John 1:38 (YLT)

Passage

And Jesus having turned, and having beheld them following, saith to them, `What seek ye?' and they said to them, `Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Teacher,) where remainest thou?'

Nearby Context

John 1:36 and having looked on Jesus walking, he saith, `Lo, the Lamb of God;'

John 1:37 and the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus.

John 1:38 And Jesus having turned, and having beheld them following, saith to them, `What seek ye?' and they said to them, `Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Teacher,) where remainest thou?'

John 1:39 He saith to them, `Come and see;' they came, and saw where he doth remain, and with him they remained that day and the hour was about the tenth.

John 1:40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jesus", "having", "turned", "beheld", "following", "saith", and "seek". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jesus" and "having", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 37's "and the two disciples heard him speaking..." into verse 39's "He saith to them Come and see...", so "jesus" and "having" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jesus" and "having" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.