G5213

• {"n":"John 1:51","s":"Verily I say unto you. The you is plural, and Jesus has been talking to one man.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=john-1-51","r":"John 1:51","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"No modern version can show it. English lost the distinction when ye and thou dropped out, which the King James still had and no longer communicates."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**Are you coming?** One person, or everybody in the room? English cannot tell you. Southerners fixed it with y'all because the language lost something it used to have. It used to be you for a crowd and thou for one person, and the King James still has both."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Nathanael is the one being addressed, and the pronoun turns plural at this verse. The promise widens from one man to everyone standing there and, arguably, to the reader. The King James actually marks it with ye, which modern English cannot."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English merged the plural you and the singular thou into one word. Every other major European language kept the distinction and English gave it up, which means every New Testament you is ambiguous in English and unambiguous in Greek."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"Whenever a New Testament promise or command feels personal, check whether the you is plural. A very large share of them are, and they are addressed to a congregation rather than to an individual."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"No dispute exists. English simply cannot do it without writing you all, which no version will print."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u1f51\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd hymin \u00b7 G5213, plural"}],"src":["The switch from singular to plural across John 1:50-51","Oxford English Dictionary on the loss of thou and ye in early modern English"]}