Section 9:49–50

Jesus told who is for him and who is against him

The connection of this section to the previous section is probably in the phrase “in my name.” In the previous Section 9:46–48, Jesus taught his disciples that a truly great person was one who humbly welcomed even a little child in his name. In this section, the disciple John responded that he and the other disciples had tried to stop a man from expelling demons in Jesus’ name. They did this because the man was not one of the twelve disciples. Jesus then taught them that anyone who did not oppose them was on their side.

Some other examples of headings for this section are:

Whoever Is Not against You Is for You (Good News Translation)
-or-
Those who do not oppose you help you

There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 9:38–40.

Paragraph 9:49–50

9:49a

In Greek, this verse begins literally, “And answering, John said.” One way to translate this is:

John answered and said (New American Standard Bible)

However, John was not answering a question. He was probably responding to Jesus’ statement in the previous section about welcoming a little child in his name. Therefore the Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions do not use a verb such as “answer.” Here are other ways to translate this:

Then John responded and said (Translator’s Reference Translation)
-or-
When John heard what Jesus said, he responded/said to him
-or-
John spoke up (Good News Translation)

Master: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Master was used to show respect when people addressed a person who had authority over them. John used this word here to show his respect for Jesus as well as his close relationship with him as his teacher and spiritual leader. See the note on 9:33b, where the same word is used.

said John: The Berean Standard Bible places the words said John in the middle of John’s spoken words. It also puts the subject John after the verb said. In Greek, these words occur at the beginning of 9:49, as part of the clause “And answering, John said.” Place the words said John or “John replied” where it is natural in your language.

John: Here the name John refers to one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. It does not refer to John the Baptizer. If people in your area will think that this name refers to John the Baptizer, you may want to include some implied information. For example:

⌊the disciple⌋ John

Another option would be to add a footnote giving this information.

driving out: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as driving out was also used in 9:40. See the note there for translation suggestions.

demons: The word demons also occurs in 9:1b. See the note there for information about translating this term.

in Your name: In this context the phrase in Your name refers to invoking or using Jesus’ name, with all the power and authority associated with that name. Some ways to translate it are:

by using the power and authority of your name (God’s Word)
-or-
using your name (New Century Version)
-or-
through your power

A similar phrase “in my name” occurs in 9:48a. Both phrases refer to Jesus’ name, but the context here is different. In some languages it may be possible to use the same expression in both contexts. In other languages, you will have to use different expressions.

9:49b

we tried to stop him:
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tried to stop is literally “were preventing” or “were forbidding.” The tense indicates that the disciples tried to make the man stop. They did this with words. They did not try to restrain him physically. Probably more than one of the disciples told him to stop. But the man probably continued to cast out demons.

Some other ways to translate this are:

we tried to hinder him (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
we were forbidding him to do that
-or-
We told him to stop (New Century Version)

to stop: It is implied that the disciples tried to make the man stop using Jesus’ name to cast out demons. If your language needs to say what was stopped, you could say:

to stop ⌊doing that⌋
-or-
to stop ⌊driving/casting out demons using your name⌋

because he does not accompany us: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he does not accompany us is literally “he does not follow with us.” The word us probably refers to Jesus and the twelve disciples. Some other ways to translate this are:

he doesn’t belong to our group (Good News Translation)
-or-
he is not associated with us(incl)

General Comment on 9:49b

In some languages it may be more natural to reverse the order of the two clauses in 9:49b. It may be necessary to say first why the disciples tried to stop the man:

He is not one of us(incl), so we(excl) tried to stop him.
-or-
He does not follow you(sing) as we(excl) do. That is why we(excl) tried to stop him.

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