7:34a

And looking up to heaven: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heaven here refers to the sky as a symbol of God’s dwelling place. Since Jesus literally looked upward at the sky, you could translate the word heaven here with the usual word for sky. You do not have to use a special term that refers to the place where God lives.

7:34b

sighed deeply: The phrase sighed deeply indicates the sympathy that Jesus felt as he healed the man. Your translation should not imply the use of magic. The Good News Bible has:

gave a deep groan

said to him, “Ephphatha!”: The word Ephphatha was a word from the Aramaic language. It is not a magic word. Aramaic was probably the man’s native language. It is recommended that you transliterate this word, using the sounds of your language. For example:

Efata!

You might want to include background information about Aramaic in a footnote: For example:

The word “Ephphatha” is Aramaic, a language widely spoken in the region of Palestine during the time of Jesus.

(which means, “Be opened!”): Mark uses the phrase (which means “Be opened!”) to provide the translation of Ephphatha to his readers. The Berean Standard Bible has used parentheses here. Other English versions do not use parentheses. It is probably not necessary to use parentheses in your translation.

Be opened: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Be opened is an idiom. It implies that Jesus was commanding the man’s ears or his hearing to begin to function properly. This command is in the singular form because it is directed to the man. In other languages it may be more natural to use a plural or dual form that is directed to the ears. Use a natural form of the verb in your language for this context.

Notice that the next verse parts, 7:35a and 7:35b, describe the results of Jesus’ command. The man’s ears were opened, that is, they were healed. His tongue was also loosened, though the verb Be opened does not seem to explicitly apply to the tongue.

In some languages people may not understand the meaning of the idiom Be opened. If that is true in your language, you may want to consider one of these options:

• Indicate the meaning of the idiom before you introduce the word “Ephphatha.” For example:

Jesus commanded the man’s ears to hear again. He said, “Ephphatha!” which means, “Open up!”

• Include a footnote to explain the meaning of the idiom Be opened. For example:

Here “Be opened” means “Hear!” or “Be healed!”

Because the word “Ephphatha” literally means “be opened,” do not substitute a word with a different meaning for the definition itself.

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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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