7:3a

When the centurion heard about Jesus: This clause implies that the centurion (officer) heard what people were saying about Jesus. Someone may have told him specifically that Jesus had healed many people. In some languages it may be natural to translate this as:

Someone/People told the centurion about Jesus.

In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit what he heard. For example:

The centurion heard that Jesus ⌊had healed people⌋

7:3b

he sent some Jewish elders to ask Him: The Roman army officer was not a Jew himself, but he knew that Jesus was a Jew. He thought that he should ask some of the leaders of the Jews to go to Jesus for him. The context (7:6e) shows that the Roman officer did not feel worthy to come to Jesus himself. He thought that Jesus would be more likely to heal his servant if the Jews pleaded on his behalf.

sent…to ask Him: The words sent…to ask Him indicate here that the officer politely asked the Jewish elders to go to Jesus and ask him a question. He did not command them to go. Another way to say this is:

He asked some Jewish elders to go to Jesus.

In some languages it may be natural to use direct speech here. For example:

He said to some Jewish elders, “Please would you go to Jesus for me…”

Jewish elders: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as elders means “old men.” This word often refers to men who were respected leaders in the community. They were not necessarily religious leaders. In some cultures a term that means “old men” may not imply that the men were leaders. If that is true in your language, you may need to use a different term. Some other ways to translate this word are:

leaders
-or-
important men
-or-
leading men among the people

Jewish: The word Jewish refers to people who follow the religion of the Jews. Most Jews are descendants of the man named Israel. The word “Jew” comes from the name of Israel’s son Judah, who was the great-grandson of Abraham. If you do not already have a word in your language for Jewish, you could write this name based on the Hebrew name “Yehuda” (Judah). Use the form or phrase that your language naturally uses for names of tribes called after a common ancestor. For example, in Arabic the word Jewish is written as “Yahudi.”

7:3c

to ask Him to come and heal his servant: The phrase to ask Him to come and heal his servant tells the message that the centurion was giving Jesus. He requested that Jesus would come and heal his servant. In some languages it may be natural to use direct speech either for the centurion’s words or for the message that the elders were to give to Jesus. For example:

He told them, “Beg Jesus to come and heal my slave.”
-or-
He told them to say to Jesus, “Please come and heal my slave.”

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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