7:2a

and they saw: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as saw in this context means “observed” or “noticed” (as in the Good News Bible). The Pharisees observed what was happening around Jesus and quickly noticed a problem.

some of His 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 disciple in the Glossary.

eating: In some languages it may be necessary to indicate what they were eating. In the Greek, there is a word that often refers to “bread” specifically, but this word also can refer to food more generally. In some languages, it may be necessary to explicitly state what they were eating. Translate in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

eating food
-or-
ate a meal

defiled: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as defiled means “unclean” or “desecrated.” Here defiled has a figurative meaning and means “unfit before God”. The literal meaning of “dirty” is not intended. You can translate this as:

ritually impure
-or-
not proper before God

7:2b

that is, unwashed:

There is a textual issue here that concerns the phrase that the King James Version translates as “they found fault”: (1) Some Greek manuscripts
do not include this phrase. For example, the NET Bible says: “And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed” (Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, New Century Version, God’s Word, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Bible, English Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English). (2) Other Greek texts include the phrase “they found fault” at the end of the verse. For example the King James Version says: “And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1) as the majority of English versions do.) The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as that is shows that the next word or phrase explains what came before it. In this case, unwashed explains “defiled” in 7:2a. In some languages it may be natural to show this by saying:

meaning that they had not gone through a ceremonial washing (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
because they ate without washing their hands (God’s Word)

unwashed: One of the rituals/practices of the Pharisees and other Jewish people was to wash/rinse their hands before meals. They poured water over each hand in a certain way, and then they considered their hands to be ceremonially clean.

The ceremonial laws of the Old Testament did not require people to wash their hands in this way. The Jewish people had added these customs to the rules of the Old Testament.

If people in your area will not understand that the word “wash” refers to a ceremonial cleaning, you may want to add the implied meaning. For example:

they did not ceremonially wash/rinse their hands
-or-
they did not wash their hands in the way/manner that the Pharisees had commanded

If people in your area would still be uncertain about the purpose of the ceremonial washing, you may want to add a footnote. Here is an example:

One of the traditions of the Jews was to wash their hands in a certain way before they ate. They believed that this was necessary in order to remain ceremonially clean and acceptable to God. But the Old Testament did not say that it was necessary to wash before every meal in order to be acceptable to God.

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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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