8:2a

Suddenly: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Suddenly indicates that something extraordinary will happen. Here, the amazing event is that a leper came to Jesus, and Jesus healed him. If you have a way to indicate such an event, you may want to use it here.

Here is another way to translate this word:

And behold (English Standard Version)

a leper: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as leper refers to a person who had one of several different skin diseases. One specific type of skin disease is leprosy.

People believed that these diseases were spread by contact with someone who had the disease. A person who had one of these diseases was considered ritually unclean. According to Jewish law, he was not allowed to associate with other people. He was not allowed to worship in the temple.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

• Use a word or phrase that refers to a person who has leprosy. For example:

a leper man
-or-
a man sick with/from leprosy
-or-
a man with leprosy (Contemporary English Version)

• Use a general phrase that describes the nature or significance of the disease that this person had. For example:

a man suffering from a dreaded skin disease (Good News Translation)
-or-
a man sick with a skin disease
-or-
a man whose skin was rotting

knelt before Him: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as knelt literally means “prostrate before.” This means kneeling and putting one’s face to the ground. Common people did this to people of great authority in order to show them great honor and submission.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

bowed low in front of him (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
got on his knees before Jesus

8:2b

Lord: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Lord means “master.” It was a polite title used when addressing a respected leader.

Here are some other ways to translate Lord:

Sir (Good News Translation)
-or-
Master
-or-
Big/Important person

if You are willing, You can make me clean: This statement was a polite and indirect way for the man to ask Jesus to heal him of his leprosy. In some languages it may be necessary to make the request explicit. For example:

⌊I know that⌋ if you want to, you can heal me. ⌊So please heal me.⌋

Consider how the man would express his request politely in your language.

if You are willing: The clause if You are willing here means “if you want to.” The man believed that Jesus was able to heal him, but he was not sure that Jesus was willing to do so.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

if you want to (Good News Translation)
-or-
if you choose (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-

⌊please,⌋ if you are willing

You can make me clean: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as make…clean has the sense of “healed” or “cured” when used with leprosy.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

you have the power to make me well (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
you can heal me (New Century Version)

According to Jewish law, a person became “ritually unclean” if he had certain diseases such as leprosy. A ritually “unclean” person could not live with other people. He had to live apart from the rest of society. He could not worship in the temple. If anyone came near him, the unclean person had to warn him by shouting out, “Unclean!”

So here the leper not only had a disease, he was “unclean.” (This does not mean that he was physically dirty and needed to be washed.) In order to be completely cleansed from leprosy, there were at least two steps:

(a) he had to be cured/healed, and

(b) he had to be declared clean by a priest and offer sacrifices.

When Jesus told the man to go show himself to the priest and offer the sacrifice (in 8:4b–c), Jesus commanded the man to take care of step b. This shows that when Jesus said “Be clean” (in 8:3b), he was not doing step b. He did not make the man “ritually clean” according to the law of Moses. Rather, Jesus was taking care of step a: healing. Furthermore, when the leper asked Jesus to make him “clean,” he was not asking Jesus to play the role of the priest (step b). When Jesus says “I will,” he meant “I will agree to your request to be healed.” Therefore, in this context, the Greek word is best translated as “healed/cured.”

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