11:7a

And suppose the one inside answers: As mentioned above, 11:5–7 is a long, complex rhetorical question. To make this long rhetorical question more understandable, you can translate 11:5–6 as a statement and begin the rhetorical question here in 11:7a. For example:

Would the one inside answer…?
-or-
Does the person inside the house answer in this way?

(See the note on 11:5–7 above for other ways to translate the rhetorical question.)

Translate this clause in a natural way in your language for keeping track of the participants in the story. For example, it may not be necessary to specify that the man is inside the house, if that is already clear from the context.

Do not bother me: The phrase Do not bother me means, “Do not disturb me by making me get out of bed.” The man in the house would have to get out of bed, get the bread, and unlock the door. He did not want to do that in order to give the bread to his friend. Some other ways to translate this are:

Do not disturb me
-or-
Do not cause me trouble/problems

11:7b

My door is already shut: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as is…shut is literally “has been shut.” It indicates here that the door had been shut for the night. This involved fastening a bar or bolt across the inside of the door to keep it closed. If you have a term in your language for barring, bolting, or locking a door from the inside, you may use it here.

The verb is…shut is a passive verb. Some ways to translate this verb are:

• As a passive verb. For example:

The door is locked for the night (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
The door is bolted (Contemporary English Version)

• As an active verb. For example:

I have already barred/bolted the door ⌊for the night⌋

Translate this verb in a way that is most natural in your language.

11:7c

my children and I are in bed: There are at least two ways to interpret the Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my children and I are in bed:

(1) The children and the father had already gone to bed. They were probably asleep. The children may or may not have been on the same bed or mat as the father. For example:

my children and I are in bed (New Century Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Century Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation)

(2) The children were all sleeping in the same bed as the father. This was probably a mat or a raised sleeping platform at one end of the room on which the whole family slept. For example:

my children are with me in bed (Revised Standard Version)

(New International Version, Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because it allows for a variety of sleeping arrangements. The point of the passage is not whether the family slept in one or many beds. The point is that everyone had already gone to bed. If the father had to get up and look for food supplies, this would probably wake up the other members of the family.

If the situation is not clear to readers in your area, you may want to add a footnote. For example:

This was probably a one-room house where everyone slept in one area. It would disturb everyone’s sleep to get up and open the door. (Translator’s Reference Translation)

Some other ways to translate interpretation (1) are:

My children and I already went to bed/sleep
-or-
My children and I have already lain down

The man did not mention his wife. If that seems unusual for people in your area, you may want to translate in a more general way. For example:

my family and I are all in bed (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
All of us(excl) already went to sleep

11:7d

I cannot get up to give you anything: In this context the clause I cannot get up means “I am not willing to get up.” Obviously the man was physically able to get out of bed. He just was not willing to do so. In some languages it may not be necessary to state all the information in this verse part explicitly. For example:

I can’t help you (New Living Translation (2004))

Think of a natural way in your language for a person to give this kind of excuse to his friend.

General Comment on 11:5–7

As the note on 11:5–7 stated, in Greek these verses are one rhetorical question. In some languages it may be more natural to translate most of 11:5–7 as a statement and to put a shorter question at the end of 11:7d. See the Display for 11:7d for some examples. See also the note on 11:5–7 above for more information.

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