Paragraph 1:10–11
1:10a
They were looking intently into the sky as He was going: This clause indicates that the apostles watched Jesus ascend. It probably refers to when the cloud lifted him and he was so far up that they could only see the cloud going upward. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
They were intently watching him go upward in the sky
-or-
They were still staring into the sky as he went (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
While they were still gazing up into the sky watching his departure ⌊in/on the cloud⌋
1:10b
when suddenly: The Greek is literally “and look.” Here it introduces the two men and puts attention on what follows to indicate that it is important or amazing. It is not a command to look at something. Here are some ways to translate it here:
and look/listen
-or-
indeed
-or-
unexpectedly
two men dressed in white: These two men dressed in white were angels. They looked like men. They suddenly appeared, which shows that they are angels. In some languages a literal translation would only indicate that they were literal men. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain the meaning in your translation. For example:
two ⌊angels, who looked like⌋ men dressed in white,
See how you translated the word “angel” in Matthew 1:20, Mark 1:13, or Luke 1:11.
• Translate literally and explain the meaning in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:
These “men” were actually angels. These particular angels looked like men.
stood beside them: This phrase indicates that the angels appeared next to the apostles. They were already standing when they appeared. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
were standing beside them, (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
⌊appeared,⌋ standing beside them
© 2001, 2021 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.