The verse John 9:33 has bothered me as long as I can remember. In the King James Version it says:
“If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.”
The ESV, NIV, NRSV, NASB etc, all the mainstream translations say the same thing, or use the word “anything” rather than “nothing.”
This bothered me, because it is not true. Men who are not from God CAN do something, including miracles. For example, in Exodus 7:10-11, Pharaoh’s magicians turned a wooden staff into a snake.
The context of this verse, the verse immediately before this in John, is the man who was blind from birth, who after having been healed by Jesus, told the Pharisees, “Since time began, reports have not been heard that someone opened the eyes of one born blind.”
So first of all, the man is saying Jesus would not have been able to do THAT PARTICULAR miracle if he were not from God. This is clearly what he meant, but most conservative translations are too afraid to say this, even in italics. However, I want to give credit to those translations who at least rendered this part correctly:
(Williams) If this man had not come from God, He could not have done anything like this.”
(Phillips) If this man did not come from God, he couldn’t do such a thing!”
(GW) If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
(ISV) If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
(ERV) This man must be from God. If he were not from God, he could not do anything like this.”
(AMPC) If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.
(NOG) If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
(NLV) If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.”
(NLT) If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”
(WE) If this man did not come from God, he could not do anything like this.’
Plus the translations of the Syriac Peshitta say:
“If this man were not of God, he could not do this thing.”
This leaving of the object of the verb unsaid is not uncommon in New Testament Greek, I can tell you. It is proper to supply in your target language something like, “this” or “that,” or “it.” And there is no need to put those in italics.
Now, those translations above to did supply an object for the verb, still did not render the word οὐδέν correctly. The verse in Greek is: εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος παρὰ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἠδύνατο ποιεῖν οὐδέν.
Both the LSJ and BDAG lexicons say that the neuter form, οὐδέν, in the accusative is an adverb. See BDAG p. 735, 2 (b) γ- “in no respect, in no way. This is an “adverbial accusative,” see BDF § 160, where DeBrunner points out another place that John used an adverbial accusative, 8:25 – τὴν ἀρχήν, “at all.” “Why am I speaking to you at all?” For οὐδέν here see also LSJ: III 1. neut. οὐδέν as Adv., not at all.
So, I have revised my translation of John 9:33 here. I render the οὐδέν as an adverb. The LSJ says “not at all,” the BDAG says “in no way.” This healed blind man was very street colloquial in his speech. I rendered this “Since time began, reports have not been heard that someone opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not from God, no way could he have done this thing.” You can download my translation here.
