7:23
Blessed is the one: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Blessed describes a person who is in a good situation. In the Bible, the good situation results from God showing favor/kindness to the person. See the note on 6:20b. See also bless, Meaning 3, in the Glossary.
Here are some other suggestions for how to translate the words Blessed is the one:
Joyful/Desirable is the situation of the person
-or-
How good it is for anyone
-or-
The person is favored/fortunate
This word does not primarily refer to a feeling. However, a person in this good situation will frequently have good feelings such as happiness and joy. Do not use a word that only refers to material prosperity or physical health.
In the Greek text, the word Blessed is emphasized. It is the first word in the sentence. Consider how to show this emphasis in a natural way in your language.
the one: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the one is literally “whoever.” It refers to anyone who does not fall away because of Jesus. In this context it applies especially to John, but it also applies to anyone else who “does not fall away.” So it may be best to use a more general phrase such as:
the person/one
-or-
people/those
who does not fall away on account of Me: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fall away has the literal meaning “stumble/fall.” It also has the figurative meaning “to be offended by, to reject, or to stop trusting (someone).” Jesus implied that many people were offended by him because they expected a different type of Messiah. Because of this, they doubted that he was really the Messiah.
Other ways that English versions translate this include:
those who have no doubts about me (Good News Translation)
-or-
Those who do not stumble in their faith because of me (New Century Version)
-or-
he who does not find me an obstacle to faith (Revised English Bible)
© 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.