John 5:40

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But you are not willing

King James Version (1611)
And ye will not come to me, that ye might haue life.

King James Version
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

English Standard Version
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

New American Standard Bible
and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

New Century Version
but you refuse to come to me to have that life.

Amplified Bible
and still you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

Legacy Standard Bible
and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

Berean Standard Bible
yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

Contemporary English Version
but you refuse to come to me for eternal life.

Complete Jewish Bible
but you won't come to me in order to have life!

Darby Translation
and ye will not come to me that ye might have life.

Easy-to-Read Version
But you refuse to come to me to have that life.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But ye will not come to me, that ye might haue life.

George Lamsa Translation
Yet you will not come to me, that you might have life everlasting.

Good News Translation
Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.

Lexham English Bible
And you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

Literal Translation
And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

American Standard Version
and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.

Bible in Basic English
And still you have no desire to come to me so that you may have life.

Hebrew Names Version
Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.

International Standard Version
But you are not willing to come to me to have life.John 1:11; 3:19;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And you will not come to me that the life that is eternal you might have.

Murdock Translation
And ye are unwilling to come to me, that life eternal may be yours.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And yet wyll ye not come to me, that ye myght haue lyfe.

English Revised Version
and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.

World English Bible
Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Yet ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.

Weymouth's New Testament
and yet you are unwilling to come to me that you may have Life.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And ye wolen not come to me, that ye haue lijf.

Update Bible Version
and you will not come to me, that you may have life.

Webster's Bible Translation
And ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.

New English Translation
but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

New King James Version
But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

New Living Translation
Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

New Life Bible
But you do not want to come to Me so you might have life.

New Revised Standard
Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And yet ye choose not to come unto me, that, life, ye may have.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And you will not come to me that you may have life.

Revised Standard Version
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And yet will ye not come to me that ye might have lyfe.

Young's Literal Translation
and ye do not will to come unto me, that ye may have life;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and ye wil not come vnto me, that ye might haue life.

Mace New Testament (1729)
yet you will not come to me, that ye may have life.

Simplified Cowboy Version
If you were not blind, you would not refuse the life that only I can give.

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

ye will not: John 5:44, John 1:11, John 3:19, John 8:45, John 8:46, John 12:37-41, Psalms 81:11, Isaiah 49:7, Isaiah 50:2, Isaiah 53:1-3, Matthew 22:3, Matthew 23:37, Revelation 22:17

that: John 6:27, John 6:37, John 6:40, John 6:68, John 6:69, John 7:37, John 7:38, John 11:25, John 11:26, Romans 6:23, 1 John 5:11-13

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:20 - two Isaiah 30:15 - and ye Jeremiah 8:5 - they refuse Ezekiel 3:7 - Israel will Luke 6:47 - cometh Luke 14:18 - all John 6:35 - he that cometh John 10:28 - I give John 16:9 - General John 20:31 - believing Acts 8:28 - and sitting Acts 10:43 - him Colossians 3:3 - your Colossians 3:16 - the word 2 Timothy 1:1 - the promise 2 Timothy 1:10 - and hath 2 Timothy 3:15 - which 1 Peter 2:4 - To

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And ye will not come to me,.... Which is to be understood, not of a corporeal coming to him; for many of the Jews did come to him in this sense; some for one thing, and some for another; some for the loaves, that they might eat and be filled; some to see his miracles, and others to partake of the benefit of them; some to hear him preach, and others to catch and cavil at what they could: nor is bare coming to hear Christ preached, or an outward attendance on, and submission to his ordinances, such a coming to him as is here designed; for with these eternal life is not connected: bodily exercise profiteth not in this way; but a spiritual coming to Christ, or a coming to him by faith is here meant; in which sense the phrase is frequently used in this Gospel, especially in the next chapter; see John 6:35; and those who come aright to Christ, come to him as the alone, able, suitable, and sufficient Saviour; and in themselves as sinners, and ready to perish; and as such they are received by him with a welcome: but these men did not see themselves as such; nor did they see any need they had of coming to Christ; for they thought they had eternal life elsewhere: and such were their ignorance of themselves and Christ; and such their prejudices against him; and such the depravity, perverseness, and stubbornness of their wills, that they had no inclination, desire, and will to come to Christ, any more than power; which is an argument against, and not for the free will of man, unless it be to that which is evil: and this perverseness of their wills to come to Christ, when revealed in the external ministry of the word, was blameworthy in them, since this was not owing to any decree of God, but to the corruption and vitiosity of nature; which being blameworthy in them, that which follows upon it must be so too; and it was the greater aggravation of their sin, that they had the Scriptures which testified of Christ, and pointed at him as the way of life, and yet would not come to him for it:

that ye might have life; that is, eternal life, as is expressed in the foregoing verse, and is so read here in Beza's old copy, in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions. This is in Christ, not only the purpose and promise of it, but that itself: he has the disposal of it, gives the right unto it, and a meetness for it, with all the comforts arising from it, and all the promises and blessings relating to it; and all that come to Christ by faith may, and shall have it: this is the will of the Father, the end of his giving of Christ, and of his mission and coming into the world, and is inseparably connected with believing in him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And ye will not come ... - Though the Old Testament bears evidence that I am the Messiah; though you professedly search it to learn the way to life, and though my works prove it, yet you will not come to me to obtain life. From this we may learn:

1.That life is to be obtained in Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and he only can save us.

2.That, in order to do that, we must “come to him” - that is, must come in the way appointed, as lost sinners, and be willing to be saved by him alone.

3.That the reason why sinners are not saved lies in the will. “The only reason why sinners die is because ‘they will not come’ to Christ for life and happiness: it is not because they ‘cannot,’ but because they ‘will not’” (Henry).

1. Sinners have a particular opposition to going to “Jesus Christ” for eternal life. They would prefer any other way, and it is commonly not until all other means are tried that they are willing to submit to him.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 40. And ye will not come to me — Though ye thus search the Scriptures, in hopes of finding the Messiah and eternal life in them, yet ye will not come unto me, believe in me, and be my disciples, though so clearly pointed out by them, that ye may have that eternal life which can only come through me.