John 5:39
New International Version
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,

New Living Translation
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!

English Standard Version
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

Berean Standard Bible
You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

Berean Literal Bible
You diligently search the Scriptures because you think to have eternal life in them, and these are they bearing witness concerning Me;

King James Bible
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

New King James Version
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

New American Standard Bible
You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me;

NASB 1995
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

NASB 1977
“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;

Legacy Standard Bible
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about Me;

Amplified Bible
You search and keep on searching and examining the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and yet it is those [very Scriptures] that testify about Me;

Christian Standard Bible
You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me.

American Standard Version
Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Search the scriptures, for in them you hope that you have eternal life, and they testify concerning Me,

Contemporary English Version
You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Search the scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give testimony of me.

English Revised Version
Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You study the Scriptures in detail because you think you have the source of eternal life in them. These Scriptures testify on my behalf.

Good News Translation
You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me!

International Standard Version
You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about me.

Literal Standard Version
You search the Writings, because you think in them to have continuous life, and these are they that are testifying concerning Me;

Majority Standard Bible
You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

New American Bible
You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.

NET Bible
You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,

New Revised Standard Version
“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.

New Heart English Bible
You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have everlasting life; and these are they which testify about me.

Webster's Bible Translation
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Weymouth New Testament
"You search the Scriptures, because you suppose that in them you will find the Life of the Ages; and it is those Scriptures that yield testimony concerning me;

World English Bible
“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.

Young's Literal Translation
'Ye search the Writings, because ye think in them to have life age-during, and these are they that are testifying concerning me;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Witness of Scripture
38nor does His word abide in you, because you do not believe the One He sent. 39You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, 40yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.

Luke 24:25
Then Jesus said to them, "O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

Luke 24:27
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

John 5:40
yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

John 7:52
"Aren't you also from Galilee?" they replied. "Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee."

Acts 13:27
The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.

Romans 2:17
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;


Treasury of Scripture

Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Search.

John 5:46
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

John 7:52
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes…

ye think.

Deuteronomy 32:47
For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 21:4
He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.

they which.

John 5:32,36
There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true…

John 1:45
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Deuteronomy 18:15,18
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; …

See on

Luke 24:27,44
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself…

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John 5
1. Jesus on the Sabbath day cures him who was diseased thirty-eight years.
10. The Jews therefore object, and persecute him for it.
17. He answers for himself, and reproves them, showing by the testimony of his Father,
31. of John,
36. of his works,
39. and of the Scriptures, who he is.














(39) Search the scriptures.--Better, Ye search the Scriptures. The question whether the mood is imperative or indicative, whether we have here a commandment to examine the writings of the Old Testament canon, or a reference to their habit of doing so, is one which has been discussed through the whole history of New Testament exposition, and one on which the opinion of those best qualified to judge has been, and is, almost equally divided. It is not a question of the form of the Greek word, for it may certainly be either. The English reader therefore is in a position to form his own opinion, and is in possession of almost all the evidence. He should observe that all the parallel verbs in the context are in the indicative--"Ye have neither heard" . . . "nor have seen" (John 5:37); "Ye have not His Word . . . ye believe not" (John 5:38); "Ye think that . . . ye have" (John 5:39); "Ye will not . . ye might have" (John 5:40). Why should there be a sudden change of construction in this instance only?

We find, then, this order of thought. (1) God has in the Old Testament witnessed of Me, but ye, with unreceptive hearts, have never heard a voice nor seen a shape of God (John 5:37). (2) Ye have not His word dwelling in you, or it would have witnessed of Me (John 5:38). (3) Instead of receiving the Scriptures as a living power within you, ye search and explain the letter of them from without (John 5:39). (4) Ye think they contain eternal life, and hence your reverence for them (John 5:39). (5) They really are witnesses of Me, and yet you; seeking in them eternal life, are not willing to come to Me that ye may have this life. . . .

Verses 39, 40. -

(d) The witness of the Scriptures. Verse 39. - Ye search the Scriptures. A large number of commentators, from Chrysostom and Augustine to Luther, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, M'Clellan, Luthardt, and Ewald, with the Authorized Version, regard this as an imperative command. This is grammatical, and corresponds to the language of Isaiah 34:16; but with Cyril, Bengel, De Wette, Meyer, Godet, Lange, Westcott, Plummer, Watkins, we think the whole context demands the indicative. The second clause, "because in them," etc., follows far more obviously upon an assertion than upon a precept. The "ye will not" that follows is far more in harmony with the indicative than with the supposed command. The Lord says, "You have a third great testimony to my claim, and yet you are not prepared to accept it." Ye search the Scriptures. The verb ἐρεῦναν is used (John 7:52; 1 Peter 1:11; Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:10) for minute, prolonged search. The kind of investigation which the rabbis spent upon the text and letter of the Holy Scriptures is a proverb, and led to the allegorical mystical meanings of the Genesisaras and other Hebrew literature. "Ye search the Scriptures" rather than the living Word, rather than the Divine meaning and message from the living God which they do contain. This is one term out of many which the Lord employed for the sacred literature which was the great heritage of the Hebrew people. Elsewhere he called it "the Law," "the Law and prophets," "Moses and the prophets," "your Law," "the wisdom of God." He admits their study, prolonged and eager, of the sacred writings, and he justifies the ground and motive of such search, viz.: because ye think in them ye have eternal life; or, ye shall have, or shall find, eternal life. Some powerful critics, like Meyer, urge that our Lord agrees so far with the Jews, that he sympathizes with their search, and that censure or ironical language would be inconsistent with the Saviour's reverence for the Scriptures. But the expression is very unusual on that hypothesis, "Ye think [or, 'imagine'] ye have in them," rather than "ye have through them." Surely our Lord is here condemning the superstitious idea that, in the mere possession of the letter, they were possessors of the eternal life; that, apart from the indwelling Word, apart from the heart of the message itself, some magical advantage was springing. Hillel, whoso view of Scripture may be expressed in a saying ('Aboth,' 2:8), "He who has gotten to himself words of the Law hath gotten to himself the life of the world to come," here differs utterly from the Lord, who, on the doctrine of Holy Scripture, takes ground similar to that which he had taken with reference to the temple and the sabbath. It is not the bare possession of the Scriptures, nor the prolonged examination of its mere letter, that is the condition of eternal life. "Search" which is originated and stimulated by a vague idea of the life-giving force of the letter, is illusive. We may think that in them we have eternal life, but our Lord would undeceive us. Moreover, from the depths of his own consciousness and knowledge of his own mission, he adds: And they are they which testify concerning me. This is one of the keynotes of New Testament teaching, viz. Christ's idea of the Old Testament, that it was a sketch or portraiture drawn in successive ages and on various material of himself - that it was an outline of great principles which he was about, not to rub out, but to fill in, not "to destroy, but to fulfil." The histories, the experiences, the ceremonial, the dynasties; the offices, the songs and prayers, the predictive and typical sorrows there depicted, were all prelibations and unconscious prophecies of himself. "They testify concerning me," and, together with my works and with my forerunner and, more than all, with my Father's own voice speaking and my Father's own face shining through all, they complete the manifold testimony to the fact that I have come to do his will, to work with him, to deliver, to restore, to give life, and to execute judgment also, when my hour is come. If this be so, then strange, inconsistent, and tragic is the ultimate issue -

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
You pore over
Ἐραυνᾶτε (Eraunate)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2045: To search diligently, examine. Apparently from ereo; to seek, i.e. to investigate.

the
τὰς (tas)
Article - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Scriptures
γραφάς (graphas)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1124: (a) a writing, (b) a passage of scripture; plur: the scriptures. A document, i.e. Holy Writ.

because
ὅτι (hoti)
Conjunction
Strong's 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

you
ὑμεῖς (hymeis)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

presume that
δοκεῖτε (dokeite)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1380: A prolonged form of a primary verb, doko dok'-o of the same meaning; to think; by implication, to seem.

by
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

them
αὐταῖς (autais)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Feminine 3rd Person Plural
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.

you possess
ἔχειν (echein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 2192: To have, hold, possess. Including an alternate form scheo skheh'-o; a primary verb; to hold.

eternal
αἰώνιον (aiōnion)
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 166: From aion; perpetual.

life.
ζωὴν (zōēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2222: Life, both of physical (present) and of spiritual (particularly future) existence. From zao; life.

These
ἐκεῖναί (ekeinai)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1565: That, that one there, yonder. From ekei; that one (neuter) thing); often intensified by the article prefixed.

are
εἰσιν (eisin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

the [very words that]
αἱ (hai)
Article - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

testify
μαρτυροῦσαι (martyrousai)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3140: To witness, bear witness, give evidence, testify, give a good report. From martus; to be a witness, i.e. Testify.

about
περὶ (peri)
Preposition
Strong's 4012: From the base of peran; properly, through, i.e. Around; figuratively with respect to; used in various applications, of place, cause or time.

Me,
ἐμοῦ (emou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.


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NT Gospels: John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 5:38
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