10:6a
If a man of peace is there: The clause If a man of peace is there refers primarily to the head or leader of the household. It means, “If the head of the household is a man of peace.” But this clause probably includes the other people who live in the house. For example:
If the people living there are peace-loving (Contemporary English Version)
a man of peace: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a man of peace is literally “a son of peace.” It refers to a person who seeks and loves peace. A person like this would desire to have peace with God and to experience his blessing. So the person would welcome the disciples into his home and receive what they taught.
In some languages, you may need to make some of this implied meaning explicit. For example:
loves peace and is willing to listen to you
-or-
desires to receive peace and blessing ⌊from God⌋
-or-
wants God to bless/proper him
your peace will rest on him: The phrase your peace means “the peace/blessing that you have spoken/requested from God.” The phrase will rest on him means that he will truly receive this peace/blessing. Some other ways to translate this whole clause are:
the peace that you asked God to give him will remain with him
-or-
your prayer for peace will bless them (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
God will prosper/bless him
10:6b
if not: The phrase if not is an ellipsis. The complete clause would be “if ⌊a man of peace is⌋ not ⌊there⌋.” This implies, “If the leader of the home does not receive you.” Here is a way to fill in the missing information:
But if they are not peace-loving (Contemporary English Version)
it will return to you: The clause it will return to you indicates that the family would not receive the blessing that the disciples spoke when they entered the home. It would be as if the disciples had never spoken the words of blessing. This phrase probably does not mean that the disciples would receive the blessing instead of the family. Other ways to translate this clause are:
he will not receive the blessing/peace you ⌊asked God to give him⌋
-or-
⌊God⌋ will not give it to him
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