Section 16:5–12

Jesus warned against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees

In this section, Jesus warned his disciples about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees and Sadducees refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah. And they tried to keep other Jews from believing that Jesus was the Messiah. They opposed Jesus and his message.

Jesus warned his disciples about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees by telling them to be careful of their “leaven/yeast.” Jesus used leaven/yeast in a metaphorical sense to refer to their teaching. But the disciples thought that he referred to literal leaven/yeast. They thought that he said these things because they had forgotten to take bread on their trip. Jesus rebuked them for not understanding. Then he used some rhetorical questions to help them understand the correct meaning of his words.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Guard Against Wrong Teachings (New Century Version)
-or-
The yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
The teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees is compared to yeast

There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 8:14–21.

Paragraph 16:5–12

In this paragraph Jesus warned the disciples about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

16:5a–b

When they crossed to the other side, the disciples forgot to take bread: In the Berean Standard Bible, it may appear that first the disciples crossed to the other side of the lake, then they forgot to bring bread. You should make it clear in your translation that the disciples first forgot to bring bread, then they crossed to the other side of the lake.

Here are some other ways to make the order more clear:

• Add a word like “discovered” or “realized” to the second clause. For example:

Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
After ⌊Jesus and⌋ the disciples crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples ⌊realized that they⌋ had forgotten to bring bread.

• Change the order of the clauses. For example:

The disciples had forgotten to bring any bread when they crossed the lake. (Contemporary English Version)

16:5a

When they crossed to the other side: The phrase the other side refers to the other (east) side of Lake Galilee. In some languages, it will be natural to make this information explicit. For example:

When the disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake (Good News Translation)
-or-
when they went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (God’s Word)

Mark 8:13 makes it clear that Jesus went across the lake with the disciples. In some languages, it will be more natural to make that information explicit. For example:

When ⌊Jesus and⌋ the disciples reached the other side of the lake

16:5b

the disciples forgot to take bread: As mentioned above in the note on 16:5a–b, it may be necessary to add the word “discovered” or “realized” before the word forgot. For example:

⌊they discovered/realized that⌋ they had forgotten to bring any bread

See the note at 16:5a–b for more information.

bread: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bread sometimes means food in general. In this context, it refers specifically to bread. Later in the story this will be important, because Jesus refers to leaven/yeast, which is used to make bread.

If you have been using a local food such as rice, sago, etc. as a substitute for the word bread in other verses, you may want to:

• Use a local food word if people use yeast/leaven to make it.

• Borrow the major language word for bread here. You may then want a footnote to explain bread. For example:

Bread was the main daily food of the Jews. It was made from a mixture of wheat flour and water. Some kinds of bread dough (uncooked bread) were puffed up by adding leaven/yeast, then cooked in an oven as loaves. Bread could be eaten warm from the oven or carried along and eaten cold anywhere.

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