7:2

However: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as However here introduces some background information. The Greek word sometimes indicates a minor contrast, so some English translations like the Berean Standard Bible translate the word as However or “But” (New International Version, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible). Jesus wanted to avoid Judea but people would expect him to go to the festival of Booths. Other English versions translate the word as “Now.” Other English translations do not translate this word (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, God’s Word). Introduce this background information in a way that is natural in your language.

the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near: This clause indicates that the Feast of Tabernacles would be celebrated in the near future—probably in a few days or a couple of weeks.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Booths

the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles: This phrase refers to an important Jewish feast. It was held at the time of the autumn harvest and lasted for one week. During this festival the people stayed in booths or shelters made from tree branches. They did this to remember how they had lived in tents in the desert after they left Egypt. See Deuteronomy 16:13–15.

Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

the Jewish festival of Booths (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
the Jewish Feast of Shelters (New Century Version)

© 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.