6:29a

When John’s disciples heard about this: Here the story shifts to a new set of people, John’s disciples. John the Baptizer also had disciples, just as Jesus did (see 2:18d). The Berean Standard Bible follows the order of the Greek by introducing John’s disciples in 6:29a. Here are some other examples of ways to introduce them:

When John’s disciples heard this
-or-
John’s disciples heard this, so…

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 this:

students/learners
-or-
apprentices
-or-
followers

See how you translated this term at 2:15b and 6:1c. See also disciple in the Glossary for more information.

this: The word this refers to the fact that John had been killed. You may need to make this explicit in your translation. For example:

When John’s disciples heard that John was dead
-or-
When John’s disciples heard that this had happened

6:29b

they came: John’s disciples probably came to Herod or to Herod’s soldiers and asked for the body. Your translation should not imply that they came and took the body without permission.

6:29c

and took his body: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as body refers specifically to a corpse, that is, a dead body.

6:29d

and placed it in a tomb: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tomb refers to a cave where people could bury someone who had died. The main idea here is that John’s disciples honored their dead master in the customary way of burial. If people do not put the dead in caves in your culture, you could use a general verb such as “entombed” or “buried” (Good News Bible).

Your language may have an appropriate idiom, such as “laid it to rest” in English.

General Comment on 6:29, 6:7

This verse ends a long section of background information about the death of John the Baptizer. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that the background information has ended. You may need to repeat what was happening before the background information began. For example:

It was sometime after John the Baptizer was buried that Jesus sent his apostles to different villages.

This example mentions that Jesus sent his apostles to different villages (6:7), because in 6:30, the apostles returned to Jesus.

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