21:4a
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes: This clause implies that God’s people will not be sad again. In some languages a literal translation would not imply that. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Include this implied information in your translation. For example:
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes ⌊so that they will not be sad ever again⌋
• Translate the meaning with this implied information. For example:
He will remove all their grief and sorrow
-or-
God will comfort them so that they never cry/weep again
See how you translated a similar clause in 7:17.
21:4b
and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain: The Greek words are literally “death will not be/exist anymore, nor grief nor crying nor pain will be/exist anymore.” No one will experience any of these things in the new Jerusalem. Other ways to translate this clause are:
Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain (NET Bible)
-or-
No one will experience dying, grief, weeping, or pain
In some languages it is more natural to translate the nouns death, mourning, crying, and pain as verbs. For example:
No one will ever die. No one will mourn, or cry, or suffer
mourning or crying: These words refer to weeping, that is, tears in the eyes because of sadness.
21:4c
for: This conjunction introduces the reason that there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain.
the former things have passed away: This clause refers to the way of life on the first earth. That way of life included death, mourning, crying, and pain. Now all that has ended. Other ways to translate this clause are:
the first things have disappeared (God’s Word)
-or-
the former things have ceased to exist (NET Bible)
-or-
all the old ways are gone (New Century Version)
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