Passage

John 1.38

Book: John · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"36. and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God! 37. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."

"38. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abideth thou?"

"39. He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day: it was about the tenth hour. 40. One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." (John 1:36-40, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"36. and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37. The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."

"38. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”"

"39. He said to them, “Come, and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour. 40. One of the two who heard John, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother." (John 1:36-40, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"36. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."

"38. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?dwellest: or, abidest"

"39. He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.about: that was two hours before night 40. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." (John 1:36-40, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"36. and having looked on Jesus walking, he saith, 'Lo, the Lamb of God;' 37. and the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus."

"38. And Jesus having turned, and having beheld them following, saith to them, 'What seek ye?' and they said to them, 'Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Teacher,) where remainest thou?'"

"39. He saith to them, 'Come and see;' they came, and saw where he doth remain, and with him they remained that day and the hour was about the tenth. 40. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him;" (John 1:36-40, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: John the Evangelist (narrator) reporting Jesus + two disciples-of-the-Baptist (one of whom is Andrew, per v. 40)
Audience: the original Johannine audience (likely late-first-century Asian-Greek-speaking Christian communities) needing Aramaic terms translated
Location: the Jordan valley, at the site of John the Baptist's ministry, the day after John identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God (1:29)
Time period: events c. AD 27 (early ministry); composed c. AD 85-95
Narrative context: the calling of the first disciples, immediately following John the Baptist's "Behold the Lamb of God" testimony (1:29, 36). The verse marks the very first words Jesus speaks in the Fourth Gospel: "What seek ye?"

Theological reading

John 1:38 is the first instance of the Johannine "which is to say, being interpreted" (ho legetai... hermēneuomenon) translation-construction that recurs through John 1 (Messiah → Christ at 1:41; Cephas → Peter at 1:42; cf. Rabboni → Teacher at 20:16). The grammar is doing two distinct theological jobs at once. First, it bridges the Aramaic-Jewish religious-vocabulary of Jesus's actual historical setting (Rabbi) into the Greek-speaking Gentile-Christian setting of the Johannine readership, signaling the Gospel's missional reach across language-communities. Second, it functions as a Christological-identification device: Rabbi ("my great one") names Jesus's teaching-authority status; the Greek Didaskalos (Teacher) carries the same role in Hellenistic religious-vocabulary; the Johannine prologue (1:1-18) has just established Jesus as the eternal Logos, so His being-addressed as Rabbi / Teacher in the narrative-action is theologically loaded. The verse's first-spoken-words of Jesus ("What seek ye?", ti zēteite?) are framed by the Fourth Gospel as the discipleship-defining question; the rest of the Gospel narrates what it means to seek-and-find Jesus.

Key words

G3004 - lego, legō (Strong's G3004), the passive legetai ("which is to say") in the naming / classifying / translation-construction sense; recurs at John 1:41, 1:42, 4:25, 20:16, 20:24.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.