John 2:18

New Living Translation

But the Jewish leaders demanded, "What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?”

King James Version (1611)
Then answered the Iewes, and said vnto him, What signe shewest thou vnto vs, seeing that thou doest these things?

King James Version
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

English Standard Version
So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?"

New American Standard Bible
The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?"

New Century Version
Some of his people said to Jesus, "Show us a miracle to prove you have the right to do these things."

Amplified Bible
Then the Jews retorted, "What sign (attesting miracle) can You show us as [proof of] your authority for doing these things?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?"

Legacy Standard Bible
The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?"

Berean Standard Bible
On account of this, the Jews demanded, "What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?"

Contemporary English Version
The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?"

Complete Jewish Bible
So the Judeans confronted him by asking him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove you have the right to do all this?"

Darby Translation
The Jews therefore answered and said to him, What sign shewest thou to us, that thou doest these things?

Easy-to-Read Version
Some Jews said to Jesus, "Show us a miracle as a sign from God. Prove that you have the right to do these things."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then answered the Iewes, and saide vnto him, What signe shewest thou vnto vs, that thou doest these things?

George Lamsa Translation
The Jews answered and said to him, What sign do you show us, that you are doing these things?

Good News Translation
The Jewish authorities came back at him with a question, "What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?"

Lexham English Bible
So the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign do you show to us, because you are doing these things?"

Literal Translation
Then the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?

American Standard Version
The Jews therefore answered and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

Bible in Basic English
Then the Jews put this question to him: What sign of authority have you to give us, seeing that you do these things?

Hebrew Names Version
The Yehudim therefore answered him, "What sign do you show to us, seeing that you do these things?"

International Standard Version
Then the Jews said to him, "What sign can you show us as authority for doing these things?"Matthew 12:38; John 6:30;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
The Jihudoyee answered and said to him, What sign showest thou to us, as these things thou doest ?

Murdock Translation
But the Jews replied, and said to him: What sign showest thou to us, since thou doest these things?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then aunswered the Iewes, & sayde vnto hym: What token shewest thou vnto vs, seeyng that thou doest these thynges?

English Revised Version
The Jews therefore answered and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

World English Bible
The Jews therefore answered him, "What sign do you show to us, seeing that you do these things?"

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Then answered the Jews and said to him, What sign shewest thou us, seeing thou dost these things?

Weymouth's New Testament
So the Jews asked Him, "What proof of your authority do you exhibit to us, seeing that you do these things?"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor the Jewis answeriden, and seiden to hym, What token schewist thou to vs, that thou doist these thingis?

Update Bible Version
The Jews therefore answered and said to him, What sign do you show to us, seeing that you do these things?

Webster's Bible Translation
Then answered the Jews, and said to him, What sign showest thou to us, seeing that thou doest these things?

New English Translation
So then the Jewish leaders responded, "What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?"

New King James Version
So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"

New Life Bible
Then the Jews asked Him, "What can You do to show us You have the right and the power to do these things?"

New Revised Standard
The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The Jews therefore answered, and said unto him, What sign, dost thou point out to us, in that, these things, thou doest?

Douay-Rheims Bible
The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to him: What sign dost thou shew unto us, seeing thou dost these things?

Revised Standard Version
The Jews then said to him, "What sign have you to show us for doing this?"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Then answered the Iewes and sayde vnto him: what token shewest thou vnto vs seynge that thou dost these thinges?

Young's Literal Translation
the Jews then answered and said to him, `What sign dost thou shew to us -- that thou dost these things?'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then answered the Iewes, and sayde vnto him: What token shewest thou vnto vs, that thou mayest do these thinges?

Mace New Testament (1729)
whereupon the Jews said, what miracle can you show to justify your behaviour?

THE MESSAGE
But the Jews were upset. They asked, "What credentials can you present to justify this?" Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple and in three days I'll put it back together."

Simplified Cowboy Version
But Jesus's actions stirred up the Jewish leaders. They asked him, "Who do you think you are? If God gave you authority to do this, then give us a sign to prove it, cowboy."

Contextual Overview

¹² After the wedding he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples. ¹³ It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. ¹⁵ Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. ¹⁶ Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, "Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father's house into a marketplace!" ¹⁷ Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: "Passion for God's house will consume me." ¹⁸ But the Jewish leaders demanded, "What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it." ¹⁹ "All right," Jesus replied. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ²⁰ "What!" they exclaimed. "It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?" ²¹ But when Jesus said "this temple," he meant his own body.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: John 6:30, Matthew 12:38-42, Matthew 16:1-4, Mark 8:11, Luke 11:29

seeing: John 1:25, Matthew 21:23, Mark 11:27, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:1, Luke 20:2, Acts 4:7, Acts 5:28

Reciprocal: Exodus 7:9 - Show 1 Kings 13:3 - General Matthew 21:10 - Who Mark 14:57 - and bare Mark 15:29 - Ah John 4:48 - Except Romans 1:4 - the Son 1 Corinthians 1:22 - the Jews

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

Genesis 2:7
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Genesis 2:9
The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:11
The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found.

Genesis 2:12
The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there.

Genesis 2:13
The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush.

Genesis 3:12
The man replied, "It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it."

Ruth 3:1
One day Naomi said to Ruth, "My daughter, it's time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for.

Proverbs 18:22
The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord .

1 Corinthians 7:36
But if a man thinks that he's treating his fiancée improperly and will inevitably give in to his passion, let him marry her as he wishes. It is not a sin.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then answered the Jews, and said unto him,.... They did not lay hands on him, or offer any violence to him; they did not, as the inhabitants of Nazareth did, thrust him out, and lead him to a precipice, to cast him down headlong; nor did they take up stones to stone him, as they afterwards did, when he asserted his deity: and it is surprising, that they did not rise up and destroy him at once, a single man, unarmed, and without assistance, having so highly provoked them; the restraint upon them must be his almighty power: nor do they deny what he suggested, that they had made his Father's house an house of merchandise; nor do they offer to vindicate their profanation of the temple, or object to the purging of it; only demand a proof of his right to do it: and which demand was made, not by the common people, or by the sellers of oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers, who were drove out, and had not spirit to rally again; but by the chief priests and elders, the sanhedrim of the nation, who had the care and government of the temple, and under whose authority the above persons acted; and whose gain and worldly interest were promoted hereby, as a like demand was afterwards made by the same persons; see Matthew 21:23;

what sign shewest thou unto us, seeing thou dost these things? they argued, that either he did these things of himself, by his own authority, and then they must be deemed rash and unjustifiable; or he did it by the authority of others: they knew it was not by theirs, who were the great council of the nation, from whom he should have had his instructions and orders, if he acted by human authority; and if he pretended to a divine authority, as they supposed he did, then they insisted upon a sign or miracle to be wrought, to prove that God was his Father, as he suggested; and that he was the proprietor and owner of the temple, and had a right to purge it, as he had done; see 1 Corinthians 1:22.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What sign ... - What “miracle” dost thou work? He assumed the character of a prophet. He was reforming, by his “authority,” the temple. It was natural to ask by what authority this was done; and as they had been accustomed to miracles in the life of Moses, and Elijah, and the other prophets, so they demanded evidence that he had authority thus to cleanse the house of God.

Seeing that thou doest - Rather “by what title or authority thou doest these things.” Our translation is ambiguous. They wished to know “by what miracle” he had shown, or could show, his right to do those things.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 2:18. What sign showest thou — See notes on Matthew 12:38; Matthew 16:1. When Moses came to deliver Israel, he gave signs, or miracles, that he acted under a Divine commission. What miracle dost thou work to show us that thou art vested with similar authority?