5:38a–b

Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as commotion refers here to noisy, confused activity. In some languages, it may be more natural to say that Jesus heard a commotion rather than saw a commotion.

weeping and wailing The verbs weeping and wailing describe the nature of the commotion. Use a natural way in your language to indicate this. For example:

Jesus saw the confusion and heard all the loud crying and wailing (Good News Bible)
-or-
he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly (NET Bible)

weeping and wailing loudly: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as weeping and wailing loudly are very similar in meaning. The word weeping refers to crying as an outward expression of grief or sorrow. The word wailing refers to intense or loud weeping. It is emphasized by the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as loudly.

Use words in your language that describe the way that people weep and cry out when they mourn over someone’s death. If you have one word that describes this kind of weeping and wailing, you could use it instead of two different words.

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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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