SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 24:4

24:4a

In the Greek text, 24:4a begins with a phrase that literally means “And it happened.” Luke used this phrase to connect 24:4a with 24:3b and to introduce what was about to happen in 24:4b. You should connect 24:4a with 24:3b in a way that is natural in your language.

While they were puzzling over this: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they were puzzling means that the women were perplexed and confused. The phrase over this tells what caused them to be confused. They could not imagine where Jesus’ body might be. Some other ways to translate this are:

Then they were troubled and amazed about that
-or-
As they were totally confused about ⌊where his body could be
-or-
That caused them to be confused/amazed

In some languages there is an idiom for this meaning. For example:

While they stood utterly at a loss (Revised English Bible)

24:4b

suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them: This clause implies that the two men were not ordinary people by saying that their clothes gleamed like lightning. In 24:23 the women described the two men as “angels” when they told the disciples about them.

In some languages it may be helpful to translate this part of the verse as two separate clauses. For example:

suddenly two men stood beside them. The men were wearing clothes that gleamed like lightning.

suddenly two men…stood beside them: In this context the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as suddenly introduces something that is surprising or unexpected. The women were startled as they became aware of the presence of two men. The women did not see or hear these men come. Some other ways to translate this phrase in English are:

all at once two men appeared, standing beside them
-or-
unexpectedly two men…stood beside them

in radiant apparel: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as radiant means “dazzling, bright.” The same word can be used to describe flashes of lightning (as in 17:24). The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as apparel refers to clothing. In this context these words indicate that the angels’ clothes were bright and shining. A form of this word was also used in 9:29 to describe Jesus’ clothing during his transfiguration. You may be able to translate it in a similar way here.

Some other ways to translate in radiant apparel are:

in bright, shining clothes
-or-
clothed in dazzling robes (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
wearing clothes that were as bright as lightning

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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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