John 15:22

Amplified Bible

"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.

King James Version (1611)
If I had not come, and spoken vnto them, they had not had sinne: but now they haue no cloke for their sinne.

King James Version
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

English Standard Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

New American Standard Bible
"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

New Century Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Legacy Standard Bible
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Berean Standard Bible
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

Contemporary English Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Complete Jewish Bible
"If I had not come and spoken to them, they wouldn't be guilty of sin; but now, they have no excuse for their sin.

Darby Translation
If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Easy-to-Read Version
If I had not come and spoken to the people of the world, they would not be guilty of sin. But now I have spoken to them. So they have no excuse for their sin.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If I had not come and spoken vnto them, they shoulde not haue had sinne: but nowe haue they no cloke for their sinne.

George Lamsa Translation
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would be without sin; but now they have no excuse for their sins.

Good News Translation
They would not have been guilty of sin if I had not come and spoken to them; as it is, they no longer have any excuse for their sin.

Lexham English Bible
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they do not have a valid excuse for their sin.

Literal Translation
If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they had no sin. But now they do not have excuse as to their sin.

American Standard Version
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Bible in Basic English
If I had not come and been their teacher they would have had no sin: but now they have no reason to give for their sin.

Hebrew Names Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

International Standard Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.John 9:41; Romans 1:20; James 4:17;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
If I had not come and spoken with them, they had not had sin; but now have they no pretext for their sins. [fn]

Murdock Translation
If I had not come and discoursed with them, sin would not have been to them; but now there is no excuse for their sins.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yf I had not come and spoken vnto them, they shoulde haue had no sinne: but nowe haue they nothyng to cloke their sinne withall.

English Revised Version
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

World English Bible
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Weymouth's New Testament
"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin; but as the case stands they are without excuse for their sin.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If Y hadde not comun, and hadde not spokun to hem, thei schulden not haue synne; but now thei haue noon excusacioun of her synne.

Update Bible Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Webster's Bible Translation
If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

New English Translation
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.

New King James Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

New Living Translation
They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

New Life Bible
"I have come and have spoken to them so they are guilty of sin. But now they have no reason to give for keeping their sin any longer.

New Revised Standard
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Had I not come and spoken unto them, Sin, had they none; but, now, have they no, excuse, for their sin.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Revised Standard Version
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If I had not come and spoken vnto them they shulde not have had synne: but now have they nothinge to cloke their synne with all.

Young's Literal Translation
if I had not come and spoken to them, they were not having sin; but now pretext they have not for their sin.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf I had not come & spoke vnto the, the shulde they haue no synne But now haue they nothinge to cloake their synne withall.

Mace New Testament (1729)
if I had not appear'd, and inform'd them, they would have been innocent: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Ignorance isn't bad unless you've been told the truth. Now they are no longer ignorant, but they are now condemned because they do not believe the truth. They are out of excuses.

Contextual Overview

¹⁸"If the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹"If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you. ²⁰"Remember [and continue to remember] that I told you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹"But they will do all these [hurtful] things to you for My name's sake [because you bear My name and are identified with Me], for they do not know the One who sent Me. ²²"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.²³"The one who hates Me also hates My Father. ²⁴"If I had not done among them the works (attesting miracles) which no one else [ever] did, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now [the fact is that] they have both seen [these works] and have hated Me [and continue to hate Me] and My Father as well. ²⁵"But [this is so] that the word which has been written in their Law would be fulfilled, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they: John 3:18-21, John 9:41, John 12:48, John 19:11, Ezekiel 2:5, Ezekiel 33:31-33, Luke 12:46, Acts 17:30, 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, Hebrews 6:4-8, James 4:17

cloak: or, excuse, Romans 1:20, Romans 2:1, 1 Peter 2:16

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 21:9 - they hearkened Job 24:13 - rebel Psalms 81:15 - The haters Proverbs 26:28 - lying Isaiah 37:29 - rage Ezekiel 16:47 - thou wast Amos 5:10 - hate Malachi 3:2 - who may abide Matthew 10:15 - It Matthew 12:45 - Even Mark 6:11 - It shall Luke 2:35 - that Luke 7:41 - the other Luke 10:14 - General Luke 12:47 - knew Luke 12:48 - For Luke 23:34 - they know not John 3:19 - this John 16:9 - General Romans 4:15 - Because Romans 5:20 - the law Romans 7:8 - For without 1 Corinthians 2:8 - for Galatians 3:19 - It was added 1 Timothy 5:8 - and is Hebrews 10:26 - after 2 Peter 2:21 - it had

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I had not come and spoken unto them,.... The ignorance of the Jews is represented as inexcusable, since Christ was come, and had preached unto them; if he had not come and told them that he was the Messiah, they might have pleaded an excuse for their ignorance of him, and his mission, and of the Father that sent him: but inasmuch as he was come in the flesh, and came to them his own; and came also a light into the world, carrying along with him evidence, conviction, and demonstration, of his being the Messiah; speaking such words as never man did; preaching with such authority as the Scribes and Pharisees did not; declaring in plain terms he was the Christ of God, and that if they did not believe him to be so, they would die in their sins; they could have no pretext to make for their ignorance and disbelief: if all this had not been done,

they had not had sin; or been guilty of the sin of unbelief, in the rejection of the Messiah; not that they would have been without sin in any sense, or without any kind of sin, but without this particular sin; at least they would have excused and wiped themselves clean, and would have looked like innocent and sinless persons, under all their ignorance and unbelief:

but now they have no cloak for their sin; they could not say, had he come to us, and told us that he was the Messiah, and given evidence of his being sent by the Father, we would have believed him, and received him as the Messiah; for he did do this, and so cut off all excuses and pretences from them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And spoken unto them - Declared unto them the will of God, and made known his requirements. Jesus had not less certainly shown by his own arguments that he was the Messiah than by his miracles. By both these kinds of proof their guilt was to be measured. See John 15:26. No small part of the gospel of John consists of arguments used by the Saviour to convince the Jews that he came from God. He here says if he had not used these arguments, and proved to them his divine mission, they had not had sin.

Had not had sin - This is evidently to be understood of the particular sin of persecuting and rejecting him. Of this he was speaking; and though, if he had not come, they would have been guilty of many other sins, yet of this, their great crowning sin, they would not have been guilty. We may understand this, then, as teaching:

1. That they would not have been guilty of this kind of sin. They would not have been chargeable with rejecting the signal grace of God if Jesus had not come and made an offer of mercy to them.

2. They would not have been guilty of the same degree of sin. The rejection of the Messiah was the crowning act of rebellion which brought down the vengeance of God, and led on their special national calamities. By way of eminence, therefore, this might be called the sin - the special sin of their age and nation. Compare Matthew 23:34-39; Matthew 27:25. And this shows us, what is so often taught in the Scriptures, that our guilt will be in proportion to the light that we possess and the mercies that we reject, Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 12:47-48. If it was such a crime to reject the Saviour then, it is a crime now; and if the rejection of the Son of God brought such calamities on the Jewish nation, the same rejection will involve the sinner now in woe, and vengeance, and despair.

No cloak - No covering, no excuse. The proof has been so clear that they cannot plead ignorance; it has been so often presented that they cannot allege that they had no opportunity of knowing it. It is still so with all sinners.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. But now they have no cloke for their sin. — They are without excuse. See the margin, and John 9:41. Christ had done such works as demonstrated him to be the Messiah - yet they rejected him: here lay their sin; and this sin, and the punishment to which it exposed them, still remain; for they still continue to reject the Lord that bought them.