6:15a

Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and make Him king by force: The text does not say how Jesus realized this. Perhaps he heard them talking to one another, or perhaps God revealed it to him. You should not make this explicit.

In some languages it may be natural to translate this as a separate sentence. For example:

Jesus realized that the people were about to come and force him to become their king. So he left and went to the mountain alone.
-or-
Jesus realized that they would try to force him to be their king. So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone. (Contemporary English Version)

make Him king by force: The people wanted to grab Jesus physically to force him to be their king. They apparently hoped that they could make Jesus become their military commander. They had seen his supernatural (not human) power in his miracle. So they thought that he could use that power to remove the Roman rulers from their land.

king: A king was the political leader or ruler of a nation. In the Jewish context, the king was also the top military commander. In your translation, use a word that implies or allows for the fact that this ruler was the chief commander of the army.

6:15b

withdrew again to a mountain by Himself: This clause tells what Jesus did as a result of what he knew. He withdrew (went away) from the people and went to the mountain. See the General Comment on 6:15a–b. Some English translations include the word “So” in this clause to indicate this result. For example:

so he left and went into the hills alone (New Century Version)
-or-
So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone. (Contemporary English Version)

Jesus returned to the mountain that was mentioned in 6:3. At that previous time he had been with his disciples. Now he was by Himself (alone). Translate this clause in a way that avoids implying that Jesus had been alone the previous time. The New Century Version and Contemporary English Version (above) avoid this by leaving the word again untranslated. Here is another example:

So he returned to the mountain by himself. (God’s Word)

withdrew: There is a textual problem here:

(1) Many Greek manuscripts say “withdrew, went away.” For example:

left (New Century Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, NET Bible, God’s Word, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)

(2) Some Greek manuscripts say “fled (ran away).” For example:

fled (New Jerusalem Bible)

(New Jerusalem Bible)

The New Living Translation (2004) (“slipped away”) is ambiguous. It is recommended that you follow option (1), along with most English translations.

a mountain: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mountain here refers to a hill or an area with many hills. It did not refer to a high mountain here. See the note on 6:3. Use the same word in both verses.

General Comment on 6:15a–b

The Greek text here implies that Jesus’ action in 6:15b was the result of what he realized in 6:15a. The Berean Standard Bible strongly implies this idea. Other translations make it more explicit. For example:

Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force, so he went off again to the hills by himself. (Good News Translation)

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