the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Contemporary English Version
John 9:2
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Jesus' followers asked him, "Teacher, why was this man born blind? Whose sin made it happen? Was it his own sin or that of his parents?"
And his disciples axed him sayinge. Master who dyd synne: this man or his father and mother that he was borne blynde?
His talmidim asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi,Rabbi is Heb. for Master and/or Teacher">[fn] who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him to be born blind?"John 9:34;">[xr]
And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"
His followers asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents' sin?"
And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
So His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned--this man or his parents--that he was born blind?"
And hise disciplis axiden hym, Maistir, what synnede this man, or hise eldris, that he schulde be borun blynd?
And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?
and His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi (Teacher), who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"
And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?
And his disciples put a question to him, saying, Master, was it because of this man's sin, or the sin of his father and mother, that he has been blind from birth?
His talmidim asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?"
And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this [man] or his parents, that he should be born blind?
And his disciples asked him, saying, Raban, who sinned, this or his parents, that blind he should have been born ?
And his disciples asked him, and said: Our Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sinne, this man, or his parents, that he was borne blinde?
"Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?"
His followers asked Him, "Teacher, whose sin made this man to be born blind? Was it the sin of this man or the sin of his parents?"
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sinne, this man, or his parents, that he was borne blinde?
And his disciples asked him, saying, Teacher, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
And his disciples questioned him, saying - Rabbi! who sinned, this man or his parents, that, blind, he should be born?
And his disciples asked him: Rabbi, who hath sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?
And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
And his disciples asked hym, saying: Maister, who did sinne, this man, or his father and mother, that he was borne blynde?
His disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents' sin?"
His disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
And his disciples asked him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"
And His disciples asked Him, saying, Teacher, who sinned, this one, or his parents, that he was born blind?
and his disciples asked him, saying, `Rabbi, who did sin, this one or his parents, that he should be born blind?'
And his disciples axed him, & sayde: Master, Who hath synned? this, or his elders, that he was borne blynde?
and his disciples propos'd to him this question, master, was it for his own sins, or for the sins of his parents, that he was born blind?
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?"
And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
"Boss," his cowboys asked, "why is this man blind? Did his daddy commit some kind of sin that made God mad or something?"
And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"
And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?"
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
who: John 9:34, Matthew 16:14
Reciprocal: Job 19:5 - plead Luke 13:2 - Suppose Acts 14:8 - being Acts 28:4 - No doubt
Cross-References
God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.
So the Lord took some soil and made animals and birds. He brought them to the man to see what names he would give each of them. Then the man named the tame animals and the birds and the wild animals. That's how they got their names. None of these was the right kind of partner for the man.
But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it.
Again, God said to Noah and his sons:
Noah farmed the land and was the first to plant a vineyard.
Ham entered the tent and saw him naked, then went back outside and told his brothers.
Shem and Japheth put a robe over their shoulders and walked backwards into the tent. Without looking at their father, they placed it over his body.
While Jacob and his family were traveling through Canaan, God terrified the people in the towns so much that no one dared bother them.
I will bless your country with peace, and you will rest without fear. I will wipe out the dangerous animals and protect you from enemy attacks.
I'll send wild animals to attack you, and they will gobble down your children and livestock. So few of you will be left that your roads will be deserted.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And his disciples asked him,.... It may be that some of the twelve apostles, or others of his disciples, might put the following question to him on sight of this blind man, who by some means or another knew was born blind:
saying, master, who did man, or his parents, that he was born blind? the first of these questions, whether the man himself had sinned before he was born, which might be the occasion of his blindness, proceeds not upon the doctrine of original sin, though the Jews then believed that; :-; since that was common to all men, and therefore could not admit of such a question; but either upon the notion of transmigration of souls into other bodies; and so the disciples might ask whether this man had sinned in a pre-existent state when in another body, which was the reason of this blindness, or of his being put into a blind body. This notion, Josephus says a, was embraced by the Pharisees; though, according to him, it seems, that they only understood it of the souls of good men; and if so, this could lay no foundation for such a question, unless these disciples had given into the Pythagorean notion of a transmigration of all souls, which was to be known by defects, as blindness, c. b or else this question proceeded upon a principle received by the Jews, that an infant might do that which was faulty and criminal, and actually sin in the womb; of which Dr. Lightfoot has given instances: the second question proceeds upon the methods which sometimes God has taken with men, by visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children; or, as the above learned writer observes, upon a notion the Jews had, that a child might suffer for what the mother did whilst it was in the womb; or on another, which prevailed among them, that there should be neither merit nor demerit in the days of the Messiah; that is, that neither the good deeds, nor bad deeds of their parents, should be imputed to their children, neither the one to their advantage, nor the other to their disadvantage: and therefore since he the Messiah was come, they ask, how this blindness should come to pass? what should be the reason of it?
a De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 8. sect. 14. b Sallust. de Diis, c. 20.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Master, who did sin? ... - It was a universal opinion among the Jews that calamities of all kinds were the effects of sin. See the notes at Luke 13:1-4. The case, however, of this man was that of one that was blind from his birth, and it was a question which the disciples could not determine whether it was his fault or that of his parents. Many of the Jews, as it appears from their writings (see Lightfoot), believed in the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; or that the soul of a man, in consequence of sin, might be compelled to pass into other bodies, and be punished there. They also believed that an infant might sin before it was born (see Lightfoot), and that consequently this blindness might have come upon the child as a consequence of that. It was also a doctrine with many that the crime of the parent might be the cause of deformity in the child, particularly the violation of the command in Leviticus 20:18.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse John 9:2. Who did sin, this man, or his parents — The doctrine of the transmigration of souls appears to have been an article in the creed of the Pharisees, and it was pretty general both among the Greeks and the Asiatics. The Pythagoreans believed the souls of men were sent into other bodies for the punishment of some sin which they had committed in a pre-existent state. This seems to have been the foundation of the disciples question to our Lord. Did this man sin in a pre-existent state, that he is punished in this body with blindness? Or, did his parents commit some sin, for which they are thus plagued in their offspring?
Most of the Asiatic nations have believed in the doctrine of transmigration. The Hindoos still hold it; and profess to tell precisely the sin which the person committed in another body, by the afflictions which he endures in this: they profess also to tell the cures for these. For instance, they say the headache is a punishment for having, in a former state, spoken irrevently to father or mother. Madness is a punishment for having been disobedient to father or mother, or to one's spiritual guide. The epilepsy is a punishment for having, in a former state, administered poison to any one at the command of his master. Pain in the eyes is a punishment for having, in another body, coveted another man's wife. Blindness is a punishment for having killed his mother: but this person they say, before his new birth, will suffer many years' torment in hell. See many curious particulars relative to this in the AYEEN AKBERY, vol. iii. p. 168-175; and in the Institutes of Menu, chap. xi. Inst. 48-53.
The Jewish rabbins have had the same belief from the very remotest antiquity. Origen cites an apocryphal book of the Hebrews, in which the patriarch Jacob is made to speak thus: I am an angel of God; one of the first order of spirits. Men call me Jacob, but my true name, which God has given me, is Israel: Orat. Joseph. apud ORIG. Many of the Jewish doctors have believed that the souls of Adam, Abraham, and Phineas, have successively animated the great men of their nation. Philo says that the air is full of spirits, and that some, through their natural propensity, join themselves to bodies; and that others have an aversion from such a union. See several other things relative to this point in his treatises, De Plant. Noe-De Gigantibus-De Confus. Ling.-De Somniis, c. and see Calmet, where he is pretty largely quoted.
The Hindoos believe that the most of their misfortunes arise out of the sins of a former birth; and, in moments of grief not unfrequently break out into exclamations like the following:-"Ah! in a former birth how many sins must I have committed, that I am thus afflicted!" "I am now suffering for the sins of a former birth; and the sins that I am now committing are to fill me with misery in a following birth. There is no end to my sufferings!"
Josephus, Ant. b. xvii. c. 1, s. 3, and War, b. ii. c. 8, s. 14, gives an account of the doctrine of the Pharisees on this subject. He intimates that the souls of those only who were pious were permitted to reanimate human bodies, and this was rather by way of reward than punishment; and that the souls of the vicious are put into eternal prisons, where they are continually tormented, and out of which they can never escape. But it is very likely that Josephus has not told the whole truth here; and that the doctrine of the Pharisees on this subject was nearly the same with that of the Papists on purgatory. Those who are very wicked go irrecoverably to hell; but those who are not so have the privilege of expiating their venial sins in purgatory. Thus, probably, is the Pharisean doctrine of the transmigration to be understood. Those who were comparatively pious went into other bodies, for the expiation of any remaining guilt which had not been removed previously to a sudden or premature death, after which they were fully prepared for paradise; but others who had been incorrigibly wicked were sent at once into hell, without ever being offered the privilege of amendment, or escape. For the reasons which may be collected above, much as I reverence Bishop Pearce, I cannot agree with his note on this passage, where he says that the words of the disciples should be thus understood:-Who did sin? This man, that he is blind? or his parents, that he was born so? He thinks it probable that the disciples did not know that the man was born blind: if he was, then it was for some sin of his parents-if he was not born so, then this blindness came unto him as a punishment for some crime of his own. It may be just necessary to say, that some of the rabbins believed that it was possible for an infant to sin in the womb, and to be punished with some bodily infirmity in consequence. See several examples in Lightfoot on this place.
