World English Bible · Under Rome
John 9
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1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His asked him, "Rabbi, who , this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" answered, "This man didn't , nor did his parents, but that the works of might be in him. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, the blind man's eyes with the mud, and said to him, "Go, wash in " (which means "Sent"). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors and those who saw that he was blind before said, "Isn't this he who sat and begged?" 9Others were saying, "It is he." Still others were saying, "He looks like him." He said, "I am he." They therefore were asking him, "How were your eyes opened?" He answered, "A man called made mud, my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to and wash.' So I went away and washed, and I received sight." Then they asked him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don't know." They brought him who had been blind to the . It was a when made the mud and opened his eyes. Again therefore the also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see." Some therefore of the said, "This man is not from , because he doesn't keep the ." Others said, "How can a man who is a do such signs?" So there was division among them. Therefore they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a ." The therefore didn't concerning him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, and asked them, "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" 20His parents answered them, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but how he now sees, we don't know; or who opened his eyes, we don't know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself." His parents said these things because they feared the ; for the had already agreed that if any man would him as , he would be put out of the . Therefore his parents said, "He is of age. Ask him." So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, "Give to . We know that this man is a ." He therefore answered, "I don't know if he is a . One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see." 26They said to him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don't also want to become his , do you?" They insulted him and said, "You are his , but we are of . We know that has spoken to . But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from." The man answered them, "How amazing! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that doesn't listen to , but if anyone is a worshiper of and does his will, he listens to him. Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from , he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were altogether born in , and do you teach us?" Then they threw him out. heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, "Do you in the Son of ?" He answered, "Who is he, , that I may in him?" said to him, "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you." He said, ", I !" and he him. said, "I came into this world for , that those who don't see may see; and that those who see may become blind." Those of the who were with him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no ; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your .
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The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.