New English Translation
John 3:8
8The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is 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
6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’ The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?
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 37:10The breath of God produces ice, and the breadth of the waters freeze solid.
- Psalms 107:25He gave the order for a windstorm, and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
- Ecclesiastes 11:4He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who observes the clouds will not reap.
- Ezekiel 37:9He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, – prophesy, son of man – and say to the breath: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’”
- Acts 2:2Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.
- Acts 4:31When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously.
- 1 Corinthians 2:11For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
- 1 Corinthians 12:11It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.
- John 1:13– children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.
- Isaiah 55:9for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.
- Mark 4:26He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.
- Luke 6:43“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,
- 1 John 2:29If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.
- 1 John 3:8The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.
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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