16:6
Watch out…Beware: The two verbs Watch out and Beware are a doublet. This means that these two verbs have almost the same meaning. Jesus used these two verbs with a similar meaning to emphasize the warning that he was giving his disciples. He warned them to pay attention to a possible danger.
In some languages, it is natural to emphasize a warning using two verbs. In other languages it may not be natural to use two verbs like this. If that is true in your language, you may need to emphasize the warning in another way. (See an example below.)
Here are some other ways to translate these verbs:
Be careful! Watch out (God’s Word)
-or-
Look out! Beware of
-or-
Be very careful of
the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as leaven refers to a substance that is also called “yeast.” A person mixes leaven/yeast with water and flour. Then it spreads throughout the flour and makes the dough expand/rise. The dough is then baked in an oven and becomes bread.
Here Jesus used the word leaven as a metaphor to refer to the bad influences of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But at first the disciples misunderstood him. They thought that he was talking about real leaven/yeast. So you should translate leaven here in a normal, non-figurative way.
Here are some other ways to translate leaven/yeast:
• Use an expression that describes the leaven. For example:
what spreads to make bread swell/rise
-or-
bread-expanding substance
• Use a term from the national language and a descriptive phrase. For example:
yeast that spreads to make bread swell
• Borrow a word and explain it in a footnote. Here is an example of a possible footnote:
Yeast is something that spreads in flour dough and causes it to swell/rise so that after the dough is baked it is soft to eat.
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