9:8a
others that Elijah had appeared: A second group of people said that Jesus was really the prophet Elijah. They thought that Elijah had come back from heaven as the person Jesus. Another way to translate this is:
other people said that ⌊Jesus was⌋ Elijah, who had appeared again ⌊on earth⌋
Elijah: Elijah was a prophet who lived more than five hundred years before Jesus. If people in your area do not know about Elijah, you may want to:
• Include some implied information in the text. For example:
Elijah ⌊the prophet⌋
• Include a footnote to give information about him. An example of a footnote is:
Elijah was a prophet who lived more than five hundred years before Jesus. Jews thought that Elijah would return before the Messiah came. They based this belief on Malachi 4:5–6. Elijah had not died, because God took him to heaven in a chariot (2 Kings chapter 2). This is probably why Luke used the phrase “had appeared” instead of the phrase “had come back from the dead.”
9:8b
still others: The phrase still others introduces a third group of people who had another wrong idea about who Jesus was.
a prophet of old: A third group of people said that Jesus was another prophet who had lived and died many years before Jesus was born. Their statement implied that Jesus was not Elijah. Since Elijah was also one of the prophets of long ago, it may be necessary to translate this as:
another prophet from long ago
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 man who speaks God’s words
-or-
God’s message-speaker
This word also occurs in 7:39b. See also prophet in the Glossary.
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