Paragraph 3:4–6

3:4

Verse 3:4 is background information. It speaks about John’s simple clothes and simple food while he lived in the wilderness. His simple lifestyle and clothing indicated to the people of that day that he was a prophet. He resembled the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). You may want to put this information in a footnote.

3:4a

In the Greek, 3:4a begins with a common Greek conjunction that is often translated as “now” (English Standard Version). Here it functions to introduce new information about John the Baptist. The Berean Standard Bible and many English versions do not translate this conjunction here. Introduce this background information in a way that is natural in your language.

John wore a garment of camel’s hair: John wore clothes that were made from the hair of an animal called a camel. A camel is a large, domesticated animal that carries people and cargo in the desert. People wove a rough kind of cloth made from the hair of this animal.

If camels are not known in your area, you could:

• Transliterate the word camel and explain the term in the text. For example:

John’s clothes were made from the hair of a ⌊large⌋ ⌊desert⌋ animal called a camel

• Transliterate the word camel and explain the term in a footnote. Here is a sample footnote:

A camel is a large domesticated animal that carries people and cargo in the desert.

• Translate using a general term:

The clothes that John wore were made from ⌊coarse⌋ hair of a desert animal

garment: The word garment is a general word that refers to all types of clothes. Here is probably refers to John’s outer robe or tunic.

Here is another way to translate this word:

clothes (New International Version)

3:4b

with a leather belt around his waist: The phrase leather belt refers to a strip of animal skin tied around the waist. It kept one’s outer robe close to the body. It also made it possible to tuck up the robe in order to walk or run unhindered.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

and he wore a long strip of animal skin around his waist
-or-
and he tied his clothes around his waist with an animal skin rope

3:4c

His food was locusts: The word locusts refers to a large kind of grasshopper. They are insects which jump and can fly. Large numbers of locusts frequently migrate together to eat and destroy crops. People who live in the desert sometimes eat locusts.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

His food was large grasshoppers
-or-
He ate large insects/bugs that jump and fly

wild honey: The phrase wild honey refers to honey that wild bees of the desert made. People found it under rocks or in cracks between rocks. It was not honey made by bees that people raised.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

honey of wild bees

-or-

honey

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