10:21a

Jesus looked at him, loved him: Jesus looked at this man and felt love for him. The word loved indicates that Jesus felt strong affection and concern for the man. Use a natural expression in your language for this word.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Jesus looked straight at him with love (Good News Bible)
-or-
Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

In some languages there may be an idiom to express this. For example, the Revised English Bible says:

As Jesus looked at him, his heart warmed to him.

looked: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as looked means “looked intently” or “fixed his gaze upon.” It indicates that Jesus was considering the man carefully. Use an expression with that meaning.

The verb does not mean “stare.” It does not imply anger or any bad feeling. If “look intently” implies anger or bad feeling in your culture, you should use a different expression.

10:21b

There is one thing you lack: The phrase There is one thing you lack means “There is one more thing that you need to do.” This refers back to the young man’s original question in 10:17c.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

You need only one thing. (Good News Bible)
-or-
There is one deed you still need to do to inherit/have eternal life.

The phrase one thing is emphasized in the Greek text. If you have a natural way to emphasize this phrase, you may want to do so. Here is an example:

There is only one thing you need to do.

10:21c

Go, sell: The word Go introduces the command sell. It implies that the man should return to his home or property so that he can sell it. The New Century Version says:

Go and sell

sell everything you own and give to the poor: These words imply that the man should sell everything he owned and give the money that he received to the poor. In some languages it may be necessary to make that explicit. For example:

sell everything you own and give the money/proceeds to poor people

the poor: The phrase the poor refers to people who have little money and few material possessions.

10:21d

and: 10:21d is the result of 10:21c. If the man did as Jesus told him in 10:21c, he would have treasure in heaven.

Here are some other ways to translate this connection:

Then you will have…
-or-
If you do that, you will have…

you will have treasure in heaven: When a believer serves God, God gives him a reward. That reward is called here treasure in heaven. Your translation should not imply that God simply takes the same money that was given to the poor and puts it in heaven. One way to avoid that wrong meaning is to indicate that the reward is a result of giving to the poor. For example:

As a result, God will reward you with treasure in heaven.

treasure: The word treasure usually refers to valuable things such as money, jewels, and precious items. But in this context, it refers to true spiritual riches. It also implies that these riches are stored safely. The term you use should not only indicate money.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

what is truly valuable
-or-
true wealth/riches that are stored away

heaven: Here the word heaven refers to the place where God lives. This is also the place where believers will live with God after they die. See how you translated this word in 1:11a or 7:34a. See heaven, Meaning 2, in the Glossary.

10:21e

Then:

There is a textual issue in 10:21e. Some Greek manuscripts have a phrase that means “take up the cross.” (1) Some Greek manuscripts do not have this phrase. For example, the Good News Bible says: “then come and follow me” (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version). (2) Some later Greek manuscripts have the phrase “take up the cross.” For example, the King James Version says: “and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1). However, if the major language version in your area has this phrase, you can put it in a footnote.
The word Then indicates that after the man sold his things and gave the money to the poor, then he was to follow Jesus.

follow Me: The expression follow Me is meant both literally and figuratively. It is a metaphor for learning from Jesus and being his disciple. Disciples usually followed their teachers wherever they went and lived with them. The Greek form indicates an ongoing action. Use a form that is natural in your language.

If people in your area will not understand the figurative language, you may want to use nonfigurative language.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

learn from me
-or-
be learning from me to do God’s will
-or-
be my disciple

See how you translated this expression in 1:17a.

© 2008 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.