complete verse (John 9:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 9:10:

  • Uma: “So they asked him: ‘What happened with the result that you (sing.) can see?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘How do you come to see?’ they said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the people said, ‘If it is you, then how were your eyes cured?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon they inquired of him saying, ‘And now here you (sing.) are able-to-see?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Well how did you get to be able to see? Why are you no longer blind?’ said those people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “He was asked, ‘How is it that your eyes were opened then?'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 9:10

In Greek the words they asked him (literally “therefore they were saying to him”) come first in the sentence. The verbs said in verse 9 and asked in this verse are in the imperfect tense in Greek, perhaps for the sake of making the action more vivid.

The Greek text has literally “How were your eyes opened?” Such an expression, however, may have little relation to the meaning of “being able to see,” since the opening of the eyes might be understood merely as the opening of the eyelids, rather than as the ability to see. How is it that you can now see? must be rendered in some languages by a causative expression, for example, “What is it that caused you now to see?” or “What happened to cause you to see?” or “… to be able to see?”

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 .