9:60a

But Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead: The clause Let the dead bury their own dead is a command. Jesus commanded the man not to wait for his father’s burial. He told him to leave the work of burying the dead for dead people to do.

Of course, dead people cannot actually bury other dead people. The first word for dead that Jesus used here probably refers to those who were spiritually dead, those who did not have true life with God. The second word for dead probably refers to those who had died physically.

their own dead: The phrase their own dead would normally refer to people from their own families. However, in this context it may refer more specifically to people who are spiritually dead like them. When such people die physically and need to be buried, others who are spiritually dead should bury them.

Other ways of translating this whole clause include:

Let the people who are ⌊spiritually⌋ dead bury those in their own group who have died.
-or-

⌊Those who do not obey God are like⌋ dead people. Let them bury those among them who have died.
-or-
Those who are already ⌊as if⌋ dead ⌊because they have no life with God⌋, they should be the ones to bury their ⌊people⌋ who also have no life ⌊with God⌋.

9:60b

You, however: The Greek pronoun meaning You is emphatic. It implies a contrast between what the dead people should do and what Jesus’ disciple should do. It is implied that the disciple was not one of the (spiritually) dead people and he was not to spend his time burying dead people. Another way to translate this is:

but as for you (Revised Standard Version)

go and proclaim the kingdom of God: Jesus was saying here that the most important thing for that man to do was to tell people the good news about the kingdom of God.

proclaim: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as proclaim means to tell, declare, or announce to people in general. For example:

tell about (God’s Word)
-or-
preach about (New Living Translation (2004))

the kingdom of God: The phrase the kingdom of God refers to God ruling over his people. This phrase was used in a similar way in 9:2 and 4:43a. See how you translated it there. See also kingdom of God in the Glossary.

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