1:24a

and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and here introduces more details about 1:23c. The person not only looks at himself, he goes away and forgets what he looks like.

Some English versions translate this word as “for.” But do not translate this verse as if it were the reason for 1:23. It further explains 1:23, but it is not a reason.

after observing: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as after observing is from the same Greek word as the word translated “looks at” in 1:23c. In some languages, it may be unnatural or unnecessary to repeat the word here. In these languages, it may be sufficient to translate this as:

after that
-or-
having done that
-or-
then

1:24b

goes away: Some other ways to translate goes away are:

leaves
-or-
walks away

immediately: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as immediately can also be translated as:

quickly (New Century Version)
-or-
soon
-or-
it is not long before

forgets what he looks like: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forgets in this context means “neglects to do something about” what he has seen and quickly forgets it. He has an attitude of carelessness. He does not consider it important for him to do anything about what he has observed. See the note about the simile in 1:23a–24b.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

forgets what he saw
-or-
does nothing to fix the problem he saw and soon forgets about it

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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.