4:36a
In Greek, 4:36a begins with the common conjunction that is often translated as “And” (as in the Revised Standard Version). The Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions do not translate this conjunction here.
Luke used this conjunction to connect the command Jesus gave in 4:35b to the response of the disciples in 4:36. One way to do this is to follow the Good News Bible, which says:
So…
You should connect these verses in a way that is natural in your language.
After they had dismissed the crowd: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as After they had dismissed the crowd indicates that Jesus and his disciples went away together. They separated themselves from the other people there. In some languages it may be natural to translate this as a separate sentence. For example:
So they left the crowd
4:36b
they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat: Jesus was already in a boat. So the disciples got into that same boat and began to row or sail it across the lake. The phrase took Jesus with them indicates that the disciples brought Jesus with them. The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as since He was already in the boat is literally “just as he was, in the boat.” It indicates that Jesus remained in the boat while the disciples got in. So Jesus did not go ashore or make any preparations to leave.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
they took Jesus as he was and began to cross the lake in the boat
-or-
the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and they took him with them (Good News Bible)
-or-
He was already in the boat, so they started out (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
4:36c
And there were other boats with Him: It is implied that there were other people in these boats. It may be more natural in your language to mention the other people. For example:
Other people took other boats and accompanied him.
-or-
Other people also took boats and began to cross the lake with him.
with Him: Because the disciples were also in the boat with Jesus, it may be more natural in some languages to use the plural pronoun “them” rather than Him. For example:
There were also other boats that went with them.
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