24:33a

And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem: The Greek sentence that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they got up that very hour and returned is literally “Having arisen the very same hour/moment, they returned.” The phrase “the very same hour/moment” emphasizes that the two disciples got up immediately and returned to Jerusalem. They did not wait even an hour. They felt it was urgent to give this news to the other followers of Jesus.

Some other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem. (New American Bible)
-or-
And they got to their feet without delay and turned back to Jerusalem. (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
So they got right up and returned to Jerusalem. (Contemporary English Version)

24:33b–c

There they found the Eleven and those with them, gathered together: This clause implies that when the two disciples arrived in Jerusalem, they went to the place where they expected Jesus’ apostles and other followers to be. Just as they expected, the eleven apostles and the others were gathered there. Some other ways to translate the clause are:

There they found the eleven apostles and others gathered (New Century Version)
-or-
There they found that the eleven and the rest of the company had assembled (Revised English Bible)
-or-
and met with the eleven disciples of Jesus and his other companions who had/were gathered

the Eleven: The phrase the Eleven refers to the group of Jesus’ apostles. See the note on 24:9b for more information. After Judas died (Matthew 27:1–5), the disciples changed the name of this group from “the Twelve” to the Eleven. The phrase is a way to refer to the group as a whole. It does not necessarily imply that all eleven apostles were in that particular gathering. This gathering may have been the same as the one in John 20:24 when Thomas was not there.

Another way to translate the Eleven is:

the eleven apostles (New Century Version)

those with them: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as those with them refers to the larger group of Jesus’ followers mentioned as “all the others” in 24:9b. The group included both men and women.

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