God’s Word Translation
John 3:8
8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it’s going. That’s the way it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
- New International Version (NIV)The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
- New King James Version (NKJV)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Context of John 3:8
6Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual. 7Don’t be surprised when I tell you that all of you must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it’s going. That’s the way it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9Nicodemus replied, “How can that be?” 10Jesus told Nicodemus, “You’re a well-known teacher of Israel. Can’t you understand this?
Read all of John 3John 3:8 word by word
τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγει· οὕτως ἐστὶν πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- The windπνεῦμαpneuma · spirit/breath: breathG4151
- blowethπνέωpneō · to blowG4154
- whereὅπουhopou · where(-ever)G3699
- it listethθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- thou hearestἀκούωakouō · to hearG191
- the soundφωνήphōnē · voice/sound: noiseG5456
- thereofαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- butἀλλάalla · butG235
- canstεἴδωeidō · to perceive: understandG1492
- notοὐou · noG3756
- whenceπόθενpothen · whenceG4159
- it comethἔρχομαιerchomai · to come/goG2064
- whitherποῦpou · where?G4226
- it goethὑπάγωhupagō · to goG5217
- soοὕτωςhoutō · thus(-ly)G3779
- isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- everyπᾶςpas · allG3956
- one that is bornγεννάωgennaō · to begetG1080
- ofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
Cross-references for John 3:8
- Job 37:10God’s breath produces ice, and the seas freeze over.
- Psalms 107:25He spoke, and a storm began to blow, and it made the waves rise high.
- Ecclesiastes 11:4Whoever watches the wind will never plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will never harvest.
- Ezekiel 37:9Then the Lord said to me, “Prophesy to the breath! Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: Come from the four winds, Breath, and breathe on these people who were killed so that they will live.’ ”
- Acts 2:2Suddenly, a sound like a violently blowing wind came from the sky and filled the whole house where they were staying.
- Acts 4:31When they had finished praying, their meeting place shook. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s word boldly.
- 1 Corinthians 2:11After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit? In the same way, no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit.
- 1 Corinthians 12:11There is only one Spirit who does all these things by giving what God wants to give to each person.
- John 1:13These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire ⌞to have a child⌟. They were born from God.
- Isaiah 55:9“Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”
- Mark 4:26Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seeds on the ground.
- Luke 6:43“A good tree doesn’t produce rotten fruit, and a rotten tree doesn’t produce good fruit.
- 1 John 2:29If you know that Christ has God’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.
- 1 John 3:8The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy what the devil does.
Commentaries on John 3:8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8The wind bloweth - Though the manner in which this new birth is effected by the Divine Spirit, be incomprehensible to us, yet we must not, on this ground, suppose it to be impossible. The wind blows in a variety of directions - we hear its sound, perceive its operation in the motion of the trees, etc., and feel it on ourselves - but we cannot discern the air itself; we only know that it exists by the effects which it produces: so is every one who is born…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8The wind bloweth - Nicodemus had objected to the doctrine because he did not understand how it could be. Jesus shows him that he ought not to reject it on that account, for he constantly believed things quite as difficult. It might appear incomprehensible, but it was to be judged of by its effects. As in this case of the wind, the effects were seen, the sound was heard, important changes were produced by it, trees and clouds were moved, yet the wind is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8In Greek, the word for wind is the same as for spirit (Greek pneuma). The wind is an appropriate image for the Spirit, who is sent from heaven and cannot be contained or controlled.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 6-86-8. That which is born, &c.--A great universal proposition; "That which is begotten carries within itself the nature of that which begat it" [Olshausen]. flesh--Not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by birth, the entire man; yet not humanity simply, but in its corrupted, depraved condition, in complete subjection to the law of the fall (Ro 8:1-9). So that though a man "could enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born,"…Read the comment
Topics related to John 3:8
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on John 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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