Yohanes 8:52

8:52 Then ¹  the Judeans ²  responded, ³  “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! ⁴  Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet ⁵  you say, ‘If anyone obeys ⁶  my teaching, ⁷  he will never experience ⁸  death.’ ⁹ 

Yohanes 16:7

16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate ¹⁰  will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

Yohanes 16:21

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ¹¹  because her time ¹²  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ¹³  has been born into the world. ¹⁴ 

[8:52]  ¹ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì⁷⁵ D L Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (Ì⁷⁵) has the conjunction, the combination of Ì⁶⁶ א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 41). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:52]  ² tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31).

[8:52]  ³ tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:52]  ⁴ tn Grk “you have a demon.”

[8:52]  ⁵ tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

[8:52]  ⁶ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:52]  ⁷ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:52]  ⁸ tn Grk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[8:52]  ⁹ tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[16:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[16:21]  ¹¹ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

[16:21]  ¹² tn Grk “her hour.”

[16:21]  ¹³ tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

[16:21]  ¹⁴ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.