Section 12:20–26
Some Greeks wanted to meet Jesus
Some Greek people went to Philip to ask to meet Jesus. Jesus responded to the Greeks’ request by giving the illustration of a seed that must die to produce fruit.
Here are some other possible titles for this section:
Some Greek people asked to see Jesus
-or-
Some Greeks sought Jesus
Paragraph 12:20–22
12:20
Now: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now here introduces a new event in the story. In this context it is not a time word. Many English translations do not translate this word. Introduce this new event in a natural way in your language.
there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast: It was not only Jewish people who went to Jerusalem at this time. Some Greeks (Gentiles) went also. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Some Greeks were among those who came to worship during the Passover festival. (God’s Word)
-or-
Some Greeks had gone to Jerusalem to worship during Passover. (Contemporary English Version)
some Greeks: The word Greeks refers to people who were not Jews by birth. They were Gentiles, speakers of the Greek language. The word Greeks in the New Testament does not refer to people from the country of Greece. (It did not exist yet.) See the notes on Greeks in 7:35. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
some Gentiles (Revised English Bible)
went up: This phrase is a Jewish idiom meaning “went to Jerusalem.” They used this idiom because Jerusalem was built on a hill. You may want to make it explicit that they went up to Jerusalem. For example:
had gone to Jerusalem (Good News Translation)
to worship: The Greeks went to worship God. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:
to worship ⌊God⌋
the feast: This phrase here refers to the Passover festival, when the Jews celebrated their freedom from being slaves to the Egyptians. See the note on 2:13.You may want to make it clear which festival it was. For example:
the Passover Feast (New Century Version)
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