10:32a
I have shown you many good works from the Father: Jesus said that with God’s power and direction he had done many good deeds. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
I have shown you many good things that my Father sent me to do. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do. (Good News Translation)
-or-
By the Father’s power I have done many good deeds before your eyes. (Revised English Bible)
I have shown you: These words indicate that Jesus did these things in the presence of the people. They watched him do things that revealed the Father’s power. In some languages it may be natural to translate this with the people (“You”) as the subject:
You have seen me do many good works…
you: The word you is plural and refers to Jesus’ opponents, the ones who picked up stones to stone him.
many good works: This phrase refers to what Jesus did to help people, healing them. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
many great miracles (NIV93)
from the Father: This phrase indicates that God’s power or command was the origin of these miracles. Jesus did not do them alone. His Father commanded and directed and enabled him. There is a textual problem here.
(1) Some manuscripts say the Father. For example:
from the Father (English Standard Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New International Version, NET Bible Bible, God’s Word, Good News Translation, New Century Version)
(2) Some manuscripts say “my Father.” For example:
At my Father’s direction I have done many good works (New Living Translation (2004))
(Contemporary English Version, King James Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004))
Both options mean the same thing; both refer to God. The UBS Handbook Handbook Greek NT says “the Father” is the original text, but it is not very certain. It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with most English translations and the UBS Handbook Handbook Greek New Testament. If it is natural in your language to use the first-person pronoun “my,” it is acceptable to do so.
10:32b
For which of these do you stone Me?: This question is more literally “For which of these do you stone me?” as in the Revised Standard Version. The people had not started to stone Jesus, but they wanted and intended to do so. For example:
for which one of these do you want to stone me? (Good News Translation)
This is a question about cause. Jesus was asking which of his miracles caused the Jewish people to want to kill him. Here are other ways to translate this question:
Which of these has caused you to want to stone me?
-or-
Which of these makes you want to stone me?
which of these: The word these refers to the great works or miracles mentioned in 10:32a. It may be natural to make this explicit. For example:
which of these good things (God’s Word)
-or-
Which of these good works (New Century Version)
stone Me: It is good to use the same expression that you used in 10:31. For example:
to stone me to death (God’s Word)
© 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.
