John 5:31

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

King James Version (1611)
If I beare witnesse of my selfe, my witnesse is not true.

King James Version
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

English Standard Version
If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

New American Standard Bible
"If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.

New Century Version
"If only I tell people about myself, what I say is not true.

Amplified Bible
"If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.

Legacy Standard Bible
"If I alone bear witness about Myself, My witness is not true.

Berean Standard Bible
If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.

Contemporary English Version
If I speak for myself, there is no way to prove I am telling the truth.

Complete Jewish Bible
"If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not valid.

Darby Translation
If I bear witness concerning myself, my witness is not true.

Easy-to-Read Version
"If I tell people about myself, they cannot be sure that what I say is true.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If I should beare witnesse of my selfe, my witnesse were not true.

George Lamsa Translation
If I testify concerning myself, my testimony is not true.

Good News Translation
"If I testify on my own behalf, what I say is not to be accepted as real proof.

Lexham English Bible
"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

Literal Translation
If I witness concerning Myself, My witness is not true;

American Standard Version
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

Bible in Basic English
If I gave witness about myself, my witness would not be true.

Hebrew Names Version
"If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.

International Standard Version
"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.John 8:14; Revelation 3:14;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
If I should witness concerning myself, my testimony would not be (regarded as) truth:

Murdock Translation
If I should bear testimony respecting myself, my testimony would not be valid.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yf I shoulde beare witnesse of my selfe, my witnesse were not true.

English Revised Version
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

World English Bible
"If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
If I testify of myself, my testimony is not valid.

Weymouth's New Testament
"If I give testimony concerning myself, my testimony cannot be accepted.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If Y bere witnessing of my silf, my witnessyng is not trewe;

Update Bible Version
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

Webster's Bible Translation
If I testify concerning myself, my testimony is not true.

New English Translation
"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

New King James Version
"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.

New Living Translation
"If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.

New Life Bible
If I tell about Myself, My words are worth nothing.

New Revised Standard
"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, I, bear witness, concerning myself, my witness, is not, true.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

Revised Standard Version
If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Yf I beare witnes of my selfe my witnes is not true.

Young's Literal Translation
`If I testify concerning myself, my testimony is not true;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf I beare wytnesse of my self, my wytnesse is not true.

Mace New Testament (1729)
if I testified of my self, my testimony would be suspected.

Simplified Cowboy Version
"You know, I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard about me already. I didn't just come up with this on my own.

Contextual Overview

³⁴"But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I'm speaking to you this way so that you will be saved. John was a torch, blazing and bright, and you were glad enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light. But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John's witness. It's the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously. ³⁹"You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want. ⁴¹"I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God? ⁴⁵"But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

John 8:13, John 8:14, John 8:54, Proverbs 27:2, Revelation 3:14

Reciprocal: John 3:11 - ye John 8:18 - and John 10:37 - General 1 John 5:9 - we

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I bear witness of myself,.... Which was not allowed any man to do; nor indeed is it proper that a man should be a witness in his own cause: and, according to the Jewish canons, a man might not be a witness for his wife, because she was reckoned as himself.

"An husband is not to be believed in bearing witness for his wife, that had been carried captive, that she is not defiled, שאין אדם מעיד לעצמו, "for no man witness of himself" k.''

So likewise they say l,

"a city that is subdued by an army, all the priestesses (or priests' daughters) that are found in it are rejected (from the priesthood, as defiled); but if they have witnesses, whether a servant, or an handmaid, lo, they are to be believed; but no man is to be believed for himself: says R. Zechariah ben Hakatzah, by this habitation (swearing by the temple) her hand was not removed from my hand, from the time the Gentiles entered Jerusalem, till they went out: they replied to him, "no man bears witness of himself".''

Christ reasons here upon their own principles, and according to their sense of things, that should he bear witness of himself; then, says he,

my witness is not true, לא נאמן, not to be believed, or admitted as an authentic testimony: and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "is not credible"; not valid in law, or in such a court of judicature in which Christ now was; for, as according to the Jewish law, no man was admitted a witness for himself, so neither was anything established by a single testimony, but by the mouth of two or three witnesses, Deuteronomy 19:15. Christ's meaning is, that his testimony alone, his single witness, how true soever it was, would stand for nothing in their court; and therefore he would not insist upon it, but drop it; for "true" here, is not opposed to that which is "false", but to that which is not valid in law. Christ's testimony was true in itself; nor could it be any other, it coming from him, who is truth itself, the "Amen", and faithful witness; but being considered as an human testimony, and in his own cause, was not to be admitted as sufficient; and this he allows. From arguments, proving his equality with the Father, he passes to testimonies; and without ranking use of his own, he had enough to produce, and which were valid and authentic, and are as follow.

k Maimon. Issure Bia, c. 18. sect. 19. l Misn. Cetubot, c. 2. sect. 9. T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 27. 2. Juchasin, fol. 56. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If I bear witness of myself - If I have no other evidence than my own testimony about myself.

My witness - My testimony; my evidence. The proof would not be decisive.

Is not true - The word “true,” here, means worthy of belief, or established by suitable evidence. See Matthew 22:16; “We Know that thou art true” - that is, worthy of confidence, or that thou hast been truly sent from God, Luke 20:21; John 8:13, John 8:17. The law did not admit a man to testify in his own case, but required two witnesses, Deuteronomy 17:6. Though what Jesus said was true John 8:13, John 8:17, yet he admitted it was not sufficient testimony alone to claim their belief. They had a right to expect that his statement that he came from God would be confirmed by other evidence. This evidence he gave in the miracles which he performed as proof that God had sent him.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 31. If I bear witness — If I had no proof to bring of my being the Messiah, and equal to God, common sense would direct you to reject my testimony; but the mighty power of God, by which I work my miracles, sufficiently attests that my pretensions are well founded.

Bishop Pearce gives a different turn to this verse, by translating it interrogatively, thus: "If I only bear witness of myself, is not my witness true? i.e. is it, on that account, not true? In John 8:14, he says, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. And in John 8:18, he says, I am one that bear witness of myself."