6:47a
Truly, truly, I tell you: Jesus was emphasizing what he was about to say. This is the same phrase that he used in 1:51a. See the note there.
Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
I am telling you the truth (Good News Translation)
-or-
I tell you for certain (Contemporary English Version)
6:47b
he who believes has eternal life: The phrase he who believes refers to anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus. Consider whether it is most natural in your language to translate this phrase using a singular or a plural subject.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
everyone who has faith in me has eternal life (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
the one who believes has eternal life (NET Bible)
-or-
all who believe ⌊in me⌋ have eternal life
believes: When the word believes is used without an object, it is usually a short way of saying “believes in Jesus.” So this word includes the idea of believing the facts about who Jesus was and what he did. But it also includes the idea of trusting Jesus instead of trusting oneself or someone else. Both ideas are very closely related. If someone believes the facts about Jesus, it should result in trusting him. Here are other ways to translate this idea:
has faith in me (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
trusts in me
-or-
believes in me
has eternal life: The word eternal refers to something that does not end. The phrase eternal life refers to the new spiritual life that God gives us when we believe in Jesus. This life will never end. See the note at 3:15 and how you translated this phrase there and in 6:27b and 40b. Here are some other ways to translate this whole phrase:
has forever life ⌊from God⌋
-or-
has ⌊spiritual⌋ life that never ends
-or-
will live forever ⌊with God⌋
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
