Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
- KJV Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
- BSB Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
- NASB For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
- NLT So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The leaders sought all the more to kill Jesus, for he called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. They rightly grasped his claim to deity.
Overview
John clarifies that the leaders understood Jesus to be claiming equality with God, and they judged this blasphemy. Their reaction confirms that Jesus' words were a genuine assertion of his divine identity. The Gospel presents this claim as true: Jesus is the Son, equal with the Father, worthy of the worship his opponents refused.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- John 10:30I and the Father are one.”
- John 10:33The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
- John 19:7The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
- John 8:58Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM. ”
- John 14:23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
- John 5:23that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- John 7:1After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.
- Rev 22:1He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
- Phil 2:6who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
- John 8:54Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God.
- John 7:19Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
- John 14:9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
- John 5:16For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
- Zech 13:7“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
- Rev 22:3There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him.
- John 7:22–23Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy.
- Matt 12:5Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless?
- Rev 21:22–23I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 5:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.