3:9a–b

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’: The people to whom John was speaking were descendants of Abraham. John did not want them to think that because they were descendants of Abraham, God would not punish or destroy them for their sins. God would judge them if they did not repent and obey him.

In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:

do not think, ‘We have Abraham as our father ⌊and so God will never punish us⌋.’
-or-
do not say to yourselves that ⌊nothing can happen to you because⌋ you are Abraham’s children.
-or-
Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing… (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Do not think that having Abraham as your father/ancestor ⌊will help you⌋.

In other languages, it may be better to put this information in a footnote. For example:

God chose Abraham to begin a people who would be his chosen ones. Therefore, many of the Jewish people in the time of John felt that since they were God’s chosen ones, they were sure of being considered righteous before God. They thought that God would never punish them at the final judgment.

3:9a

do not presume: The word presume means to “believe something to be true without proof,” or to “assume.” Here is another way to translate this word:

think (Good News Translation)

to say to yourselves: There are two ways to interpret the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as say to yourselves:

(1) It means say in your own minds. For example:

say within yourselves (King James Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Standard Bible, New Century Version NET Bible, King James Version, English Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Contemporary English Version)

(2) It means tell one another. For example:

say to each other (New Living Translation (2004))

(New Living Translation (2004); perhaps God’s Word, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). John was saying that the people should not think in this way.

Here are some other ways to translate 3:9a:

do not let this thought enter your minds
-or-
do not think that
-or-
do not trust/rely on the fact that

3:9b

We have Abraham as our father: This clause is a quote within a quote. John quoted what the people might say or think. In some languages, it will be more natural to translate this clause using “You” instead of We. For example:

9aDo not think that you (plur.) can say to yourselves 9bthat you (plur.) have Abraham as your father.
-or-
that you belong to Abraham’s family (Contemporary English Version)

our father: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as father can also refer to an ancestor. Abraham lived many generations before the Jews to whom John was speaking. In some languages, you may need to indicate specifically that Abraham was their ancestor. For example:

Abraham is our ancestor.
-or-
We are descendants of Abraham.

3:9c

For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces the reason that the Jews should not depend on Abraham being their ancestor to save them. They should not expect the fact that they are descendants of Abraham to save them, because God can create other children for Abraham.

In some languages it may be helpful to make this connection more explicit. For example:

⌊You should not depend on that,⌋ because

I tell you: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as I tell you emphasizes the following statement. Here John used it to introduce a fact that was amazing but true. He implied that people should carefully listen to what he was about to say.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

• Use a phrase before John’s statement. For example:

I assure you that
-or-
I can guarantee that (God’s Word)

• Use an emphatic word within John’s statement. For example:

Out of these stones God can certainly raise up children for Abraham.

that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham: This clause means “God can turn/make these stones into Abraham’s descendants.” John was saying that the Jewish people should not depend on the fact that Abraham was their ancestor to protect them from being punished or destroyed. God could replace them. If he wished, he could create other people to be Abraham’s descendants. He could even create them from stones.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

God can turn these stones into children for Abraham. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. (New Living Translation (2004))

-or-

God can give life to these stones and change them into descendants of Abraham ⌊to replace you⌋.

© 2023 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.