Paragraph 21:7–11
21:7a
“Teacher,” they asked: In the Greek text, the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they asked is literally “and they asked him, saying.” This phrase comes before the word Teacher. Use a natural order in your language, and introduce the quotation in a natural way. Other ways to do this in English are:
So they asked him, “Teacher…” (NET Bible)
-or-
Then they questioned him ⌊about that⌋, saying, “Teacher…”
-or-
And they put to him this question, “Master,” they said (New Jerusalem Bible)
Teacher: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Teacher was a polite title for a Jewish religious leader. In this context the disciples addressed Jesus with respect as their teacher and master. Use a natural title in your language for this context. This title was also used in 18:18. For more information, see the note on 18:18a.
they: The pronoun they refers to the disciples who had been talking about the temple in 21:5. Refer back to them here in a natural way in your language.
when will these things happen?: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as these things refers primarily to the temple being destroyed. It probably also includes the other events that would happen before and after the destruction of the temple. Some ways to translate the disciples’ question are:
when will these events happen/occur?
-or-
when will this be? (Good News Translation)
-or-
when will all this happen? (New Living Translation (2004))
In Greek, the question begins with a conjunction that the New American Standard Bible translates as “therefore.” The Berean Standard Bible and other English versions do not translate this conjunction. Do what is natural here in your language.
21:7b
what will be the sign that they are about to take place?: Here the disciples asked Jesus what sign would indicate that the events are about to happen. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sign refers here to a signal or indication. In this context the sign refers to an event or other indication that will show that the statement in 21:6 will soon happen. Other ways to translate the question are:
…what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place? (Good News Translation)
-or-
…what will we see, so that we may know that these things will soon happen?
The word sign also occurs in 2:12, 2:34, 11:16, 11:29–30. See how you translated it there. Consider whether you should translate it in the same way here. You may need to translate it differently to fit this context.
that they are about to take place?: The phrase they are about to take place is literally “they will very-soon be accomplished.” It indicates that these events would soon happen.
© 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.