8:29a–b
In this verse Jesus asked his disciples to tell him their own beliefs about who he was.
But what about you?…Who do you say I am?: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But what about you?…Who do you say I am? is more literally “But you,(plur) who do you(plur) say I am?” The pronoun you is repeated for emphasis. It emphasizes the difference between the people’s opinions and the disciples’ opinions.
Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:
But you,…who do you say I am? (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
But who do you yourselves say I am?
say: Here the word say again means “think” or “believe.” See the note on say at 8:27d.
Jesus asked: The Berean Standard Bible has placed the phrase Jesus asked in the middle of Jesus’ question to his disciples. In the Greek text it comes before the speech begins. Place it where it is most natural in your language.
8:29c
the Christ: The phrase the Christ is used here as a title. It is not just one of Jesus’ names. The Jews used this title to refer to the special person whom God had appointed and promised to send as king and savior. The title the Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew title “the Messiah,” and the two titles have the same meaning.
Here are some other ways to translate the Christ:
• Transliterate it. For example:
Krais
-or-
Karisiti
• Transliterate it and indicate in some way that it is a title. For example:
the Christ
-or-
the Kirisita
• Transliterate Christ and include a phrase that explains the meaning. For example:
Christ, the appointed one
-or-
Cristo, the savior God promised
-or-
the Christ who comes from God
If you do not indicate the meaning of the Christ in the text, you may want to include a footnote to explain the meaning of the Christ. Or you may want to explain the meaning in a glossary. For example:
The title “the Christ” refers to the King and Savior whom God had promised to send.
See also Christ in the Glossary.
© 2008 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.