Paragraph 8:13

8:13a–b

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go!: The word Go is a polite command to the centurion. Your translation should not imply that Jesus rebuked the centurion or chased him away.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Go home (Good News Translation)
-or-
Go back home. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
You may go home now. (Contemporary English Version)

As you have believed: These words mean that Jesus healed the centurion’s servant just like the centurion believed he would heal him. The centurion believed that Jesus could heal his servant with a command, and that’s what Jesus did.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

just as you believed he would (New Century Version)
-or-
just like you believed

It is also possible to translate this clause as the reason for the healing. For example:

Because you believed (New Living Translation (2004))

so will it be done for you: By pronouncing these words, Jesus did a miracle and healed the centurion’s servant. This type of statement is similar to “let there be light” in Genesis. When God or Jesus pronounced words like this, the thing happened.

This statement is more than just a wish or a blessing. It is a command that the servant be healed. In 8:3b, Jesus healed the leper by saying “Be clean.” Here he also healed a man by simply speaking words.

Here the word it refers to the centurion’s request that Jesus heal his servant.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Let/May it happen to/for you
-or-
Your request for your servant to be healed is done for you
-or-
Your servant is healed
-or-
I heal your servant

Some English versions use the future tense here. For example:

It will be done (New International Version)

However, these words are not a prediction that the centurion’s servant would be healed sometime in the future. As soon as Jesus said these words, the servant was healed. Be careful to choose a tense that implies an immediate healing.

8:13c

And his servant was healed: The clause is passive.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

the servant was cured (New Jerusalem Bible)

• Use an active verb. For example:

⌊Jesus⌋ healed the servant

at that very hour: This expression means “immediately.”

Here are some other ways to translate this:

at that same exact time
-or-
right then (Contemporary English Version)

-or-

immediately

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