Pastor John:
This is your translation of John 10:29:
“My Father who gave me all things is greater than all, and no one can snatch anything out of my Father’s hand.”
My question is this: In the King James Version, John 10:29 reads, “My Father who gave me them [referring to his sheep] is greater than all…”
Your translation says, “My Father who gave me all things….” I was just wondering what your thought processes were in making that change.
Thanks.
Jim K.
==========
Hi Jim.
If you will notice, “them” is in italics in the King James, while in my translation, “all things” is in italics. This means that the “them” in the KJV and the “all things” in my version were added, for there is no Greek word in that verse for either “them” or “all things”. Something must be added in order for the verse to make sense in English, and the translator must decide which word is best to add.
You may have noticed the same thing with the word “anything”, later in verse 29. It, too, is in italics because we added that word to the original text. The KJV chose to add the word “them” instead of “anything”. Again, a choice had to be made in order for the verse to make sense in English, and since Jesus did say in another place that all things had been given to him by the Father, we felt that “all things” fit well here.
I hope that is sufficient explanation of the difference between our translation of John 10:29 and the King James’ translation. We strive to keep our additions to a minimum, but this is one of those verses that forced us to add words. I hope that what we chose is understandable.
Thanks for writing.
Pastor John