8:6a–b
Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony: As in 8:2b, this statement was a polite way for the centurion to ask Jesus to help him. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this request explicit. For example:
Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony. ⌊Please do something for him.⌋
In other languages, the verb for “pleaded” in 8:5b will be enough to show that the centurion was asking Jesus for help.
8:6a
Lord: You should translate the word Lord here as you did in 8:2b.
my servant: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my servant literally means “my male child.” In this context, the phrase probably indicates that the servant was not yet an adult and that the centurion liked him.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
my ⌊well-liked⌋ servant
-or-
my young servant (New Living Translation (2004))
lies: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lies indicates how sick the servant was. He did not just have a type of paralysis where he could sit. He was sick enough that he had to lie down. You should use an expression in your language that indicates this.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
lies in bed (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
is sick in bed (Good News Translation)
at home: The phrase at home refers to the home of the centurion. It does not refer to the servant’s home. The servant probably lived at the home of the centurion. The servant may have had a room, but he probably did not have his own house. So if you need to specify whose home it was, you should say:
at my home/house
paralyzed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as paralyzed means that the servant was not able to move all or part of his body.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
He can’t move his body (New Century Version)
-or-
he can’t even move (Contemporary English Version)
8:6b
in terrible agony: This phrase indicates that the servant’s condition caused him much pain and suffering.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
suffering much
-or-
is in much pain (New Century Version)
-or-
his condition is very serious
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