Paragraph 7:16–17
7:16a
A sense of awe swept over all of them, and they glorified God: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as A sense of awe swept over all of them is more literally “fear took/seized them all.” Everyone who was there felt fear and awe that Jesus was able to bring a dead person back to life. They realized that God had enabled him to do it. Express this in a way that does not imply that the people were afraid of the dead man or afraid of Jesus.
and they glorified God: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as glorified indicates that the people talked about how good and great God is because he enabled Jesus to cause a dead person to live again. In some languages it may be necessary to use direct speech to say this. For example:
and said, “God is so good to do this.”
-or-
and said to each other, “God is so great!”
7:16b
A great prophet has appeared among us: The phrase has appeared among us means “has come to be among us.” It does not imply that Jesus suddenly became visible or that he appeared in some mysterious way.
great prophet: The term great prophet means “powerful prophet.” It refers to a prophet who was able to use God’s power to do wonderful miracles. The people probably thought that Jesus was a great prophet like Elijah or Elisha, who both raised someone from the dead. You may want to include a footnote with this information. The TRT suggests this footnote:
The people probably thought that Jesus was a great prophet like Elijah or Elisha, the only two people in the OT who raised someone from the dead (1 Kings 17:17–24, 2 Kings 4:18–37).
prophet: A prophet was a person who spoke on behalf of God. He told people what God revealed to him. God gave some prophets power to work miracles. These miracles helped people realize that God sent the prophet. Some ways to translate prophet are:
a spokesman for God
-or-
a person who speaks God’s words
-or-
God’s message-speaker
It is good to use a general term that does not focus only on foretelling the future. Although prophets did foretell the future, they also gave people other messages from God. They especially told them to stop sinning and to obey God.
When choosing a term for prophet, consider how you will translate other words which are similar in meaning such as “angel,” “apostle,” and “preacher.”
See also the note on “His holy prophets” at 1:70 and prophet in the Glossary.
they said: The Berean Standard Bible has placed the phrase they said in the middle of what the people were saying. In the Greek text this phrase comes before the two sentences that the people spoke. Place it where it is most natural in your language.
7:16c
This part of the verse tells another statement that people made about the miracle that Jesus did.
God has visited His people!: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as has visited means to come to someone for the purpose of helping them. The people believed that in the person of Jesus, God was present with them helping them. Another way to say this is:
God has come to help his people (New International Version)
His people: The phrase His people means “the people belonging to God.” The people who were speaking were all Jews, and they were referring to their people, the Jews. So it may be helpful to translate this as:
God has come to help us(incl).
-or-
God has come to help us(incl), his people.
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