Passage

John 3.16-21

Book: John · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; 15. that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life."

"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18. He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. 21. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God."

"22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23. And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized." (John 3:14-23, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15. that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 21. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”"

"22. After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized. 23. John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized." (John 3:14-23, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. ^{reproved: or, discovered} 21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

"22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized." (John 3:14-23, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"14. 'And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up, 15. that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during,"

"16. for God did so love the world, that His Son, the only begotten, He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. 17. For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him; 18. he who is believing in him is not judged, but he who is not believing hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. 'And this is the judgment, that the light hath come to the world, and men did love the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil; 20. for every one who is doing wicked things hateth the light, and doth not come unto the light, that his works may not be detected; 21. but he who is doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought.'"

"22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples to the land of Judea, and there he did tarry with them, and was baptizing; 23. and John was also baptizing in Aenon, nigh to Salem, because there were many waters there, and they were coming and were being baptized --" (John 3:14-23, 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

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.