12:23

For: In Greek, this verse begins with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For. The conjunction introduces a reason why Jesus’ disciples should not worry about food and clothes. Express this reason connection in a natural way in your language. In some languages a connector may not be needed.

life is more than food, and the body more than clothes: This clause indicates that a person’s life is more important than things like food and clothes that he needs. For example:

Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes. (Good News Translation)

This statement is ambiguous. It can imply that:

(a) Since God gives the disciples their lives (the more important thing), they can also trust him to supply the food and clothing (the less important things) that they need for their lives.

(b) Life has much more meaning than food and clothes, and the disciples should focus on that meaning.

Jesus taught both these ideas in this chapter, and both ideas may be implied here. If possible, translate so that both ideas may be understood. In some languages it may be necessary to make this implied reasoning explicit, either in the text or in a footnote. For example:

Your life is more valuable than what you eat, and your body is more valuable than what you wear. ⌊Since God has given you both your life and your body, you can certainly trust him to also give you these things that you need.⌋

In some languages it may be necessary to translate life as a verb. You could possibly translate food as a verb in order to match this and say something like:

For living involves so much more than eating

General Comment on 12:23

In some languages it may be more natural to combine the clauses of 12:23. As in 12:22c, it may not be necessary to mention “body” explicitly. For example:

For life is far more important than food and clothing.

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