6:50a
This is the bread that comes down from heaven: This clause continues the figure of speech that compares and contrasts manna/bread and Jesus. Here Jesus referred to himself and he again used the metaphor of bread. See the notes on 6:35a and 6:48 and how you translated the metaphor there.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that… (Good News Translation)
-or-
I am speaking of the bread that comes down from heaven (Revised English Bible)
from heaven: As in 6:42b, the phrase from heaven is a way of saying “from God who is in heaven.”
6:50b
so that anyone may eat of it and not die: This clause indicates that the bread, Jesus, came from heaven so that a person who believed on him should not die spiritually. See the parallel between this clause and 6:47b. Jesus is the bread that gives true life (see 6:48).
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Anyone who eats this bread will never die. (New Century Version)
-or-
so that no one who eats it will ever die (Contemporary English Version)
eat of it: This is a metaphor. However, church groups understand it in different ways. Many church groups say that it refers to trusting Jesus and his provision. Others say that this phrase refers to communion. It is necessary that you translate this phrase literally and continue the metaphor of Jesus as bread. If you try to explain the metaphor in your translation, the Jews’ confusion in verse 52 will not make sense.
General Comment on 6:50a–b
In some languages it may be natural to combine these clauses. For example:
anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die (New Living Translation (2004))
© 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.