15:21a

But: In the Greek the word But introduces a contrast to the idea of keeping Jesus’ word.

they will treat you like this because of My name: The word they refers to those in 5:20b who would persecute the disciples. They would seek to hurt Jesus’ followers just because they were Jesus’ followers. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

they will do all this to you because you are committed to me (God’s Word)
-or-
they will do all this to you because you are mine (Good News Translation)
-or-
They will do all this to you because of me (New Living Translation (2004))

they will treat you like this: The phrase they will treat you like this refers to the various ways that unbelievers will hurt the disciples. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

they will do all these wrongs
-or-
they will persecute you

you: This word is plural here and refers to Christ’s disciples.

because of My name: This phrase means “because of me” or “because you are mine.” The people are reacting to the presence of Christ in his followers. For example:

because you belong to me (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
because of me (New Living Translation (2004))

15:21b

since they do not know the One who sent Me: These clauses give the reason why people of the world persecute Jesus’ followers. It is because they do not really know God the Father. The phrase the One who sent Me refers to God the Father, who sent Jesus into the world. See how you translated this phrase in 5:30 and 6:38. The people of the world may know something about God, but they do not truly know him. Use an expression that your readers and hearers can understand refers to God. For example:

because they do not know the one who sent me (New International Version)
-or-
because they do know ⌊my Father⌋ who sent me ⌊into the world⌋

General Comment on 15:21a–b

In some languages it may be natural to reverse the order of 15:21a–b, first stating the cause of the persecution. For example:

21b They do not know him who sent me, and so 21a they do all these things to you because you belong to me.

The world will persecute the disciples because they represent Jesus (15:21a). And they oppose Jesus because they do not know God the Father (15:21b). In some languages it may be necessary to translate these clauses as two reasons for the world persecuting the disciples. For example:

They will do it because you belong to me, and they don’t know the one who sent me. (Contemporary English Version)

© 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.