the cause of the man’s blindness. This was a common belief in Judaism; the rabbis used Ezek 18:20 to prove there was no death without sin, and Ps 89:33 to prove there was no punishment without guilt (the Babylonian Talmud, b. Shabbat 55a, although later than the NT, illustrates this). Thus in this case the sin must have been on the part of the man’s parents, or during his own prenatal existence. Song Rabbah 1:41 (another later rabbinic work) stated that when a pregnant woman worshiped in a heathen temple the unborn child also committed idolatry. This is only one example of how, in rabbinic Jewish thought, an unborn child was capable of sinning.