1:39a
Come and see: This Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Come here indicates that Jesus was persuading or inviting the two men to come with him. If the simple command Come sounds rude, you may want to say this:
You(dual) are welcome to come and see.
-or-
Please come and see.
The implied subject of both verbs is “you two” and refers to the two disciples.
see: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as see here can mean to find out, understand, or discover. However, here it seems to mean literally “see.” Jesus wanted the disciples to see for themselves where he was staying. Here is another way to translate this word:
and I will show you.
He replied: The He refers to Jesus. In some languages it is more natural to make this more explicit. For example:
Jesus told them (God’s Word)
1:39b
So they went and saw where He was staying: The pronoun they refers to these two disciples of John. The pronoun He refers to Jesus. In some languages it is more natural to make this explicit. For example:
So the two men went with Jesus and saw where he was staying (New Century Version)
1:39c
and spent that day with Him: This refers to the rest of the day—the late afternoon and evening. It may be more natural to translate this in this way:
and spent ⌊the rest of⌋ the day with him
-or-
So they stayed on for the rest of the day. (Contemporary English Version)
1:39d
It was about the tenth hour: In that culture the day began at sunrise, about 6 o’clock in the morning. The sun set around 6 p.m. The daylight hours were divided into twelve (12) units, so the tenth hour was about 4 p.m.
It is not clear in the Greek what happened about the tenth hour. Some think that it refers to the time that Jesus invited John’s two disciples to come with him. Others think that it refers to the time when they arrived or finished talking at Jesus’ place. Some think that because it was late in the day, the disciples spent the night there. Because the Greek is not clear what about the tenth hour refers to, it is recommended that your translation does not make it clear.
General Comment on 1:39b–d
In some languages it may be natural to reorder 1:39b–d and state the time of day earlier. For example:
39d It was already about four o’clock in the afternoon 39b when they went with him and saw where he lived. 39c So they stayed on for the rest of the day. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
39d It was about four o’clock in the afternoon 39b when they went with him to the place where he was staying, 39c and they remained with him the rest of the day. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
39b So then they followed Jesus to his home. 39d It was late afternoon. 39c They stayed there with him that day.
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