3:4a

How can a man be born when he is old?: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses surprise and disbelief. Nicodemus was surprised that Jesus suggested being born again. There are two ways to translate this expression of surprise:

• Use a rhetorical question: For example:

But if a person is already old, how can he be born again? (New Century Version)

• Use a statement: For example:

I don’t believe anyone who is already old can be born ⌊again⌋ .
-or-
It is impossible for an old person to be born/reborn.

Translate this expression of surprise in a way that is natural in your language.

In his rhetorical question, Nicodemus implied a general truth, but one that also applied to himself. He understood that Jesus implied that he needed to be born again. But as a leader of the Jews, he was a mature man, probably over forty (40). It may be more natural to make it explicit that this general truth applied to himself. For example:

I am already old. How can I am be born ⌊now⌋ ?
-or-
How can anyone old ⌊like me⌋ be born?

3:4b

Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?: This is another rhetorical question. Nicodemus used it to express surprise and disbelief. Nicodemus was saying that it is impossible to be born physically a second time. An adult cannot enter his mother’s womb, which is where a baby grows in his mother before birth. There are at least two ways to translate this question:

• Use a rhetorical question. For example:

He cannot enter his mother’s body again. So how can a person be born a second time? (New Century Version)

• Use a statement. For example:

He certainly cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time! (Good News Translation)

Translate this rhetorical question in a way that is natural in your language. It is important to use language that is acceptable in your culture for public reading. It may be necessary to use a euphemism for womb. For example, the New Century Version in the quote above has translated his mother’s womb as “his mother’s body.”

General Comment on 3:4a–b

The rhetorical questions in 3:4a and 3:4b are both used as statements that express Nicodemus’ doubts about what Jesus said. He did not understand what Jesus meant, and it sounded impossible. In some languages it may be more natural to combine the questions into one. For example:

How can a grown man ever be born a second time? (Contemporary English Version)

Another possible way to translate this verse is to follow the New Living Translation (2004). It still uses two questions, but the first is a real question that indicates Nicodemus did not understand Jesus’ words:

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” (New Living Translation (2004))

© 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.