15:25a

We might expect the woman to accept what Jesus said and go away. But she did not. Many English versions introduce what the woman did with the conjunction “But.”

Here are some other ways to introduce this unexpected behavior:

However
-or-
Then (New Living Translation (2004))

Some English versions like the Berean Standard Bible do not have a conjunction here. In some languages, a conjunction will not be necessary either.

The woman came and knelt before Him: The woman was following behind Jesus. But now she moved around and got in front of him.

The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as knelt before means “prostrate oneself.” To prostrate oneself means to kneel and then put one’s face down on the ground with hands outstretched. This shows submission to a greater person.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

she came ⌊around⌋ before him and got on her knees in front of Jesus
-or-
the woman approached him and kneeled with her face to the ground ⌊in humility⌋

15:25b

Lord, help me: The woman used these words to respectfully, but urgently, ask Jesus to help her. You should translate this request in your language in a way that shows respect. For example:

Lord/Sir, ⌊please⌋ help me.

© 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.