Passage

John 3.10

Book: John · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"8. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?"

"10. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?"

"11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12. If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:8-12, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"8. The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9. Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”"

"10. Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?"

"11. Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 12. If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:8-12, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?"

"10. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?"

"11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" (John 3:8-12, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"8. the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.' 9. Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'How are these things able to happen?'"

"10. Jesus answered and said to him, 'Thou art the teacher of Israel, and these things thou dost not know!"

"11. 'Verily, verily, I say to thee, What we have known we speak, and what we have seen we testify, and our testimony ye do not receive; 12. if the earthly things I said to you, and ye do not believe, how, if I shall say to you the heavenly things, will ye believe?" (John 3:8-12, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Abiogenesis Under the Microscope (ris3n)

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.