15:38a–b

And: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces what happened immediately after Jesus died. In some languages, it may be natural to use a time word or phrase here. For example:

At once (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Just then

the veil of the temple: The phrase the veil of the temple refers to the large, thick cloth that hung in the temple. It either hung at the entrance to the temple building or between two rooms in the temple building. (These two rooms are known as “The Holy Place” and “The Holy of Holies.” (In the commentaries there is much discussion of which of these two curtains is intended and with divided opinion. The outer curtain is favored by some because of its public aspect. The inner curtain is favored by others because of references to it in Hebrews (6:19, 9:3; 10:19–20) and because the Greek word used here is more consistently used of the inner curtain. In the end, the choice of curtain does not greatly effect the sense. The tearing of either curtain would speak of the destruction of the temple and Old Testament system and symbolically show that a new way has been opened for man to approach God.)) This curtain was possibly as much as twenty-five meters tall.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

cloth door of the temple
-or-
cloth divider of the temple
-or-
heavy cloth that separated two rooms in the temple

temple: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple here refers to the main temple building. This is the same word as in 14:58b and 15:29c–d. See temple, Meaning 2, in the Glossary for more information.

was torn in two from top to bottom: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was torn in two means that the curtain was ripped/split into two pieces. (The same Greek verb is used in a figurative sense in 1:10b (“He saw the heavens breaking open”). If possible, use the same word you used there.)

If possible, use an expression that does not identify who (or what) caused the curtain to tear. For example:

the curtain tore/ripped in two
-or-
the curtain was torn/divided in two

If it is necessary in your language to identify who caused this to happen, you should say “God.” For example:

God tore the curtain in two.

© 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.