15:35a–b

When some of those standing nearby heard this, they said, “Behold, He is calling Elijah.”: The Hebrew (or Aramaic) words for “my God” are very similar in sound to “Elijah.” So these people misunderstood what Jesus said. They wrongly thought that he was calling Elijah. You may want to put this information in a footnote. In some languages you may want to make it explicit in the text. For example:

When some of those standing nearby heard this, they did not hear him clearly and so they said…
-or-
When some of those standing nearby heard the word “Eloi,” they misunderstood and said…

some of those standing nearby: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as those standing nearby in this context means “those who were near” or “those who were there.” It is true that these people were probably standing, but the focus is not on their posture.

Behold: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Behold is literally “Look.” However, the speakers were calling attention to what they were about to say. Some languages may have a word that people use to get the attention of other people. In other languages it may be natural to leave this word untranslated.

See also the note on 1:2b–c, where a similar word is used in Greek.

Elijah: The word Elijah is the name of a prophet. He lived about nine hundred years before Jesus. Some Jews believed that Elijah would come to rescue righteous people at a time of trouble. So these people probably thought Jesus was calling for Elijah to come and help him. If people do not know who Elijah was, you could say:

Elijah the prophet

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