9:7a
Then He told him: Jesus spoke to the blind man. In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. For example:
He told him (New Living Translation (2004))
Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam: The word Go indicates that Jesus wanted the man to leave him and walk to the pool of Siloam. There Jesus wanted him to wash the mud off his face. In some languages it may be natural to make explicit that the man was to wash his face:
Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam (Good News Translation)
in the Pool of Siloam: The words the Pool of Siloam refer to a pool of water that was near the temple in Jerusalem. The name of this pool was Siloam.
(which means “Sent”): This clause explains the name “Siloam.” This is a comment by the author, not by Jesus. The Berean Standard Bible therefore places it in parentheses. Translate it in a way that is natural in your language for background information. For example:
(this word means Sent) (New International Version)
-or-
(Siloam means “sent”) (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
(which is translated “sent”) (NET Bible Bible)
9:7b
So: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So can also be translated as “therefore.” Here it introduces what the man did as a result of what Jesus had just said.
the man went and washed: The pronoun the man refers to the man who was born blind. Refer to him in a way that is clear and natural in your language.
It may also be natural to supply information about where the man went and what he washed. For example:
the man went ⌊to the pool⌋ and washed ⌊his face⌋
and came back seeing: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as came back seeing are more literally “went seeing.” The context implies that he went home rather than back to Jesus. For example:
came home seeing (New International Version)
General Comment on 9:7b
The man became able to see after he washed and before he went home. In some languages it may be natural to translate the verbs in the order in which they happened. For example:
Then he went ⌊to the pool⌋ and washed ⌊his face⌋ . Then he was able to see, and he went back ⌊home⌋ .
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