22:10a
He answered: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He answered is more literally, “And he said to them.” Use a natural phrase in your language to introduce this verse.
When you enter the city: At that time Jesus, Peter, and John were near the city of Jerusalem. Jesus indicated that Peter and John should go into the city itself.
In Greek this clause begins with a word that the versions such as the Revised Standard Version translate as “Behold.” It indicates that Jesus wanted Peter and John to listen carefully to what he said. It implies that something important will happen as Peter and John come into the city. Some other ways to translate the clause are:
Listen, when you have entered the city (NET Bible)
-or-
Go into the city, and you will… (God’s Word)
the city: The phrase the city refers to Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem has not been referred to before in this section. So in some languages it may be more natural to refer to it by name here. For example:
As soon as you enter Jerusalem (New Living Translation (2004))
22:10b
a man carrying a jug of water will meet you: In the Jewish culture at that time it was unusual for a man to carry a water jar. Normally only women carried them. Jesus knew that this unusual action would show Peter and John which man he wanted them to follow.
The word meet does not by itself imply that there was a plan for the man to meet Peter and John. However, many scholars believe that Jesus had already arranged such a plan with the owner of the house. It is probably good to leave this ambiguous.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
a man carrying a jar of water will come toward you
-or-
you will meet a man carrying a jar of water (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
you and a certain man will meet each other. He will be carrying a jar of water.
carrying a jug of water: Cultures have different ways to carry water. In the Jewish culture it would probably be most common for a man to carry a jug full of water on his shoulder. However, if people in your culture normally carry water on their heads or in some other way, you may use the normal expression for this.
jug of water: In that culture water jugs were made of baked clay. The phrase jug of water refers to a jug that contained water.
22:10c
Follow him to the house he enters: Most English versions indicate that Peter and John should go into the house, following the man. For example:
Follow him into the house that he enters (Good News Translation)
In this context the phrase Follow him indicates that Peter and John should walk with the man or close behind him. It does not indicate that they should follow him at a distance without his knowledge. If a word like Follow would imply this in your language, you may need to use a different verb. For example:
Go with him and enter the house that he enters
-or-
Take the same path that he takes. When he enters a house, you also enter it
© 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.