They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
Parallel translations
- KJV Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
- BSB “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
- 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 9:26They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
- John 9:21but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”
- 1 Cor 15:35But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”
- Eccl 11:5As you don’t know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child; even so you don’t know the work of God who does all.
- Mark 4:27and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how.
- John 9:15Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
- John 3:9Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”
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 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.