John 5 · Verse 39

John 5:39

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
John 5:39, King James Version

John 5:39 in other translations

BSBYou pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,
WEB“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
ASVYe search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;
YLT‘Ye search the Writings, because ye think in them to have life age-during, and these are they that are testifying concerning me;
DARBYYe search the scriptures, for ye think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me;
BBEYou make search in the holy Writings, in the belief that through them you get eternal life; and it is those Writings which give witness about me.
WebsterSearch the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

What does John 5:39 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 5:39-42
39-42. Search the scriptures, &c.--"In the Scriptures ye find your charter of eternal life; go search them then, and you will find that I am the Great Burden of their testimony; yet ye will not come to Me for that life eternal which you profess to find there, and of which they tell you I am the appointed Dispenser." (Compare Ac 17:11, 12). How touching and gracious are these last words! Observe here (1) The honor which Christ gives to the Scriptures, as a record which all have a right and are bound to search--the reverse of which the Church of Rome teaches; (2) The opposite extreme is, resting in the mere Book without the living Christ, to direct the soul to whom is its main use and chiefest glory.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 39. Search the scriptures. The word translated search here means to search diligently or anxiously. It is applied to miners, who search for precious metals--who look anxiously for the bed of the ore with an intensity or anxiety proportionate to their sense of the value of the metal. Comp. Job 28:3. It is applied by Homer to a lioness robbed of her whelps, and who searches the plain to trace out the footsteps of the man who has robbed her. It is also applied by him to dogs tracing their game by searching them out by the scent of the foot. It means a diligent, faithful, anxious investigation. The word may be either in the indicative or imperative mood. In our translation it is in the imperative, as if Jesus commanded them to search the Scriptures, Cyril, Erasmus, Beza, Bengel, Kuinoel, Tholuck, De Wette, and others, give it as in the indicative; Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wetstein, Stier, Alford, and others, regard it as in the imperative, or as a command. It is impossible to determine which is the true interpretation. Either of them makes good sense, and it is proper to use the passage in either signification. There is abundant evidence that the Jews did search the books of the Old Testament. It is equally clear that all men ought to do it.

The scriptures. The writings or books of the Old Testament, for those were all the books of revelation that they then possessed.

In them ye think ye have eternal life. The meaning of this is: "Ye think that by studying the Scriptures you will obtain eternal life. You suppose that they teach the way to future blessedness, and that by diligently studying them you will attain it." We see by this--

1. That the Jews in the time of Jesus were expecting a future state.

2. The Scriptures teach the way of life, and it is our duty to study them. The Bereans are commended for searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:11); and Timothy is said from a child to have "known the holy scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation," 2Ti 3:15. Early life is the proper time to search the Bible, for they who seek the Lord early shall find him.

They are they, &c. They bear witness to the Messiah. They predict his coming, and the manner of his life and death, Isa 53:1-12; Dan 9:26,27, &c. Lk 24:27.

(p) "they are" Lk 24:27, 1Pet 1:10,11

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 39 Search the Scriptures - Ερευνατε τας γραφας. This should be translated, not in the imperative, but in the indicative mood - thus, Ye search the Scriptures diligently. That these words are commonly read in the imperative mood is sufficiently known; but this reading can never accord well with the following verse, nor can the force and energy of the words be perceived by this version. The rabbins strongly recommend the study of the Scriptures. The Talmud, Tract. Shabbath, fol. 30, brings in God thus addressing David: "I am better pleased with one day in which thou sittest and studiest the law, than I shall be with a thousand sacrifices which thy son Solomon shall offer upon my altar." Perhaps the Scriptures were never more diligently searched than at that very time: first, because they were in expectation of the immediate appearing of the Messiah; secondly, because they wished to find out allegories in them; (see Philo); and, thirdly, because they found these scriptures to contain the promise of an eternal life. He, said they, who studies daily in the law, is worthy to have a portion in the world to come, Sohar. Genes. fol. 31. Hence we may infer: 1st. That the Jews had the knowledge of a future state before the coming of Christ; and 2ndly. That they got that knowledge from the Old Testament Scriptures. The word ερευνατε, which might be translated, Ye search diligently, is very expressive. Homer, Il. xviii. l. 321, applies it to a lion deprived of his whelps, who "scours the plains, and traces the footsteps of the man." And in Odyss. xix. l. 436, to dogs tracing their game by the scent of the foot. In the Septuagint, the verb ερευναω answers to the Hebrew חפש chapash, to search by uncovering; to חקר chakar, to search minutely, to explore; to חשף chashaph, to strip, make bare; and to משש mashash, to feel, search by feeling. It is compounded of ερεω, I seek, and ευνη, a bed; "and is," says St. Chrysostom, "a metaphor taken from those who dig deep, and search for metals in the bowels of the earth. They look for the bed where the metal lies, and break every clod, and sift and examine the whole, in order to discover the ore." Those who read the verse in the imperative mood consider it an exhortation to the diligent study of the Sacred Writings. Search; that is, shake and sift them, as the word also signifies: search narrowly, till the true force and meaning of every sentence, yea, of every word and syllable, nay, of every letter and yod therein, be known and understood. Confer place with place; the scope of one place with that of another; things going before with things coming after: compare word with word, letter with letter, and search the whole thoroughly. See Parkhurst, Mintert, and Leigh. Leaving every translation of the present passage out of the question, this is the proper method of reading and examining the Scriptures, so as to become wise unto salvation through them.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on John 5:39-44
The Jews considered that eternal life was revealed to them in their Scriptures, and that they had it, because they had the word of God in their hands. Jesus urged them to search those Scriptures with more diligence and attention. "Ye do search the Scriptures," and ye do well to do so. They did indeed search the Scriptures, but it was with a view to their own glory. It is possible for men to be very studious in the letter of the Scriptures, yet to be strangers to its power. Or, "Search the Scriptures," and so it was spoken to them in the nature of an appeal. Ye profess to receive and believe the Scripture, let that be the judge. It is spoken to us as advising or commanding all Christians to search the Scriptures. Not only read them, and hear them, but search them; which denotes diligence in examining and studying them. We must search the Scriptures for heaven as our great end; For in them ye think ye have eternal life. We must search the Scriptures for Christ, as the new and living Way, that leads to this end. To this testimony Christ adds reproofs of their unbelief and wickedness; their neglect of him and his doctrine. Also he reproves their want of the love of God. But there is life with Jesus Christ for poor souls. Many who make a great profession of religion, yet show they want the love of God, by their neglect of Christ and contempt of his commandments. It is the love of God in us, the love that is a living, active principle in the heart, which God will accept. They slighted and undervalued Christ, because they admired and overvalued themselves. How can those believe, who make the praise and applause of men their idol! When Christ and his followers are men wondered at, how can those believe, the utmost of whose ambition is to make a fair show in the flesh!

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

John 5:39 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ἐραυνᾶτεeraunateYou diligently searchG2045
τὰςtastheG3588
γραφάς,graphasScriptures,G1124
ὅτιhotiforG3754
ὑμεῖςhumeisyou yourselvesG4771
δοκεῖτεdokeitethinkG1380
ἐνeninG1722
αὐταῖςautaisthemG846
ζωὴνzōēnlifeG2222
αἰώνιονaiōnioneternalG166
ἔχειν·echeinto have;G2192
καὶkaiandG2532
ἐκεῖναίekeinaitheseG1565
εἰσινeisinare theyG1510
αἱhaithoseG3588
μαρτυροῦσαιmarturousaibearing witnessG3140
περὶpericoncerningG4012
ἐμοῦ,emouMe,G1473

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for John 5:39

  • Luke 24:27

    And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

  • Luke 24:44

    And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

  • 2 Peter 1:19-21

    We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

  • Acts 26:22-23

    Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

  • Proverbs 8:33-34

    Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

  • Matthew 22:29

    Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

  • John 5:46

    For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

  • 1 Peter 1:10-11

    Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

  • 2 Timothy 3:14-17

    But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

  • Isaiah 34:16

    Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

  • Acts 13:27

    For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

  • Acts 17:11

    These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Search.
46; 7:52; De 11:18-20; 17:18,19; Jos 1:8; Ps 1:2; 119:11,97-99
Pr 6:23; 8:33,34; Isa 8:20; 34:16; Jer 8:9; Mt 22:29; Mr 12:10
Lu 16:29,31; Ac 8:32-35; 17:11; Ro 3:2; Col 3:16; 2Ti 3:14-17
2Pe 1:19-21
ye think.
De 32:47; Ps 16:11; 21:4; 36:9; 133:3; Da 12:2; Mt 19:16-20
Lu 10:25-29; Heb 11:16,35
they which.
32,36; 1:45; De 18:15,18; Ac 26:22,23,27; Ro 1:2; 1Pe 1:10,11
Re 19:10
See on
Lu 24:27,44

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • John 5:38

    And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

  • John 5:39

    Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

  • John 5:40

    And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Read all of John 5

John 5:39 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Escudriñad las Escrituras, porque á vosotros os parece que en ellas tenéis la vida eterna; y ellas son las que dan testimonio de mí.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Sondez les écritures, car vous, vous estimez avoir en elles la vie éternelle, et ce sont elles qui rendent témoignage de moi:
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ihr erforschet die Schriften, denn ihr meinet, in ihnen ewiges Leben zu haben, und sie sind es, die von mir zeugen;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Scrutamini Scripturas, quia vos putatis in ipsis vitam æternam habere: et illæ sunt quæ testimonium perhibent de me: