16:13a
And they went back and reported it to the rest: There is implied information in this clause: The two followers realized that they had seen Jesus. Then they returned and reported to the other followers that they had seen him. Although Jesus appeared to the two men in a different form (16:12), Jesus made himself known to them after a while. You may need to make this explicit in your translation. For example:
When they realized who he was, they rushed back to tell the others. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
See Luke 24:30–32.
they: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they refers to the two followers of Jesus in 16:12.
went back: The phrase went back indicates that the two followers went back to where Jesus’ other followers were (see Luke 24:33). They were probably in Jerusalem.
and reported it to the rest: The two disciples who saw Jesus while they were walking into the country told the other followers that they had seen him alive.
16:13b
but they did not believe them either: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but they did not believe them either indicates that just as Jesus’ followers/friends did not believe the women, so they did not believe the two disciples either. They did not believe that either the women or the two disciples had really seen Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
but nor did the rest of the disciples believe it
-or-
neither would they believe their report/words
-or-
who did not believe them either (New Jerusalem Bible)
believe them: Here the phrase believe them means “believe what they said” or “believe what they said about seeing Jesus.”
See believe, meaning 1, in the Glossary for more information about this word.
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