22:25a

Verse 22:25a introduces a story which could possibly be true. But it was more likely a story made up by the Sadducees to show how the idea of resurrection was absurd. If you have a way of translating which shows this is not a true story, you may use that here.

Now: In this context, this conjunction begins a story. It is not the time word “Now.” Use a word or phrase which is natural in your language for beginning a story.

Here are some other ways to begin this story:

Once (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
One time
-or-
It happened that

there were seven brothers among us: This phrase refers to a family of seven brothers who probably lived in the general vicinity. It implies that they were Jews, and so they were required to follow this custom. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

there were seven brothers who used to live here (Good News Translation)
-or-
there were seven brothers who lived here with us

22:25b

The first married: The Greek phrase that the English Standard Version translates as The first refers to the oldest of these seven brothers. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

The first brother got married
-or-
The oldest one married (New Living Translation (2004))

and died: There is no time element here. At some point after his marriage this man died. Here is another way to translate this phrase:

and later died

22:25c

and having no offspring: The Greek word that the English Standard Version translates as offspring is the same word as in 22:24d. Translate it the same way here. This phrase expresses the reason why he left his wife to his brother. So another way to translate it is:

since he had no children (NET Bible)

left his wife to his brother: The Greek verb that the English Standard Version translates as left indicates that the oldest brother gave his wife into the care of his younger brother. In this case, the younger brother must follow the custom and marry her. Here is another way to translate this clause:

his brother married the widow (New Century Version)

© 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.