8:20a
In this verse, John explains that Jesus was talking in the temple courts. Yet even though he was speaking in public, they did not arrest him.
He spoke these words: The pronoun He refers to Jesus. In some languages it is more natural to make this explicit. For example:
Jesus made these statements (New Living Translation (2004))
while teaching in the temple courts, near the treasury: Jesus was still teaching in the temple area, where he started to teach in 7:14. You may want to indicate that this teaching had started earlier by supplying the word “still.” For example:
while he was still teaching in the place where the temple treasures were stored (Contemporary English Version)
in the temple courts, near the treasury: This phrase probably refers to the Court of the Women where people gave gifts for the temple. People placed their gifts in the offering boxes there. (A treasury is a place where one receives or stores money or valuable items.) For example:
in the Temple, in the room where the offering boxes were placed (Good News Translation)
-or-
in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put (New International Version)
8:20b
Yet no one seized Him: This clause indicates that no one stopped Jesus’ teaching. The Jewish and Roman authorities did not arrest him.
Yet: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Yet can be understood in two ways:
(1) It introduces an event that was not expected. Although Jesus was preaching in the temple in a public area, no one stopped him. For example:
Yet no one seized him (New International Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)
(2) It introduces the next event in the narrative and can also be translated as “And.” For example:
And no one arrested him (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, King James Version, New American Standard Bible)
The New Jerusalem Bible, God’s Word and NET Bible Bible do not translate this conjunction. It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most English translations.
because His hour had not yet come: The phrase His hour refers to the time for Jesus to be arrested and then put to death. See how you translated this phrase in 2:4b and 7:30. God did not allow people to touch or harm Jesus at this time. Here is another way to translate this clause:
because his time had not yet come (New International Version)
In some languages “time” and “hours” do not “come.” In those languages it may be natural to say:
it was not yet his hour
-or-
it was not yet the ⌊right⌋ time ⌊for this to happen to him⌋
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