“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
Parallel translations
- WEB They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
- KJV Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
- ESV So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
- NKJV Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
- NASB So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?”
- NLT They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 people ask how his eyes were opened. They seek an explanation for the obvious miracle.
Overview
Confronted with undeniable change, the crowd presses for the means of healing. Their question gives the man opportunity to recount what Jesus did. It advances the narrative toward the formal inquiry by the Pharisees and the man's growing testimony about Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- John 9:26“What did He do to you?” they asked. “How did He open your eyes?”
- John 9:21But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”
- 1 Cor 15:35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”
- Eccl 11:5As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
- Mark 4:27Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how.
- John 9:15So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. The man answered, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
- John 3:9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:10 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.