18:23a

Jesus replied: In some languages it is more natural to make explicit whom Jesus spoke to. For example:

Jesus said to the guard

If I said something wrong, testify as to what was wrong: This sentence is the first part of Jesus’ response to the police/guard. It implies that Jesus did not say anything wrong. Jesus challenged the guard to tell him what wrong he had said. He implies that the guard cannot say what wrong he said because he said nothing wrong. For example:

If I said anything wrong, you must prove it. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
If I have said anything wrong, tell everyone here what it was. (Good News Translation)

If I said something wrong: This is a conditional clause and refers to how Jesus had spoken to the high priest. The condition in this kind of clause could be true or false. Here it was false, but Jesus allowed the possibility that it was true. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

If I have spoken wrongly (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
If I have said anything wrong (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

testify as to what was wrong: This phrase means “tell the truth about what was wrong/rude in my answer.”

then show what it was (New Century Version)
-or-
you must give evidence about it (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

18:23b

But if I spoke correctly, why did you strike Me?: This question is the second part of Jesus’ response to the police/guard. It implies that Jesus did speak rightly (correctly). Jesus again challenged the guard’s action, here asking him to justify hitting him. Here are other ways to translate this question:

But if I’ve told the truth, why do you hit me? (God’s Word)
-or-
But if not, why did you hit me? (Contemporary English Version)

But: This word here indicates a contrast between saying something wrong and saying something true and suitable.

if I spoke correctly: This is a conditional clause that was true and the sentence implies that. However, like the clause in 18:23a, it allows the possibility that it could be true or false. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

if I’m speaking the truth (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
if what I said is true (New Century Version)
-or-
if I am right in what I have said (Good News Translation)

I spoke correctly: This clause refers to what Jesus said in 18:20–21. There he said that many people heard his teaching, and told the high priest to ask them what he taught. This was both true and suitable, so it was not rude or lacking respect.

why did you strike Me?: This is a rhetorical question. It is used as a rebuke. The guard had struck Jesus without just cause. There are at least two ways to translate this rhetorical question to express rebuke:

• Use a rhetorical question:

why do you hit me? (Good News Translation, God’s Word, New Century Version)
-or-
Should you hit a man for telling the truth? (New Living Translation (1996))

• Use a statement. For example:

You should not have hit me.

Use whichever form is most natural to express rebuke in your language.

did you strike Me: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as did you strike is singular and refers to what the guard did. It is a different verb than the one used in 18:22a, though it refers to the same action. The verb strike refers to an action that had just happened. It may therefore be natural to use a past tense verb, as in the Berean Standard Bible.

© 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.