12:51a
Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus knew that many people were thinking that he had come to bring peace on earth, but they were wrong. He used the question to emphasize that he had not come to bring peace on the earth.
Some ways to translate this emphasis are:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Do you think that I came to bring peace to earth? (Contemporary English Version)
• As a statement. For example:
You should not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
-or-
Do not think that my coming to earth will bring peace among people.
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
peace: In this context, the word peace refers to an absence of war or conflict.
See peace, Meaning 3, in the Glossary.
12:51b
No, I tell you: The word No is the explicit answer to the rhetorical question in 12:51a. Jesus was denying that he came to bring peace. In some languages it may not be natural for Jesus to answer his own question with “no.” Consider how to express the denial in a natural way in your language.
The phrase I tell you adds emphasis to what Jesus was saying. For example:
No indeed! (Contemporary English Version)
See the note on this phrase in 12:27c.
In some languages, it may be natural to combine the answer with the next phrase. For example:
I tell you that I did not come ⌊to do that⌋.
but division: The phrase but division means “I have come to bring division rather than peace.” The word division here means that people would be divided among themselves. Some would accept Jesus’ message and others would not. As a result, they would belong to separate groups, and they would oppose each other. Some other ways to translate division are:
instead, ⌊I have come⌋ to divide/separate ⌊people⌋
-or-
I came to make people choose sides (Contemporary English Version)
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