12:16a

At first His disciples did not understand these things: The phrase His disciples refers to Jesus’ disciples. They did not realize then that Jesus’ action fulfilled a prophecy in the Scriptures. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

His disciples did not understand this at the time (Good News Translation)
-or-
His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
At that time Jesus’ disciples did not realize that what happened ⌊fulfilled this prophecy⌋ .

At first: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as At first here means “at that time” or “when they happened.” Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

At the time (Revised English Bible)
-or-
when they first happened (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
Jesus’ disciples did not understand yet

His disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples means “learners” or “followers.” These learners committed themselves to their teacher in order to learn from him, and they followed his teaching and example. See how you translated this term in 2:15b and 12:4.

these things: This phrase refers to what happened in verses 12–15. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

this (New Century Version)
-or-
all this (New International Version)
-or-
what happened

12:16b

but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but here connects a negative statement (12:16a) to a positive statement (12:16b–c). This kind of sentence emphasizes the positive statement. Languages have different ways to indicate this type of emphasis. Here are some ways to show the emphasis:

• Use the conjunction but as in the Berean Standard Bible.

At first, Jesus’ disciples did not understand. But after he had been given his glory, they remembered all this. (Contemporary English Version)

• Do not use a conjunction. For example:

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. (New International Version)

after: This phrase introduces the time when the disciples finally understood.

Jesus was glorified: This clause refers to the time when God glorified Jesus by raising him to life and then taking him up to heaven. Only then would God send the Holy Spirit (see 7:39) and the Holy Spirit help the disciples understand (see 14:26). The verb was glorified is passive. There are at least two ways to translate this verb:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

after he had been given his glory (Contemporary English Version)

• Use an active verb. For example:

Jesus had received his glory
-or-
God had glorified him/Jesus

12:16c

they remembered what had been done to Him: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as had been done to Him is more literally “they did these things to him.” The Greek pronoun they almost certainly refers to the disciples. The disciples remembered what had happened and realized that what they (and others) did for Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures. They welcomed him as their Messiah as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as the Scriptures said he would. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

they had done this for him (Good News Translation)
-or-
this was what had happened to him (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
the disciples remembered that they had taken part in fulfilling the prophecies (God’s Word)

12:16d

and: The word and connects all that what was done to him with the things written down about him.

they realized that these very things had also been written about Him: After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension the disciples remembered what was written in the Old Testament about the Messiah. They realized only then that prophecies in the Scriptures referred to Jesus. It may therefore be natural to say:

realized that these things had been written about him (New Living Translation (2004))

these very things had also been written about Him: This clause indicates that the verses in the Scriptures that were quoted in 12:15 refer to Jesus. The prophets had written these things down many years before Jesus came, but they wrote about Jesus. The verb phrase had also been written is passive and there are at least two ways to translate it:

(1) Use a passive verb. For example:

these things had been written about him (New Living Translation (2004))

(2) Use an active verb. For example:

the scripture said this about him (Good News Translation)

Use the expression that is most natural in your language in this context.

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