5:46a

The Greek text includes a word at the beginning of this verse that means “because.” The idea is that Moses would accuse the Jewish leaders because they did not believe him. And Jesus knows that they did not believe Moses because if they had believed Moses, they would believe him. English translations leave this word implied, but you may want to make it explicit. For example:

because if you truly believed Moses, then you would ⌊also⌋ believe me
-or-

⌊He will accuse you of not believing him⌋ because if you believed him, you would believe me

If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me: These clauses form a logical argument. The first clause is a condition that had not been fulfilled, that is contrary to fact. Jesus was saying that the religious leaders did not really believe Moses. If they had believed what Moses wrote, they would have listened to Jesus, but they did not. The fact that they did not believe Jesus showed that they did not believe Moses.

In some languages it may be necessary to imply or state explicitly that the leaders believed neither Moses nor Jesus. For example:

If you really believed Moses, you would believe me. (God’s Word)
-or-
If you did believe what Moses ⌊wrote⌋ , you would believe me. ⌊But you do not believe him/us.⌋

In some languages a condition that is contrary to fact (never happened) may be unnatural or hard to understand. It may be necessary to say it in a positive way:

Those who believe Moses will believe me ⌊also⌋ .

had believed…would believe: Here the idea of these words is believing what Moses wrote and what Jesus said. That is made clear in 5:47.

5:46b

because: The Greek word that Berean Standard Bible translates as because here introduces the reason why those who believe Moses must also believe Jesus. Here is another way to translate this word:

for (New Revised Standard Version)

he wrote about Me: This clause means “Moses wrote about Jesus.” Moses wrote about the coming of a prophet in Deuteronomy 18:15–19. Jesus was saying that he was that prophet. In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. For example:

Moses wrote about me. (God’s Word)

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