SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 14:33

14:33

In the same way: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as In the same way literally says “So therefore.” Some English versions, such as the Revised Standard Version, translate it that way. It refers back to what Jesus said in 14:26–27. There Jesus said that a person who wanted to become his disciple must value loyalty to Jesus more than any other loyalty. The phrase does not connect directly with the two preceding parables (14:28–30 and 14:31–32). Those two parables illustrate the need to think carefully before making an important decision.

If it is not clear in your language that Jesus is referring to what he said in 14:26–27, it may be necessary to make it explicit. For example:

In the same way, ⌊each of you must decide whether you are ready to be my disciple, because⌋…
-or-
So then, ⌊if you want to become my followers, you must first consider the requirements/difficulty⌋.

Another option is to make this connection clear in a footnote.

any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple: The two negatives in this verse may be confusing. In some languages it may be clearer to translate this as:

none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have (Good News Translation)
-or-
you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own (New Living Translation (2004))

In other languages it may be more natural to translate this as a positive statement. For example:

you must give up everything you have to be my follower (New Century Version)

give up everything he has: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as give up everything he has is more literally “renounce all his possessions.” It means that a person must not keep anything that would hinder him from being a disciple. Other ways to translate this idea are:

leave behind everything that he has
-or-
turn his back on all his possessions
-or-
say good-bye to everything he owns

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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