Paragraph 8:10–12

8:10a

He marveled: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as marveled implies that Jesus was surprised but pleased. It pleased Jesus that the centurion recognized his authority and had such great faith in him. Do not use a word that means to be amazed about something bad or displeasing.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

was ⌊pleasantly⌋ surprised
-or-
was amazed ⌊and pleased⌋
-or-
was impressed

8:10b

those following Him: This clause probably includes Jesus’ disciples and other people. Wherever Jesus went, crowds followed him.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

the crowd following him (Contemporary English Version)

8:10c

Truly I tell you: Jesus often used the words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Truly I tell you to introduce a statement that he wanted to emphasize. When he began a statement with these words, he was asking people to listen with extra attention.

Here are some other ways to introduce this:

I assure you (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
Listen to this:
-or-
Let me tell you this:

If you have another way in your language to emphasize a statement or to alert people to listen with special attention, consider using it here.

This same Greek phrase first occurs in 5:18a. You should translate it here as you did there.

8:10d

I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith: This sentence means that Jesus had not seen any Israelite/Jew who believed in him as much as this Roman soldier did. This indicates that this Gentile had more faith than any Jew.

In this context, the word found means that this was the first time that Jesus met someone with such great faith. The word found does not imply that he was searching in some way.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

I haven’t seen faith like this in all the land of Israel! (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
I have not seen/met anyone in Israel who has as much faith as this man.
-or-
Even among the Jews, I have not met a person who believes as strongly ⌊in me⌋ as this person

anyone in Israel: This phrase means “any person living in the land of Israel.” In other words, it refers to the Jews.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

anyone among the people of Israel
-or-
a Jew

such great faith: In this context, the words such great faith means “a strong and sincere faith/belief.” The centurion strongly believed that Jesus was able to heal his servant.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

faith as great as this (God’s Word)
-or-
believes so strongly ⌊in me⌋

-or-

has such confidence/trust ⌊in me⌋

© 2023 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.