Devine Scripture

John 6:66

What does John 6:66 mean?

A plain-English look at John 6:66 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What John 6:66 means

Many of His disciples turn back and no longer walk with Him. The cost of Jesus’s hard, life-giving words is the sifting of followers. They wanted bread and perhaps miracles; they did not want a Messiah whose flesh and blood must be received by faith and whose origin is from heaven. This reversal shows that crowds can swell quickly and shrink just as fast when truth confronts expectations. The defection is heartbreaking, yet it does not derail Jesus’s mission. It reveals the difference between consumers of Jesus’s gifts and disciples who cling to Jesus Himself.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Because of what he said, a number of the disciples went back and would no longer go with him.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

From this <FI>time<Fi> many of his disciples went away backward, and were no more walking with him,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And he said: Therefore did I say to you that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

From that [time] many of his disciples went away back and walked no more with him.

Context

This sad outcome follows Jesus’s teaching about the Spirit, His diagnosis of unbelief, and His reiteration of the Father’s granting. It clears the scene for a direct question to the twelve, pressing them to declare where they stand. The next verses record Jesus asking if they also wish to go away, Peter’s confession of Jesus as the possessor of eternal-life words and as the Holy One of God, and Jesus’s sober note about one being a devil.

v.65And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father.

v.66This passage

v.67Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, Would ye also go away?

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • 2 Timothy 1:15

    This thou knowest, that all that are in Asia turned away from me; of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

  • John 6:60

    Many therefore of his disciples, when they heardthis, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?

  • 1 John 2:19

    They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.

  • Luke 9:62

    But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

  • Matthew 21:8

    And the most part of the multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut branches from the trees, and spread them in the way.

  • Matthew 13:20

    And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it;

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