This is a bit of a tag-along to my previous post on Mt 17.8.

No extended discussion, just text. First, the Greek from the NA27 for Jn 5.19. I’m interested in the second half of the verse.

19 Ἀπεκρίνατο οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ δύναται ὁ υἱὸς ποιεῖν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ οὐδὲν ἐὰν μή τι βλέπῃ τὸν πατέρα ποιοῦντα· ἃ γὰρ ἂν ἐκεῖνος ποιῇ, ταῦτα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁμοίως ποιεῖ. (Jn 5.19, NA27)

Next, from the NIV:

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.  (Jn 5.19, NIV)

The only difference in the TNIV is “Very truly I tell you” instead of “I tell you the truth”.

Here’s the same verse in the present draft of John’s gospel for the Lexham English Bible (LEB) which is being published electronically by Logos Bible Software (my employer; further disclaimer that I’m deeply involved in the project). The draft of John isn’t public yet, but Romans-Revelation has been released (and is in Logos 4!) and a little birdie told me that Matthew and Mark may be released in the next few weeks, at which point an auto-update will distribute the updated resource and reverse interlinear to all who have it.

Anyway, here’s John 5.19 in the LEB:

19 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself except what he sees the Father doing. For whatever that one does, these [things] also the Son does likewise. (Jn 5.19, LEB [draft])

So, the NIV supplies “the Father” as the demonstrative pronoun. OK. That’s fine (though I would prefer keeping the demonstrative). The kicker is in the end of the verse: NIV has “the Son also does” which conveys the basics; a more literal approach like the one taken by the LEB kicks it home: “these things also the Son does likewise.” The repetition is important, and it just kind of gets lost here in the NIV (and TNIV). For comparison, here’s the ESV (which conveys some of the repetition):

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (Jn 5.19, ESV)

And here’s the NASB, which does better:

19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. (Jn 5.19, NASB95)

And, to round it out, here’s the NET, which is very close to the ESV:

5:19 So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. (Jn 5.19, NET)

OK, so you know, I’m not going to be one of those guys who only complains about a particular translation. Translation is hard work. Good translation is even more difficult. And the NIV is a good translation. (There, I said it, and I stand by it). But one of the things I look for in a translation (for my own purposes, which may not align with everyone else’s) is transparency. That is, transparency to the underlying text. It doesn’t have to be word-for-word literal; sound like Yoda it must not. But it should also be somewhat transparent to the underlying text. What, like it wasn’t somewhat repetitious to the Greeks reading it and hearing it initially? Of course it was. That’s the point, and that’s why I like to see stuff like this come through in a translation as well.