10:38a

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But here introduces a conditional clause. It is the opposite of the conditional clause in 10:37a. The clause in 10:37a presented a condition that was not true, and this clause presents a condition that is true.

if I am doing them: This clause means “if I do the works of my Father,” or “if I do what my Father does/wants.” The word if here introduces a condition that was true, and so it can be translated as “because.” For example:

because I do what my Father wants
-or-
because I do the works/deeds of my Father

I am doing them: The pronoun them refers to the works of the Father. Use the term that is suitable for the expression you used in 10:37a. For example:

I do it

10:38b

even though you do not believe Me: The words even though introduce something that Jesus said might be true. It means “even if” or “although it might be true that.” Jesus used it to emphasize what they should do in 10:38c. Maybe they are not ready to believe him, but they can still believe his works.

you do not believe Me: Here the word believe refers to believing what Jesus said. Jesus said believe Me, not “believe in me.” Here are other ways to translate this clause:

you do not believe my words
-or-
you do not believe what I say

10:38c

believe the works themselves: This phrase refers to trusting the evidence of Jesus’ miracles. Jesus wanted them to believe that he was from God because of the powerful healings that only God could do. For example:

believe because of the amazing things that I do
-or-
believe the miracles (New International Version)

believe: Here the word believe refers to believing what Jesus’ works said about who he was. Maybe they do not want to believe what Jesus said, but they should believe the evidence of his miracles. The word believe here probably does not include the idea of trusting in him. However, trusting should follow if they believe that Jesus is God’s Son. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

believe ⌊the evidence of⌋ the miracles
-or-
believe ⌊what⌋ my works ⌊reveal about me⌋

10:38d

so that you may know and understand: The phrase so that introduces a purpose clause. The people should believe in order that they might understand the truth.

know and understand: The Greek verbs that the Berean Standard Bible translates as know and understand are both forms of the verb that means “know.” (The two tenses mean “come to know” and “keep knowing.”) They are used together for emphasis. In some languages it may be more natural to combine the words and indicate the emphasis in another way. For example:

know for certain (New Jerusalem Bible)

Some Greek manuscripts have “know and believe” instead of know and understand. Although scholars are nearly certain that know and understand was the original text, the King James Version follows the other manuscripts. If major language translations in your area follow the King James Version here, you may also want to translate this phrase as “know and believe.” The meanings of the different manuscripts are very close anyway.

10:38e

that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father: Jesus was saying that he was united with God the Father. He was saying that he was one with God. See also 10:30. Here are other ways to translate these clauses:

that I am joined/united with the Father
-or-
God the Father lives in me and I live in him

© 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.