Paragraph 21:4–6

A man on the shore told the disciples how they could catch some fish. They realized that it was Jesus, and Peter jumped into the water and swam to shore.

21:4a

Early in the morning: This phrase refers to the early morning immediately after daybreak (sunrise). There was enough light for the disciples to see the shore. Use an expression that is natural in your language. For example:

As the sun was rising (God’s Word)
-or-
At dawn (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Early the next morning (Contemporary English Version)

Jesus stood on the shore: Jesus was standing near the water. The text does not say whether he had been there some time or whether he only arrived at sunrise. But the light of the sun enabled the disciples to see him. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

there stood Jesus on the shore (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
Jesus was standing on the beach (New Living Translation (2004))

on the shore: This phrase here refers to the shore, the land at the edge of the Sea of Galilee. It may not have been a wide sandy area. For example:

on the shore of the lake (TH)
-or-
at the water’s edge (Good News Translation)

21:4b

but the disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus: The disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus standing on the beach. Perhaps it was difficult to see in the early morning light, or perhaps he looked different in some way. Compare 20:14–15 and Luke 24:15–16. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

but the disciples did not realize who he was (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
although the disciples had no idea that it was Jesus (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

General Comment on 21:4a–b

In some languages it may be natural to translate 21:4a from the disciples’ view from the boat. You would indicate only that someone, or a man, was standing on the beach. The information that this was in fact Jesus may be translated as a separate clause. For example:

4a Just after daybreak ⌊the disciples saw⌋ someone standing on the beach. It was Jesus, 4b but they did not recognize him.

© 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.