7:7a

That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to You: In this context the Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as That is why introduces a conclusion. The basis of this conclusion is that the officer thought that he was not worthy to be with Jesus. He did not think that he was worthy to come to Jesus himself (so he sent other people). He had already said that he was not worthy for Jesus to come to his house.

Some ways to connect 7:7a to 7:6e are:

And I am certainly not worthy to come to you. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
…neither do I consider myself worthy to come to you in person. (Good News Translation)

7:7b–c

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But indicates contrast. Instead of coming to the officer’s house (7:6d–e), Jesus could just heal the servant from a distance by commanding it to happen. Connect 7:7b to what comes before it in a way that is natural in your language. It may be helpful to make the contrast more explicit. For example:

⌊So do not come⌋ but instead, just say the word ⌊from here⌋ and my servant will be healed.
-or-
Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. (New Living Translation (2004))

just say the word: The phrase just say the word means, “You only have to command my servant to be well.” The officer realized that Jesus did not have to be present at his house in order to heal the servant. Jesus could heal him from a distance with a spoken word. It may be helpful to make explicit what kind of word this was. For example, you could say:

Speak/say the word(s) of healing and he will be well.
-or-
Command my slave to be healed and he will be well.

In some languages it may be natural to use direct speech. For example:

Speak the words, “Be healed.”

Notice that in this example, the plural form of “words” is used.

Other ways to translate this are:

Just give the order (Good News Translation)
-or-
But you only need to command it (New Century Version)

and my servant will be healed: In Greek the clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and my servant will be healed is literally “let/may my servant be healed.” The verb form is often used as a command. However, in this context, the officer was expressing that he was confident that Jesus’ word/command alone would heal his servant. Some other ways to translate the two clauses are:

Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed. (NET Bible)
-or-
…let my boy be cured by your giving the word. (New Jerusalem Bible)

This is a passive clause. In some languages it may be more natural to express it without using a passive form. For example:

Just command it to happen, and then my servant will get well.
-or-
But only speak the word, and that will heal my servant.

my servant: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my servant here is not the same word as the one translated as servant in 7:2a. This word can mean “child,” but here it means “slave.” Use an appropriate word in your language.

General Comment on 7:7b–c

In some languages it may be more natural to reverse the order of the clauses of 7:7b–c. For example:

7c
⌊Please⌋ heal my slave 7bjust by giving the command ⌊from here⌋.

© 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.