Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.
Parallel Translations
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Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.
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Iesus answered and sayde: this voyce cam not because of me but for youre sakes.
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Iesus answered, and said, This voyce came not because of me, but for your sakes.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to John 12:30 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- John 11:42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
- John 11:15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
- John 5:34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 30. This voice came not for my sake. Had…
30. This voice came not for my sake. Had Christ no need of being strengthened, or did the Father care less for him than for us? But we must attend to this principle. As it was on our account that Christ clothed himself with flesh, so all the blessings which he received from the Father were bestowed on our account. Again, it is also true, that the voice came from heaven for the sake of the people; for he had no need of an outward miracle. Besides, there is here an indirect reproof, that the Jews are deaf like stones to the voice of God; for since God speaks for their sake, there can be no excuse for their ingratitude, when they do not lend their ears.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Christ foretelleth to the deaf, the manner of his…
Christ foretelleth to the deaf, the manner of his death, the overcoming of the devil and the world, and in conclusion his triumph.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not…
30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
Ver. 30. But for your sakes] That ye might believe; which if ye do not, how shall ye escape that neglect so great salvation, such a heavenly preacher? See then that ye refuse not, that ye shift not off, him that speaks from heaven; see that ye turn not from him, whose voice once shook the earth, but now heaven too, παραιτησησθε, Heb 12:25-26.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This voice came not to instruct me, I very…
This voice came not to instruct me, I very well knew, before it came, that my Father had glorified his own name, and would do it again; it came not principally nor solely for me, but chiefly to confirm you in this great truth, that I am the Son of God, and he whom he hath sent into the world, by and in whom he designs to glorify his own great name.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now is the judgment of this world,.... That is,…
Now is the judgment of this world,.... That is, in a very short time will be the judgment either of the Jewish world, when that shall be reproved, convinced, and condemned for their sin of rejecting Christ, and crucifying him, by the Spirit, in the ministration of the Gospel; and they still continuing in their impenitence and unbelief, in process of time wrath will come upon them, upon their nation, city, and temple, to the uttermost; or of the Gentile world, when there shall be a discrimination, and separation made in it, of the chosen of God, who shall be called by special grace, and with the converted and believing Jews, shall form a Gospel church state, separate from the world of the ungodly; or of the world of God's elect among Jews and Gentiles, whose cause, being undertook by Christ, he will now vindicate it, and redeem them from sin and Satan, who have usurped a power and dominion over them: hence it follows,
now shall the prince of this world be cast out. The phrase, , "the prince of the world", is much used by Jewish writers (d), by whom an angel is meant; and they seem to design the angel of death, which is the devil: and it is certain, that he is here intended, and is so called, not because he has any legal power and authority over the world; but because he has usurped a dominion over it, and has great power and efficacy in the hearts of the children of disobedience, who yield a voluntary subjection to him, as if he was their proper lord and sovereign: now the time was at hand, when he should be cast out of the empire of the world he had assumed, and out of the temples of the Gentiles, and out of the hearts of God's elect among them.
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(d) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 16. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. & Cholin, fol. 60. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 30. This voice came not because of me,…
Verse 30. This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.] Probably meaning those Greeks who had been brought to him by Philip and Andrew. The Jews had frequent opportunities of seeing his miracles, and of being convinced that he was the Messiah; but these Greeks, who were to be a first fruits of the Gentiles, had never any such opportunity. For their sakes, therefore, to confirm them in the faith, this miraculous voice appears to have come from heaven.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Came not because of me - Not to strengthen…
Came not because of me - Not to strengthen or confirm me; not that I had any doubts about my course, or any apprehension that God would not approve me and glorify his name.
For your sakes - To give you a striking and indubitable proof that I am the Messiah; that you may remember it when I am departed, and be yourselves comforted, supported, and saved.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain As the soul of Christ was troubled, not on…
As the soul of Christ was troubled, not on his own account, but for the sake of the people; so this voice came from heaven, not for his sake, but for that of the people. What it announced was already known to him; the advantage and instruction of the Jews was its end, object, and motive. (St. Augustine, 52. tract. in Joan.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Jesus . . . said, This voice came not…
Jesus . . . said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes--that is, probably, to correct the unfavorable impressions which His momentary agitation and mysterious prayer for deliverance may have produced on the by-standers.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 30-33. Jesus announces that this voice is an omen,…
30-33. Jesus announces that this voice is an omen, not for his sake, who well knew the future, but for their sakes; as a proclamation that he was authenticated, as Son of God, to triumph over the prince of this world. To their cavils, therefore, in Joh_12:34, he furnishes no further confirmation of his mission, but warns them to beware (35, 36) how they rejected the light while the light was in their midst.
30. Not because of me—It was an authentication of me, but not for my sake, who well knew my Sonship of the Father.
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For your sakes—It was for their sakes, that they might believe in his humiliation and share in his glory.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 30. Jesus answered] He answered their discussions about the…
30. Jesus answered] He answered their discussions about the sound, and by calling it a voice He decides conclusively against those who supposed it to be thunder. But those who recognised that it was a voice were scarcely less seriously mistaken; their error consisted in not recognising that the voice had a meaning for them. Not for My sake hath this voice come, but for your sakes, i.e. that ye might believe. Comp. Joh_11:42.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (30) This voice came not because of me, but…
(30) This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.—More exactly, not for My sake did this voice come, but for your sakes. These words are an answer to the thoughts, spoken and unspoken, of the multitude. Jesus Himself knew that the Father heareth Him always, but this answer is a sign to others. (Comp. Joh_11:41-42.) He calls it a voice in answer to those who said it thundered, or that an angel had spoken. There was that, then, which seemed to them but the thunder’s sound or an angel’s word, which, coming in answer to His prayer and after His teaching. should have been, to ears ready to hear and minds willing to receive, the voice of God witnessing to the mission of His Son.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Jesus answered to the confused murmur of remark, and…
Jesus answered to the confused murmur of remark, and said, This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes. This surely establishes, on the authority of Jesus, the objective character of the revelation. "It was necessary that you should hear and know and feel who and what I am." Ever thinking of others, living in them, he thinks of their spiritual advantage now. Thoma says that whereas the whole scene corresponds with the synoptic account of Gethsemane, it is idealized on the basis of the Johannine idea of the Divine Lamb and the Loges in flesh, and that Jesus here shows that he needed no strengthening, as the objective revelation was entirely for the sake of others, and not for his own consolation. This ingenious criticism of Thoma rests on the unjustifiable hypothesis that the scene before us did not precede the agony of the garden, but was a bare invention of the evangelist, because the latter ruled that Gethsemane needed "idealization." Why should not the two scenes be equally true, revealing the fundamental identity of character and personality, the one, moreover, preparing for the other? (See notes on Joh 19)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 30. This voice came not because of me. He…
30. This voice came not because of me. He had already won the victory before the voice came. It was rather to confirm the faith of his disciples, who still stumbled over the prospect of his death.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus explains why the voice spoke from heaven.
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Now is the judgment of this world
Here "this world" is a metonym that refers to all the people in the world. AT: "Now is the time for God to judge all of the people" (See: Metonymy)
Now will the ruler of this world be thrown out
Here "ruler" refers to Satan. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "Now is the time when I will destroy the power of Satan who rules this world" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Jesus
voice
judge
world
rule
cast out
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.