6:13a
They also drove out many demons: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as drove out is literally “cast/throw out.” To “drive out” demons means to cause evil spirits to stop controlling a person. The apostles did this by commanding the spirits to leave.
Jewish people often spoke of demons as being in someone. Different cultures have different ways of speaking about people being controlled by demons and being released from the control of demons. Use a natural expression for this in your language.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
sent many demons away
-or-
exorcized many evil spirits
-or-
freed many people who were controlled by evil spirits
See how you translated the same phrase “drove out many demons” in 1:34b.
demons: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as demons refers to spirits that are evil and can control people’s actions. This Greek word refers to the same type of spirits as the Greek terms that are often translated as “evil spirits” and “unclean spirits.”
See the note on “unclean spirits” in 6:7c and evil spirit in the Glossary for more information.
6:13b–c
and healed many of the sick, anointing them with oil: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as anointing them with oil means that the disciples were putting oil on sick people. The exact purpose of anointing the sick people with oil is not clear. Some scholars believe that the oil helped in some way to heal the sick people. However, more scholars believe that anointing the sick people with oil was a symbol to show that God was blessing the sick person and healing him or her.
Use whatever verb is natural in your language to say that the disciples placed a little bit of oil (probably a few drops) on a person (probably on the head).
Here are some other ways to translate this:
rubbed olive oil on many sick people and healed them (Good News Bible)
-or-
healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. (New Living Translation)
oil: The oil that people used for anointing was olive oil. It was a common vegetable oil from that country. Olive oil was also used for cooking, for burning in lamps, and for treating wounds. In many languages it is possible to use a word here that refers to a commonly used cooking oil.
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