15:17
Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated?: This is a rhetorical question. It is a mild rebuke. It also emphasizes that whatever enters the mouth is not important. It is not important because it goes into the stomach and then out of the body.
Here are some other ways to translate this rebuke and emphasis:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Don’t you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? (Contemporary English Version)
• As a statement. For example:
Surely you know that all the food that enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then goes out of the body. (New Century Version)
Translate this rebuke and emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
15:17a
Do you not yet realize: In this context the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as realize means “understand.” For example:
Don’t you understand? (Good News Translation)
-or-
Don’t you know (Contemporary English Version)
whatever enters the mouth: This expression refers to the food that a person puts into his mouth. For example:
the food that enters the mouth (New Century Version)
-or-
the food you put into your mouth (Contemporary English Version)
15:17b
is eliminated: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as is eliminated is literally “goes out into the latrine.” The Berean Standard Bible uses a euphemism here for the literal Greek words. (A euphemism is a figure of speech that substitutes acceptable words for words that may embarrass or offend people.)
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
• Use a euphemism. For example:
then goes out of the body (New Century Version)
-or-
is eliminated (New American Standard Bible)
• Translate it more literally. For example:
then passes out into the sewer (NET Bible)
-or-
then into a toilet (God’s Word)
You should use a term that will be acceptably polite when your translation is read aloud in church. You should not use a term that only applies to a modern toilet.
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