11:31a

They deliberated among themselves what they should answer: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as They deliberated among themselves what they should answer is more literally “And they were reasoning with each other, saying.” The verb “reasoning” and “saying” refer to the same action. The following verses tell what the leaders said to each other in their discussion. In some languages, it is not necessary to have both “reasoning” and “saying” here. Here are some other ways to translate this:

They started to argue among themselves (Good News Bible)
-or-
They talked to each other about it. They said (NIRV)

They deliberated among themselves: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as They deliberated is literally “they were discussing.” If you need to make explicit what they were discussing, you could say:

They deliberated among themselves how they should answer him
-or-
They were deliberating the matter among themselves

You could also use direct speech here. For example:

They asked one another, “How shall we answer his question?”

They: The pronoun They refers to “the chief priests, the scribes and the elders” in 11:27c. You may need to refer to them specifically rather than use a pronoun here.

11:31b–32a

The Jewish leaders discussed how they should answer Jesus. They imagined what would happen if they gave each possible answer. So one way to express 11:31b–32a would be to use the “if…then” form. For example:

31b
If we say…31cthen he will ask…32abut if we say…

The thought in 11:32a is interrupted, so there is not a “then” clause in 11:32b.

11:31b

The Jewish leaders considered one possible answer that they could give Jesus.

If we say, ‘From heaven’: There is a textual issue in this part of the verse. In some Greek manuscripts, this part of the verse starts with the question “What shall we say?”:

(1) Some Greek manuscripts do not have the question “What shall we say?” For example, the New Living Translation says:

If we say it was from heaven

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version, English Standard Version)

(2) Some Greek manuscripts have the question “What shall we say?” For example, the Good News Bible says:

What shall we say? If we answer, “From God,”

(Good News Bible, Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), as the majority of English versions do.

The phrase ‘From heaven’ is a quote within another quote. The Berean Standard Bible shows this with single quote marks around ‘From heaven.’

In some languages it may be necessary to express 11:31b as an indirect quotation. For example:

If we say that his authority came from heaven…
-or-
If we say that John’s baptism was from heaven…
-or-
If we say it was from heaven… (New Living Translation)

You may need to supply words such as “his authority” or “John’s baptism” to make their reply into a complete sentence. If that is true, use wording that agrees with what you used in 11:30a.

From heaven: The phrase From heaven refers to God, as in 11:30a. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

If we answer, “John’s baptism was from God…” (New Century Version)

See heaven, Meaning 3, in the Glossary.

11:31c

He will ask: The pronoun He refers to Jesus. The Jewish leaders began to imagine here what Jesus would say if they said that John’s authority was from God. The words He will ask introduce what they believed Jesus would say to them.

‘Why then did you not believe him?’: The question Why then did you not believe him? is a quote within another quote. The Berean Standard Bible shows this with single quotes around this question. In some languages it may be necessary to express this as an indirect quotation. For example:

…then he will ask us why we did not believe him.

believe him: Here the phrase believe him means “believe what John said.”

Here are some other ways to translate this:

accept that what he said was true
-or-
agree with what John said

See also believe, meaning 1, in the Glossary.

© 2008 by SIL International®

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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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