complete verse (John 1:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 1:15:

  • Uma: “Yohanes the Baptizer caused-to-know the people who that Word was. He called loudly he said: ‘He is the one I said earlier! I said: there will be one who comes after me, but his power surpasses mine. Because before I was born, he already was.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Yahiya talked about the Word. He spoke loudly, he said, ‘This is he/it that I talked to you about, I said, ‘There is somebody coming here after me. He is greater than I because when I was not yet born, he was already beforehand.’ ‘ This is what Yahiya said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And this John, he caused people to understand who that one was who is titled the Word of God. John spoke out loudly. He said, ‘This is the person I told about when I said, ‘There is one who comes later than I who is greater than I because long ago before I was born, he already was,’ ‘ said John.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Juan confirmed/verified-concerning him saying, ‘This is the one I was talking-about when I told you that the one who would-follow-me was greater than I, because before I was yet born, he already-existed.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “He was being testified about by this Juan who was shouting it out, saying, ‘This one is he of whom I told when I said then as-you-heard, the one who is coming next after me, he is superior to me, because before I was born, he already was/existed.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “John told the people who he was. He said, ‘This one is that one I spoke of before. Because I already said, ‘He who comes afterwards is greater than I because before I was living, already he was living.”” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “John told what he knew about that Word. When he was preaching he spoke loudly and this is what he said: ‘The one who is coming afterwards, he is the big one. Not I, since he was living before me. Not I. He is the one I preached to you about.'” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)

Translation commentary on John 1:15

Once again (see verses 6-9) the testimony of John the Baptist interrupts the prologue. This interruption show how important the author of the Gospel understood the testimony of John the Baptist to be, especially since cried out denotes a solemn proclamation and is used of prophetic activity (see 7.28,37 and 12.44). For the meaning of the verb spoke about, see verse 7. Spoke about is in the present tense and cried out is in the perfect tense in Greek. In this context, these tenses have essentially the same significance, that is, they point to the present significance of John’s testimony.

It may be necessary in some languages to indicate to whom John spoke or cried out, for example, “John spoke to the people about him. He cried out to them.” The important components of meaning in the expression cried out are the loudness of voice and the urgency of the message, equivalent in some languages to “shout with insistence” or “shout strongly” or “shout urgently.” It is important to avoid terms which may seem contradictory, for in some languages a translation of spoke and of cried out may appear to be contradictory; in the one instance one would simply say “he spoke,” but in the other, “he shouted.”

He comes after me (see 1.27,30) is, of course, a reference to the historical appearance of Jesus, while he existed before I was born is a reference to the eternal pre-existence of the Word (see verse 1). He comes after me must be rendered as a temporal expression and not one of position, that is to say, Jesus followed John in time. However, since Jesus’ manifestation of himself was later than that of John, it may be necessary in some languages to use the future tense, for example, “he will come later.” However, such a translation must not suggest any special interval of time between the ministry of John the Baptist and that of Jesus.

He is greater than I am must be interpreted as expressing greater importance, for example, “he is more important than I am.” It may be expressed in some languages as “he is stronger than I am” (though in such instances the term “strong” has nothing to do with physical strength). In other languages the concept of importance may be related to leadership in the sense of “he is more of a chief than I am.”

It is important to avoid a translation of he existed before I was born which could suggest merely that Jesus was older than John, a meaning often conveyed by translations which render “existed” as “lived.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .