6:23a–b
This verse is parenthetical. It serves to explain how the people got to the other side of the lake in 6:24b. You may want to indicate that this verse is parenthetical or contains background information. If so, indicate that in a way that is natural in your language.
6:23a
However, some boats from Tiberias landed near the place: There is a textual problem here:
(1) Some Greek manuscripts have the word “other” instead of However. For example:
Other boats, which were from Tiberias, came to shore near the place (Good News Translation)
(English Standard Version, Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, God’s Word)
(2) Other Greek manuscripts have the word However. For example:
But some boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place (NET Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, NET Bible, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Revised Standard Version)
(3) Other Greek manuscripts have both “but ” (or “however”) and “other.” For example:
Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place (New Jerusalem Bible)
(New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version)
(4) Other Greek manuscripts have the word Then. For example:
Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place (New International Version)
(New Revised Standard Version, New International Version)
It is recommended that you follow alternative (1). It has early manuscript support and makes the most sense in the context. Because the Berean Standard Bible does not follow that alternative, Good News Translation will be supplied as a Source Line in the Display.
Here are other ways you can translate this clause:
There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
Other boats from Tiberias arrived near the place (God’s Word)
some boats: This refers to fishing boats similar to the one that Jesus’ disciples had used. See the note on “a boat” at 6:17a.
Tiberias: Tiberias was a town named after the Roman emperor Tiberius. See also 6:1c. It may be helpful to say explicitly that Tiberias was a town:
other boats came from ⌊the town of/called⌋ Tiberias
6:23b
where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks: This comment refers back to 6:10–11. The people were still at that place.
The clause after the Lord had given thanks connects to the previous clause, about the people eating the bread. It does not connect to the clause about the boats coming. The people ate the bread after the Lord gave thanks. In some languages it may be natural to translate the two events (giving thanks and eating) in chronological order. For example:
where the Lord gave thanks for the bread and the people ate it
-or-
where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten (New Living Translation (2004))
There is a textual problem here:
(1) Most Greek manuscripts include the clause after the Lord had given thanks, and most English translations include it. For example:
near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks (New International 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 do not include the clause after the Lord had given thanks, and a few English translations do not include it. However, they include a footnote with the missing clause. For example:
near the place where the bread had been eaten (New Jerusalem Bible)
(New Jerusalem Bible)
It is recommended that you follow (1) and include the clause along with nearly all English translations.
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