17:6a

When the disciples heard this: The word this does not occur in Greek. Some English versions add it to make the sentence more natural. It refers to either the voice or the words that the voice spoke. In some languages, it may be more natural to make this explicit. For example:

When they heard this voice (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
When the disciples heard the voice (Good News Translation) When the disciples heard those words

17:6b

they fell facedown in terror: The disciples fell facedown because they were terrified. In other words, they were terrified first, and then they fell on their faces. In some languages it may be natural to change the order of these two clauses.

Here are some other ways to translate these two clauses:

they fell on their faces because they were terrified
-or-
they were so afraid that they fell flat on the ground (Contemporary English Version)

they fell facedown: This is a Greek idiom. It means that the disciples dropped to the ground and lay with their faces down. Their arms were probably stretched out in front of them.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

they dropped with their faces on the ground
-or-
they threw themselves face downward on the ground (Good News Translation)

in terror: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in terror includes a word that means “greatly” or “exceedingly.” Their fear was extreme.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

and were very afraid

-or-

they were greatly frightened

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