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John 12 · a question people ask

A voice came out of the sky (12:28). The multitude who stood by said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him (12:29). What did they hear?

In the text

John's Gospel tells it this way. Jesus prayed, "Father, glorify your name!" (12:28). "Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”" (12:28). "Therefore the multitude who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”" (12:29). Jesus answered, "This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes" (12:30). John gives the voice's words and both things that were said, and doesn't say which of those standing there heard the words; these notes don't either. Favor's chapter on Psalm 29 sets this scene beside the psalm's "The God of glory thunders" (Psalm 29:3) as a reading, and says John doesn't say the voice was thunder.

The verses

“Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Therefore the multitude who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.”
John 12:28-30 · World English Bible
“The LORD’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even the LORD on many waters.”
Psalm 29:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 12

John 12: The time has come

At Bethany Jesus says of Mary, "She has kept this for the day of my burial" (12:7). His disciples "didn’t understand these things at first", and remembered them "when Jesus was glorified" (12:16). And "lifted up from the earth" was, John's Gospel says, "signifying by what kind of death he should die" (12:33), words it gives again in 18:32, where it says the word of Jesus was fulfilled.

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Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions