17:17a–b

Were not all ten cleansed?…Where then are the other nine?: These two questions function together as rhetorical questions. Jesus used the questions to indicate that he had cleansed/healed all ten lepers, so all of them should have returned to thank him. The questions express surprise and disappointment. Jesus was disappointed that the other lepers did not return and thank him for healing them. Jesus was not asking whether they were all really healed.

Some ways to translate these rhetorical questions are:

• As one or two rhetorical questions. For example:

Ten men were healed, weren’t they? Why haven’t the other nine returned also?
-or-
Where are the other nine men whom ⌊I/God⌋ healed/cleansed?

• As one or two statements. For example:

All ten men/lepers were cleansed. All ten of them should be here!
-or-
Of all the ten men/lepers who became well, only one of them has returned.

• As a combination of statement and rhetorical question. For example:

Ten men were cleansed. As for the other nine, where are they?
-or-
There were ten who were healed; where are the other nine? (Good News Translation)
-or-
Ten men became well. So why haven’t the other nine come also?

Translate this surprise and disappointment in a way that is natural in your language.

Were not all ten cleansed?: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as cleansed was also used in 17:14. Here also it is a passive form. In some languages it may be more natural to translate it as active here and supply Jesus or God as the subject. For example:

⌊I/God⌋ healed ten men. Where are the other nine?

See the note in 17:14c for more translation suggestions.

Jesus asked: In 17:17–18 Jesus asked three rhetorical questions. The text does not indicate explicitly to whom Jesus was speaking. If it is more natural in your language to indicate this, you may refer in a general way to the people who were with him. For example:

Jesus asked ⌊the people who were with him⌋

If you translate the rhetorical questions as statements, use an appropriate verb of speech. For example:

Jesus said ⌊to the people who were listening to him⌋

The Berean Standard Bible has placed the phrase Jesus asked between the two questions that Jesus asked. In the Greek text, this phrase comes before both questions. Place it wherever it is natural in your language.

© 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.