Paragraph 11:5–8

In this paragraph, Jesus told a story. The main point of the story is that when a human being asks a friend for something, the friend gives it to him. He does this even if it is not convenient. This story implies that God will also give us what we request.

11:5–7

In Greek, the story in 11:5–7 is in the form of a rhetorical question. Some versions translate the beginning of the question literally, for example:

Which of you…? (Revised Standard Version)

This rhetorical question is one long, detailed sentence. For this reason, most English versions divide the sentence into several sentences. They also begin this story with the statement “Suppose one of you” rather than with a rhetorical question. (However, some versions, such as the English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, and King James Version, translate this as a rhetorical question.)

In 11:7, Jesus tells about events that no one would do or that no one would imagine. This rhetorical question expects a negative answer, such as “None of us!” or “Of course not!” or “That would never happen!”

Some ways to translate 11:5–7 are:

• Translate 11:5–6 as a statement and begin the rhetorical question in 11:7. For example:

5aSuppose one of you has a friend, 5band he goes to him at midnight and says, 5c‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread….’

7a
Would the one inside answer, ‘Do not bother me…’?

• Translate most of 11:5–7 as a statement, and ask a question at the end of 11:7. In some languages, it may be natural to answer the question. Some sample questions and answers are:

⌊Who has a friend like that?⌋ ⌊No one!⌋
-or-

⌊Can any of you imagine this?⌋ ⌊No!⌋
-or-

⌊Would this ever happen?⌋ ⌊Of course not!⌋

• As a statement. For example:

5aSuppose one of you has a friend, 5band he goes to him at midnight and says, 5c‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread….’

7aThe one inside would certainly not answer, ‘Do not bother me…’

Translate 11:5–7 in a natural way in your language.

11:5a

Then Jesus said to them: The clause Then Jesus said to them introduces a story that Jesus told to his disciples. Jesus told this story to teach his disciples something about prayer. Some other ways to introduce this story are:

Then Jesus went on to say (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: (New Living Translation (2004))

Suppose one of you: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Suppose one of you is a rhetorical question in Greek. (See the discussion above.) The Berean Standard Bible supplies the word Suppose to begin the short story that follows. This word indicates that this story is fiction (it is not an event that actually happened). However, this story is something that could happen, and it teaches a lesson about how to pray. Some other ways to begin this story are:

For example
-or-
Think about this

Begin this story in a way that is natural in your language.

one of you: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as one of you here means “any one of you disciples.”

If the phrase one of you is not natural in your language, you can simply translate this phrase as “you.” For example:

Suppose you went to a friend’s house (New Living Translation (2004))

11:5b

goes to his friend at midnight: The phrase goes to his friend at midnight means “one of you goes to your friend at midnight.” Notice that while Jesus says “one of you” in 11:5a, in the rest of the parable he says “his” and “him.” In some languages it may be more natural to continue to use “you” here. For example:

you(sing) go to him at midnight

to his friend: The man does not actually see his friend at first. He stands at the door of his house and calls out to him. So in some languages it may be more natural to translate this as:

to his house/home

General Comment on 11:5a–b

In some languages it may be more natural to combine 11:5a and 11:5b. For example:

Suppose one of you should go to a friend’s house at midnight (Good News Translation)

11:5c–6b

According to Jewish custom, a host was obligated to give his visitors something to eat. He was also expected to eat with them. In addition, he needed to give them a large quantity of food to show his generosity.

See the General Comment on 11:5c–6b at the end of 11:6b for a comment about reordering.

11:5c

Friend: The term Friend was the natural way for one Jew to politely speak to another. Use an expression that is natural in your language. For example:

My friend
-or-
My brother

lend: The verb lend is an imperative verb. In some languages, it may be more polite to use another word along with this imperative. For example:

please lend

In some languages, a polite request should be stated in the form of a question. For example:

could you please lend…?

The verb lend implies that the person will return the thing that he has borrowed. That was not the case here. The next day, the man would not give three different loaves to his friend to repay him. So, in this context, lend could be translated as:

let me have
-or-
give me

If people share food in this way in your culture, use the expression that is natural for requesting food.

three loaves of bread: The loaves of bread were probably flat loaves that made up the main part of a meal. If bread is not described in terms of loaves in your culture, it may be possible to say:

three breads

If people do not eat bread in your culture, you may use a general word such as “food,” as in 11:3.

© 2009, 2010, 2013 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.