19:41
The author next describes the place where Jesus’ tomb was. Translate this as you usually describe a place setting.
19:41a
Now: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now here introduces some background information. This is not the English time word Now that means “in the present.”
there was a garden: The word garden here refers to a place where people have planted herbs, flowers, vegetables, or fruit. It was a large piece of land. It is the same word used in 18:1, where it refers to a place where olive trees grew.
in the place where Jesus was crucified: This phrase refers to the general area where Jesus was crucified. It does not mean that Jesus was crucified in that garden, but that the garden was nearby. Translate this phrase in a way that is natural in your language.
where Jesus was crucified: The verb was crucified is passive. There are at least two ways to translate it.
• Use a passive verb. For example:
where Jesus had been put to death (Good News Translation)
-or-
where Jesus had been nailed to a cross (Contemporary English Version)
• Use an active verb. For example:
where Jesus died on the cross
-or-
where they/men crucified Jesus
General Comment on 19:41a
In some languages it may be natural to reverse the order of the information in 10:41a. For example:
In the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. (New Century Version)
19:41b
and in the garden a new tomb: The phrase a new tomb refers to a hole that someone had recently dug into a hill to bury someone. This tomb was like a cave rather than a box. Matthew 27:60 says that this tomb was Joseph’s own, cut out of rock.
19:41c
in which no one had yet been laid: Jews usually laid or put a dead body in a cave and allowed it to rot until only bones remained. Then the bones were collected and placed in a special box in the tomb. After that, another dead body could be put in the cave. But this cave was recently dug and no one had put a body in it yet.
The verb had…been laid is passive. There are at least two ways to translate it:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
where no one had ever been buried (Good News Translation)
-or-
that had never been used before (New Century Version)
• Use an active verb. For example:
it had never yet held/contained a body
-or-
no one had yet/ever placed a dead body in it
© 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.