9:40a
Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this: Jesus was talking to the man who had been blind, but some of the Pharisees heard what he said. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Some of the Pharisees near him overheard this (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
Some Pharisees who were there with him heard him say this (Good News Translation)
Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws very carefully and exactly. Here are some ways to translate this word:
• Transliterate the word Pharisees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to people. For example:
Farisi members
-or-
Parise people
• Transliterate the word Pharisees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:
people belonging to the Farise religious group
-or-
members of the religious party called the Farasi
See how you translated this word in 9:13, 15a, 16a.
9:40b
Are we blind too?: This question refers to spiritual blindness because the Pharisees did not have to ask if they were physically blind. It is a rhetorical question. The Pharisees used it to express surprise and disagreement. The question expected a “No” answer and emphasized that they were not blind. They used the rhetorical question to rebuke Jesus for implying that they were blind. There are two ways to translate this rebuke:
• Use a rhetorical question. For example:
Do you think we’re blind? (God’s Word)
• Use a statement. For example:
Surely you (sing.) do not think that we (excl.) are blind!
Translate this rhetorical question in a way that emphasizes that the Pharisees did not think that they were blind.
we blind: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as we is more literally “we also.” It emphasizes that the Pharisees’ were amazed that Jesus would include them among the blind.
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