3:2a

And: Here this word introduces another person who is important to this story.

a man who was lame from birth: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lame from birth is literally “lame from his mother’s womb.” The man could not use his legs since he was born.

…was being carried: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

⌊people⌋ were carrying him

The Greek grammar indicates that the people carrying this man were probably on their way to the temple gate. They were going to the same gate as Peter and John were. For example:

a man…was being carried ⌊on the way⌋

carried: Probably two or four people carried him on a stretcher. A stretcher is a mat stretched between two poles. In some languages how the person is carried must be described. For example:

carried ⌊on a stretcher⌋

If you have translated Mark 2:3, see that verse, where four men carried a paralyzed man to Jesus.

3:2b

the temple gate called Beautiful: The clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

the temple gate that ⌊people⌋ called Beautiful

the temple gate: This phrase refers to a doorway in one of the walls that surround the temple. It is one way to enter the temple area/courts (2:46; 3:1). It is not a door into the temple itself. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the entrance of the Temple courts/area
-or-
the doorway of the fence around the temple

Beautiful: This word refers to something that is pleasing to look at. The Jews considered this gate pleasing to look at. Perhaps the people who made this gateway carved the stones with beautiful designs. (One gateway to the temple was made of bronze rather than stone. Scholars do not know which gateway was called Beautiful.)

3:2c

where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts: This clause further describes the temple gate called Beautiful. It does not separate this gate from other gates called Beautiful. For the correct meaning in some languages, translators must avoid the word where. For example:

He was put there every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

he was put every day: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he was put is literally “whom they were putting.” The same people who carried the lame man also put him down near the Beautiful Gate every day. The Berean Standard Bible uses a passive verb here because the Greek does not mention these people before this.

The Greek grammar indicates that they customarily did this. The phrase every day describes how often they did this. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

they used to put him down every day (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
was being carried by some men. 2cEvery day these men would put the lame man (God’s Word)
-or-
Each day he was placed (Contemporary English Version)

to beg: The Greek is more literally “to ask for an act of mercy.” Here the “act of mercy” would usually be a gift of money. The Jews regarded giving money to poor or physically deformed people as a good deed before God. So sitting at the entrance to the temple was a good place to ask for money. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

so that he could ask for charitable gifts (LEB)
-or-
to beg for money (Good News Translation)

© 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.