Section 4:43–54

Jesus healed an official’s son

After Jesus left Samaria, he returned to Galilee, his home province. There he healed the son of a government leader. This healing was unusual because Jesus never saw the sick boy. He healed him from a distance.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Jesus did his second miracle in Galilee
-or-
Jesus caused an official’s son to get well
-or-
Jesus healed someone who was far away

Paragraph 4:43–54

The people welcomed Jesus back because some of them had seen him heal people in Jerusalem. Then a government official asked Jesus to heal his son. At first Jesus seemed to not want to heal him. He said that people wanted to see more and more miracles before they believed in him.

The official pleaded for his son again. Finally, Jesus told him that his son would not die. The official went home and discovered that Jesus had healed his son from a distance. The official and all his people in his house became believers in Jesus.

4:43

After two days: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as After two days marks the order of events in time. It also indicates that a new story is beginning. Consider how it is natural to mark the beginning of a new story. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

At the end of the two days (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
When the two days were over (New Revised Standard Version)

two days: This phrase refers to the two days that Jesus stayed in Sychar, as mentioned in 4:40.

Jesus left for Galilee: Although the Greek uses a third person singular verb that refers to Jesus, Jesus’ disciples went with him. In some languages it may be necessary to include this information. For example:

Jesus ⌊and his company/disciples⌋ left there and they went on to Galilee.

Galilee: Galilee was the name of the region where Jesus grew up. See Luke 2:4, 39, 51. It was one of the Roman provinces of Palestine. It is more natural in some languages to include that information. For example:

going to Galilee ⌊land⌋
-or-
continued to ⌊the province of⌋ Galilee

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