17:25a

But first He must suffer many things: The clause But first He must suffer many things refers to the many things that Jesus would soon suffer when the people arrested him, tormented him, and crucified him. The clause indicates that it would be necessary for him to suffer all these things before he returns gloriously to earth. See how you translated “The Son of Man must suffer many things” in 9:22.

He: Here Jesus continued to refer to himself as He. If you used a pronoun such as “I” in 17:24, you can continue to use it here.

many things: In this context the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as many things indicates that Jesus would have to suffer in various ways. It also implies that the suffering would be terrible and not just for a short time. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

suffer a lot (God’s Word)
-or-
undergo many sufferings
-or-
suffer terribly (New Living Translation (2004))

17:25b

and be rejected by this generation: This clause tells another thing that must happen before Jesus returns. The verb be rejected is passive. Here are some ways to translate the clause.

• Translate it as a passive clause. For example:

and be rejected by the people of this time (New Century Version)
-or-
and be rejected by the people of today (Contemporary English Version)

• Translate it as an active clause. For example:

and this generation will reject him/me
-or-
and the people ⌊living now/today⌋ will not accept him/me

be rejected: To be rejected means to be “judged by someone to be unworthy or unfit and so, denied acceptance.” People would say that Jesus was not the Messiah, as he claimed to be. They would refuse him and decide that he must suffer and die. See how you translated this verb in 9:22.

by this generation: The phrase this generation refers to Jewish people who lived in the same period of time as Jesus. It does not refer to a specific age group. Jesus used the same phrase this generation in 7:31, but the context is slightly different. See how you translated it there. You may need to adjust the phrase to fit this context.

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