Section 7:18–35

John the Baptizer sent messengers to Jesus

At the time when the events in this section happened, John the Baptizer was in prison (3:20). He sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask Jesus whether he was the Messiah. He referred to the Messiah as “the coming one” whom he and the people were expecting. Jesus’ answer implied that he was the Messiah.

After John’s messengers had left, Jesus talked about what a great man John was. But he also implied that the coming kingdom would be greater. It would be so great that people who would experience it and its benefits would have even greater privileges and blessings than John had. Finally, Jesus showed that the Jewish religious leaders rejected the plan of God, since they rejected both John and Jesus.

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it. Some other possible headings for this section are:

Jesus responds to the messengers of John the Baptizer and speaks about John to the crowd
-or-
Jesus speaks to the people about John the Baptizer
-or-
Jesus teaches about John the Baptizer

There is a parallel passage for this section in Matthew 11:3–19.

Paragraph 7:18–20

7:18a

Then John’s disciples informed him about all these things: John is in focus in this paragraph. In some languages it may be more natural to make John the subject of the sentence here. For example:

John heard about all these things from his disciples.

John’s: The name John here refers to John the Baptizer. In 7:20b the full title “John the Baptizer” is used. It may be more natural to use this full title here where John is first mentioned.

We know from Luke 3:20 and Matthew 11:2 that John was in prison when the events in this section happened. You could consider giving this information in a footnote or making it explicit in this verse. For example:

John’s disciples told him about all these things ⌊while he was in prison⌋.

disciples: For help in translating the word disciples, see the note on disciples at 5:30a. See also disciple in the Glossary for more information.

all these things: The phrase all these things refers to all the things that Jesus had been doing, including the miracle at Nain (7:11–17) and other miracles.

7:18b–19c

There is an issue here about where to place the verse number for 7:19. Most English versions begin 7:19 with the clause “(John) sent them to the Lord.…” Some other versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, place the verse number for 7:19 earlier, at the beginning of the clause “And (John) called two of them…”

You may want to follow a major language version in your area and place these words in the same position as that version does. Another possibility would be to combine verses 18 and 19 and number them as “18–19.”

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