5:9a
Immediately: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Immediately introduces an important event in the story. Jesus healed the man when he gave his command, so the man was able to obey what Jesus commanded in 5:8. The healing took place at that very moment.
Here are other ways to translate this Greek word:
Instantly (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Right then (Contemporary English Version)
the man was made well: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was made well means “became healthy” or “became strong.” Here are other ways to translate this clause:
The man was cured (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
The man became strong
5:9b
he picked up his mat and began to walk: The man did what Jesus told him to do. You should probably use the same words here that you used in 5:8. That will show that the man did exactly what Jesus told him to do. However, here the verbs are past tense rather than command forms. For example:
The man picked up his sleeping mat and walked.
The Greek text of 5:9b does not include the verb translated as “get up” in 5:8. However in some languages it may be necessary to include it. For example:
The man was immediately cured. He ⌊got up⌋ , picked up his sleeping mat and walked away.
Paragraph 5:9c–13b
The Jewish leaders met the man whom Jesus healed. He was carrying his sleeping mat. The leaders considered that to be work. They asked him why he was carrying his mat when the law said not to work on the Sabbath. He told them that the man who had healed him told him to carry his mat. The leaders asked who that was. The man did not know.
5:9c
Now this happened on the Sabbath day: This sentence tells the reader that Jesus healed the man on the day of the week called the Sabbath. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now introduces background information. It is not a time word. Translate it using the natural way in your language to introduce background information. For example:
The day this happened was a Sabbath day. (New Century Version)
-or-
But this miracle happened on the Sabbath (New Living Translation (2004))
Sabbath: The word Sabbath is the Jewish name for the seventh day of the week. The Sabbath was the day of the week when the Jews rested and worshiped God. The Law of Moses said that the Jews must not do any work on that day (see Deuteronomy 5:12–15).
Here are some ways to translate Sabbath :
the ⌊Jewish⌋ rest day
-or-
the day to rest and worship God
If the word Sabbath is already known in your area, you may write it using the sounds of your language. You may want to include a phrase to explain the meaning. For example:
The sabbat, the ⌊Jews’⌋ day for resting
Be careful that the term you choose is not confused with Sunday, the day when Christians worship. The Jewish Sabbath began at sunset on Friday and ended at sunset on Saturday. You may want to include a footnote to give more information. For example:
The Sabbath is a name for the seventh day of the week. It is the day when the Jewish Law required them to worship God and rest from work.
© 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.
