10:2a

Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws very carefully and in detail. Here are some ways to translate this word:

• Transliterate the word Pharisees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to people. For example:

Farisi members
-or-
Parise adherents

• Transliterate the word Pharisees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:

people belonging to the Farise religious sect/group
-or-
members of the religious group called the Farasi

You may also want to include an explanation of Pharisees in the glossary of your translation.

to test Him: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as test here refers to trying to cause Jesus to say something that would turn people against him. The Pharisees tested Jesus by asking the question that follows. They hoped that Jesus would answer their question and say something that was against the Law of Moses. If he did this, they could accuse him of saying something wrong.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

in order to test him
-or-
to test him with a question
-or-
to try to trap him

See how you translated the word testing in 8:11b.

10:2b

“Is it lawful…?”: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Is it lawful…? is literally “Is it permitted…?” The Pharisees were asking if Jewish law permitted a man to divorce his wife.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Is it permitted in/by the Law of Moses…?
-or-
…does our Law allow…? (Good News Bible)

See how you translated this expression in 2:26c.

for a man to divorce his wife: In Jewish culture, it was rare for a woman to try to divorce her husband. So you should use the specific terms for “man/husband” and “wife” here. Do not use a general expression such as “for someone to divorce his or her spouse.”

divorce: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as divorce literally means to “send away.” This means that the husband gave his wife a certificate saying that he was divorcing her (10:4b). He could then force her to leave his house. In Jewish culture, this was the legal way to divorce a wife.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

send away
-or-
break the marriage agreement

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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