10:26a
What is written in the Law?: Jesus responded to the law expert’s question about eternal life by asking him another question. Jesus’ question contains implied information:
What is written in the Law ⌊about what a person must do to inherit eternal life⌋?
In some languages it may be necessary to supply some of this implied information. For example:
What ⌊answer⌋ is written in the Law?
-or-
What is written ⌊concerning this⌋ in the Law?
is written in the Law: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as is written is a passive verb. The text does not say who wrote the words in the Law, but the Jews knew that God caused Moses to write them. Some ways to translate this clause are:
What did ⌊God⌋ cause to be written in the Scriptures?
-or-
What did ⌊Moses⌋ write in the Law ⌊concerning this⌋?
-or-
What does the law of Moses say? (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
What do the Scriptures say? (Good News Translation)
in the Law: The term the Law can refer specifically to the first five books of the Old Testament, which Moses wrote. But it can also refer more generally to the Old Testament Scriptures. You may use either sense to translate this term here.
In Greek, the phrase in the Law is emphasized in this verse. Jesus wanted the expert to think specifically about what the Law said concerning the question that he had asked. You may want to use a method in your language to emphasize the Law.
Jesus replied: The Berean Standard Bible has placed the phrase Jesus replied in the middle of the two questions in this verse. In Greek it occurs before the two questions. You should place this phrase wherever is most natural in your language.
The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus replied is more literally “he replied.” The Berean Standard Bible has used the name Jesus to identify the speaker more clearly. Some languages may be able to follow the Greek here and say “he replied.” Use a natural way in your language to refer to Jesus here.
10:26b
How do you read it?: Here Jesus was probably asking the expert to summarize or explain what he thought the Law said about the issue. Some other ways to translate this question are:
What do you read there? (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
How do you understand it? (NET Bible)
-or-
How do you interpret them? (Good News Translation)
This question is very similar to Jesus’ first question in 10:26a. Notice that the law expert answered both questions with a single answer.
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