Section 1:35–42

Jesus chose his first disciples

This section tells about some of Jesus’ first disciples. Two of John the Baptist’s disciples started to follow Jesus after John told them that he was the Lamb of God. One of them was Andrew and he brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus. Jesus told Simon that his new name would be Peter.

Here are other possible section headings:

The first disciples began to follow Jesus
-or-
A few men began to follow Jesus
-or-
Jesus’ first disciples/followers

Paragraph 1:35–39

Two of John’s disciples heard that Jesus was the Lamb of God and began to follow him. Jesus asked them what they wanted, and they told him they wanted to know where he was staying. Jesus then invited them to come and see.

1:35

The next day: This phrase introduces a new part of the story. This phrase was also used in 1:29a.

John was there again: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as John was there again indicates that John the Baptist was present during this next part of the story also. In some languages it is more natural to indicate where John was standing. For example:

John was again standing/present ⌊at that place⌋

disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples refers to a learner who is in a special relationship with a teacher. The learner commits himself to his teacher in order to learn and follow his teaching and example. A disciple often lived with his teacher and followed him wherever he went.

Here are some ways to translate this word:

• Use a term that refers to someone who learns from a teacher or an expert. It is helpful if the term also implies that the learner is often with his teacher. For example:

learner/student
-or-
apprentice

Be careful not to use a term that can only refer to a student in a school or classroom.

• Use a term that refers to someone who follows a teacher or leader by obeying his teaching. It is helpful if this term also implies learning from the teacher and actually following the teacher wherever he goes. For example:

follower
-or-
one who is committed/faithful (to a teacher/leader)

See also disciple in Key Biblical Terms.

© 2020 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.