John 6:30 So they asked Him, "What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do?

◄ John 6:30 ►

New International Version
So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

New Living Translation
They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?

English Standard Version
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

Berean Standard Bible
So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do?

Berean Literal Bible
Therefore they said to Him, "Then what sign are You doing, that we may see and may believe You? What work do You perform?

King James Bible
They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

New King James Version
Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?

New American Standard Bible
So they said to Him, “What then are You doing as a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work are You performing?

NASB 1995
So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

NASB 1977
They said therefore to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

Legacy Standard Bible
So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

Amplified Bible
So they said to Him, “What sign (attesting miracle) will You do that we may see it and believe You? What [supernatural] work will You do [as proof]?

Christian Standard Bible
“What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you? ” they asked. “What are you going to perform?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?” they asked. “What are You going to perform?

American Standard Version
They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou?

Contemporary English Version
They replied, "What miracle will you work, so that we can have faith in you? What will you do?

English Revised Version
They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The people asked him, "What miracle are you going to perform so that we can see it and believe in you? What are you going to do?

Good News Translation
They replied, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

International Standard Version
So they asked him, "What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing?

Majority Standard Bible
So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do?

NET Bible
So they said to him, "Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

New Heart English Bible
They said therefore to him, "What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do?

Webster's Bible Translation
They said therefore to him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

Weymouth New Testament
"What miracle then," they asked, "do you perform for us to see and become believers in you? What do you *do*?

World English Bible
They said therefore to him, “What then do you do for a sign, that we may see and believe you? What work do you do?

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
Therefore they said to Him, “What sign, then, do You do, that we may see and may believe You? What do You work?

Berean Literal Bible
Therefore they said to Him, "Then what sign are You doing, that we may see and may believe You? What work do You perform?

Young's Literal Translation
They said therefore to him, 'What sign, then, dost thou, that we may see and may believe thee? what dost thou work?

Smith's Literal Translation
Then said they to him, What sign doest thou, that we might see, and believe thee? what workest thou?

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
They said therefore to him: What sign therefore dost thou shew, that we may see, and may believe thee? What dost thou work?

Catholic Public Domain Version
And so they said to him: “Then what sign will you do, so that we may see it and believe in you? What will you work?

New American Bible
So they said to him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?

New Revised Standard Version
So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
They said to him, What miracle do you perform that we may see and believe in you? What have you performed?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
They were saying to him, “What sign will you do, that we may see and believe in you? What sign will you perform?

NT Translations

Anderson New Testament
Therefore, they said to him: "What sign do you show, then, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?

Godbey New Testament
Then they said to Him, Then what miracle do you perform, that we may see, and believe you, what you may do?

Haweis New Testament
Then said they to him, What miracle therefore dost thou, that we may see and believe thee? what dost thou work?

Mace New Testament
but said they, what miracle then will you let us see to make us believe you? what strange work will you perform?

Weymouth New Testament
"What miracle then," they asked, "do you perform for us to see and become believers in you? What do you *do*?

Worrell New Testament
They said, therefore, to Him, "What sign doest Thou, then, that we may see, and believe Thee? What doest Thou?

Worsley New Testament
Therefore said they unto Him, What sign dost thou shew, that we may see it, and believe Thee? What work dost thou do?

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Jesus the Bread of Life
…29Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” 30So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Exodus 16:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.

Exodus 16:15
When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.

Numbers 11:7-9
Now the manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of gum resin. / The people walked around and gathered it, ground it on a handmill or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot or shaped it into cakes. It tasted like pastry baked with fine oil. / When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

Psalm 78:24-25
He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. / Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

Nehemiah 9:15
In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land that You had sworn to give them.

Psalm 105:40
They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

Isaiah 55:2-3
Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods. / Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

Deuteronomy 8:3
He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

1 Corinthians 10:3-4
They all ate the same spiritual food / and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Matthew 12:38-39
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” / Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Matthew 16:1-4
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. / But He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red,’ / and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times. ...

Mark 8:11-12
Then the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, testing Him by demanding from Him a sign from heaven. / Jesus sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

Luke 11:29-30
As the crowds were increasing, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. / For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.

John 2:18
On account of this, the Jews demanded, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?”

John 4:48
Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

Treasury of Scripture

They said therefore to him, What sign show you then, that we may see, and believe you? what do you work?

What.

John 2:18
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

John 4:8
(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Exodus 4:8
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

see.

John 6:36
But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

John 10:38
But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

John 12:37
But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

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John 6

1. Jesus feeds five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes.
15. Thereupon the people would have made him king;
16. but withdrawing himself, he walks on the sea to his disciples;
26. reproves the people flocking after him, and all the fleshly hearers of his word;
32. declares himself to be the bread of life to believers.
66. Many disciples depart from him.
68. Peter confesses him.
70. Judas is a devil.

Berean Study Bible

So they asked Him
This phrase indicates a direct engagement with Jesus, reflecting the people's desire for understanding and proof. The Greek word for "asked" is "ἐρωτάω" (erōtaō), which implies a questioning or inquiring nature. Historically, this reflects the Jewish tradition of seeking signs as validation of divine authority, a practice rooted in the Old Testament where prophets often performed signs to confirm their message.

What sign then will You perform
The word "sign" in Greek is "σημεῖον" (sēmeion), which refers to a miraculous event that points to a deeper spiritual truth. In the context of the Gospel of John, signs are not just miracles but are meant to reveal Jesus' divine nature and mission. The people's request for a sign shows their reliance on physical evidence for belief, a recurring theme in the Bible where faith is often challenged by the need for tangible proof.

so that we may see it and believe You?
The phrase "see it and believe" underscores the human tendency to rely on sight for belief, contrasting with the biblical call to faith. The Greek word for "believe" is "πιστεύω" (pisteuō), which means to trust or have faith in. This reflects a deeper spiritual challenge: the call to believe in Jesus not just through physical signs but through spiritual understanding and trust in His word.

What will You do?
This question highlights the expectation for Jesus to demonstrate His authority through action. It echoes the Israelites' historical experiences where God's power was often demonstrated through mighty acts, such as the parting of the Red Sea or the provision of manna. Theologically, this question challenges believers to consider the nature of faith and the evidence they require to trust in Jesus' divine mission.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) What dost thou work?--They feel that His words are an assertion that He is the Messiah, and they demand of Him Messianic signs and works. Do they demand a sign who had seen the thousands fed, and would then have made Him a king? It was but yesterday that He was obliged to withdraw from the enthusiasm of the multitude. Do they today need a further proof? The answer is to be found partly in the fact that a feeling soon quickened is soon cooled, and that even the disciples had not learnt the true meaning of the earlier sign (John 6:19); and partly in the fact that He Himself had taught them since, that the work of life was spiritual and eternal, and that He too could give them that food. This seems to them a claim to a power in the world of spirit analogous to that which He had exercised in the world of matter. They demand proof of this power. Where is the sign of it? What is the work that He Himself does answering to the work of faith which He demands from them?

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - They said therefore to him, What then doest thou as a sign that we may see and believe thee? There is a kind of irony in the inquiry, "What doest thou?" There is at least some ironical mystification of the words of Jesus, "If we have not seen, as thou sayest, the sign, which we thought sufficient to induce us to hail thee as our Prophet-King, what sign wilt thou give us now? If we are to believe on thee, what sign art thou ready to show now that we may see it, and believe thee, i.e. take thy word as trustworthy, and so begin to consider whether it will be safe to believe in, to entrust ourselves to, thee?" It has been the peculiarity of the Jewish mind in all ages to seek after a sign, to desire some irresistible reason for invincible faith. In certain stages of immaturity and states of unrest we passionately ask for signs even now - for something more than silent words, for more than past memories, for some voice out of heaven, some gleams of glory, that "we may see and believe." These frames of mind are no whit more reprehensible than the Greek demand for unanswerable argument, for logical harmony, or for sure demonstration. They said to him, What dost thou work? How wilt thou vindicate thy demand for such implicit trust? This very question has been made into a reason for breaking all historic connection between the miracle of the feeding and the dialogue and discourse before us (Grotius, Kuinoel, B. Bauer, Weisse, and Schenkel). It is, however, clear that they were still revolving the work of the past day, which Jesus had depreciated per se, and which, apart from the higher lesson it might have conveyed to them, and apart from the wrong conclusion they had been drawing from it, grievously perplexed them, and seemed insufficient to establish the new claim of Jesus. They, too, begin to depreciate it in comparison with a corresponding sign which Moses had wrought for their fathers. Verily if Moses had been the mediator of the portentous sign of the manna, if Moses had been its real anther, it was a much greater sign than what they witnessed at Bethsaida. For forty years the miraculous bread had been lavished upon them. Daily and weekly it proved its supernatural character. In quantity, quality, prolongation, and renewal day by day, and in its cessation when they ate the fresh corn of Canaan, they not unnaturally saw something immeasurably more vast and imposing than the offer of a single meal to a little company of five thousand men. Christ had wrought a τέρας, an ἔργον, but they had not seen the real σημεῖον involved in it. He himself suggested that something entirely different from that meal, and different from their conclusions concerning it was the true "sign." Let him work the same adequate sign. They are not repudiating all knowledge of the feeding of the five thousand, nor revealing their ignorance of it. They are thrown back on their ingrained passion for supernatural proof, not as yet satisfied by what Christ had done.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Greek

So
οὖν (oun)
Conjunction
Strong's 3767: Therefore, then. Apparently a primary word; certainly, or accordingly.

they asked
Εἶπον (Eipon)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

Him,
αὐτῷ (autō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

“What
Τί (Ti)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.

sign
σημεῖον (sēmeion)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4592: Neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of semaino; an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturally.

then
οὖν (oun)
Conjunction
Strong's 3767: Therefore, then. Apparently a primary word; certainly, or accordingly.

{will} You
σὺ (sy)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

perform,
ποιεῖς (poieis)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

so that
ἵνα (hina)
Conjunction
Strong's 2443: In order that, so that. Probably from the same as the former part of heautou; in order that.

we may see [it]
ἴδωμεν (idōmen)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

believe
πιστεύσωμέν (pisteusōmen)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 4100: From pistis; to have faith, i.e. Credit; by implication, to entrust.

You?
σοι (soi)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

What
τί (ti)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5101: Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.

will You do?
ἐργάζῃ (ergazē)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 2038: To work, trade, perform, do, practice, commit, acquire by labor.

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NT Gospels: John 6:30 They said therefore to him What then (Jhn Jo Jn)