5:31a

His disciples answered: Some translations place the phrase his disciples answered after what they said. In the Greek text, it comes before the speech begins. Place it where it is most natural in your language.

disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples means “learners” who are in a relationship with a teacher. The learners commit themselves to their teacher in order to learn from him and live according to his teaching and example. In the New Testament disciples often lived with their teacher and followed him wherever he went.

Here are some other ways to translate disciples:

• Use a term that refers to people who learn from a teacher or an expert. It is helpful if the term also implies that the learners are often with their teacher. For example:

learners/students
-or-
apprentices

Be careful not to use a term that would refer only to a student in a school or classroom.

• Use a term that refers to people who follow a teacher or leader by obeying his teaching. It is helpful if this term also implies learning from the teacher and actually following the teacher wherever he goes. For example:

followers
-or-
those who are committed/faithful (to a teacher/leader)

See how you translated this term in 2:15b. See also disciple in the Glossary.

answered: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as answered is literally “said.” In some languages a word like “said” may be more natural than “answered” because the disciples did not really answer the question “Who touched me?”

pressing in on You: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pressing in on is the same one that was translated “pressed around” in 5:24b. See how you translated it there.

5:31b

and yet You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’: In 5:31b the disciples asked a rhetorical question about Jesus’ real question in 5:30b. In their question the disciples repeated what Jesus had asked (but changed the words “my clothes” to the word Me).

The disciples used this rhetorical question to express their surprise at what Jesus had asked. There were so many people crowding around Jesus that his question seemed strange or unnecessary.

There are at least two ways to translate this rhetorical question.

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

And yet do you ask, “Who touched me?”
-or-
Why do you ask, “Who touched me?”
-or-
How can it be that you ask such a question as “Who touched me?”

• As a statement. For example:

It is very strange that you should ask “Who touched me?”
-or-
We do not understand why you ask “Who touched me?”

Use whichever form is most natural in your language for this kind of restatement.

In some languages it may be more natural to make 5:31b into an indirect question. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

How can you ask who touched you?

In some languages, “touching” a man or woman is a euphemism for sex. If this is true in your language, you may rephrase the disciples’ words to repeat the words that Jesus used in his question. For example:

…touched my clothes?

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