21:6a
Cast the net on the right side of the boat: The command Cast the net means to throw one side of the net out into the water. The fishermen then held onto the other side. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Let your net down on the right side of your boat. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Throw your net out on the right side of the boat. (Good News Translation)
on the right side of the boat: This phrase means “into the water on the right side of the boat.”
and you will find some: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as you will find some here means that the disciples would catch some fish. The Berean Standard Bible has supplied the object some, which is implied in the Greek. Supply the object that is natural in your language. For example:
and you’ll get some (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
and you will catch some fish (Contemporary English Version)
you: This pronoun is plural and refers to the seven disciples who were in the boat.
21:6b
So they cast it there: This clause indicates that the disciples threw their net into the water on the right side of the boat. Refer back to the action Jesus commanded in 21:6a in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
So they threw the net out (Good News Translation)
-or-
So they did (New Living Translation (2004))
21:6c
and they were unable to haul it in: This clause is more literally “and they were no longer strong enough to pull it.” The disciples could not haul (pull) the net into the boat because it was now too heavy. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
and were unable to pull it in (God’s Word)
-or-
and could not pull it back in (Good News Translation)
This clause is the most important clause of the story about the miracle. Suggest this in a way that is natural. For example:
and found they could not haul the net on board (Revised English Bible)
-or-
and they could not ⌊manage to⌋ lift the net ⌊into the boat⌋
because of the great number of fish: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as because here introduces the reason why the disciples could not pull the net into the boat. There were very many fish caught in the net, so it was too heavy to pull into the boat. Here is another way to translate this clause:
because of the large number of fish (New International Version)
In some languages it may be natural to make it explicit that the fish were in the net. For example:
because of all the fish ⌊in it⌋
-or-
because they had caught so many fish (Good News Translation)
-or-
because it was so full of fish (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
General Comment on 21:6c
In some languages it may be natural to tell the cause before the result in 21:6c. For example:
and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
and they caught so many fish they could not pull the net back into the boat (New Century Version)
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