2For indeed the good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer and the readers of this letter).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 4:2:
Uma: “For it was to us as well that the good news was announced, like the Yahudi people long ago. But that good news did not bring blessing to them, for they just listened dry [i.e., listened and didn’t do anything about it], they did not believe.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “For we (incl.) have already heard the good news, the one our (incl.) ancestors heard in old times. They heard that message but they did not get any blessing/good because they did not believe.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because as for us (incl.), we have heard also the preaching of the Good News just like our ancestors long ago. However, even though they heard what God caused them to understand, it had no value for them because when they heard it they didn’t believe it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because we heard this good news just like our ancestors, but as for them, their hearing it was to no purpose, because they didn’t believe/obey it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because as for us, for all this long time, we have been being taught the Good News which comes from God, just like those people of the past. But as for them, they did not derive any benefit from that which was made known to them because they really did not believe/obey it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Because just like the word spoken to us now that God wants to save us, also this word was spoken to those people who rejected his word long ago. They heard his word but nothing came of their hearing it since they did not believe the word which was spoken.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-kotoba (みことば) or “word (of God)” in the referenced verses.
Translations of the Greek and Ge’ez that are typically translated as “faith” in English (itself deriving from Latin “fides,” meaning “trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence”) and “believe” (from Old English belyfan: “to have faith or confidence in a person”) cover a wide range of approaches.
Bratcher and Nida say this (1961, p. 38) (click or tap here to read more):
“Since belief or faith is so essentially an intimate psychological experience, it is not strange that so many terms denoting faith should be highly figurative and represent an almost unlimited range of emotional ‘centers’ and descriptions of relationships, e.g. ‘steadfast his heart’ (Chol), ‘to arrive on the inside’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui), ‘to conform with the heart’ (Uab Meto), ‘to join the word to the body’ (Uduk), ‘to hear in the insides’ (or ‘to hear within one’s self and not let go’ — Nida 1952) (Laka), ‘to make the mind big for something’ (Sapo), ‘to make the heart straight about’ (Mitla Zapotec), ‘to cause a word to enter the insides’ (Lacandon), ‘to leave one’s heart with’ (Baniwa), ‘to catch in the mind’ (Ngäbere), ‘that which one leans on’ (Vai), ‘to be strong on’ (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘to have no doubts’ (San Blas Kuna), ‘to hear and take into the insides’ (Kare), ‘to accept’ (Pamona).”
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap here to read more):
Limos Kalinga: manuttuwa. Wiens (2013) explains: “It goes back to the word for ‘truth’ which is ‘tuttuwa.’ When used as a verb this term is commonly used to mean ‘believe’ as well as ‘obey.'”
Ngiemboon: “turn one’s back on someone” (and trusting one won’t be taken advantage of) (source: Stephen Anderson in Holzhausen 1991, p. 42)
Mwera uses the same word for “hope” and “faith”: ngulupai (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Yala: ɔtū che or “place heart” (in John 5:24; 5:45; 6:35; 6:47; 12:36; 14:1); other translations include chɛ̄ or “to agree/accept” and chɛ̄ku or “to agree with/accept with/take side with” (source: Linus Otronyi)
Matumbi: niu’bi’lyali or “believe / trust / rely (on)” and imani or “religious faith” (from Arabic īmān [إيما]) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Ebira: “place one’s liver on something” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 60)
Barí: a word related to standing in a hammock. Bruce Olson (1972, p. 159f.) tells this story — click or tap here to read more)
One evening, though, Bobby began to ask questions. We were sitting around a fire. The light flickered over him. His face was serious.
‘How can I walk on Jesus’ trail?’ he asked. ‘No Motilone [speakers of Barí] has ever done it. It’s a new thing. There is no other Motilone to tell how to do it.’
I remembered the problems I had had as a boy, how it sometimes appeared impossible to keep on believing in Jesus when my family and friends were so opposed to my commitment. That was what Bobby was going through.
‘Bobby,’ I said, ‘do you remember my first Festival of the Arrows, the first time I had seen all the Motilones gathered to sing their song?’ The festival was the most important ceremony in the Motilone culture.
He nodded. The fire flared up momentarily and I could see his eyes, staring intently at me.
‘Do you remember that I was afraid to climb in the high hammocks to sing, for fear that the rope would break? And I told you that I would sing only if I could have one foot in the hammock and one foot on the ground?’
‘Yes, Bruchko.’
‘And what did you say to me?’
He laughed. ‘I told you you had to have both feet in the hammock. ‘You have to be suspended,’ I said.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You have to be suspended. That is how it is when you follow Jesus, Bobby. No man can tell you how to walk His trail. Only Jesus can. But to find out you have to tie your hammock strings into Him, and be suspended in God.’
Bobby said nothing. The fire danced in his eyes. Then he stood up and walked off into the darkness.
The next day he came to me. ‘Bruchko,’ he said, ‘I want to tie my hammock strings into Jesus Christ. But how can I? I can’t see Him or touch Him.’
‘You have talked to spirits, haven’t you?’
‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see now.’
The next day he had a big grin on his face. ‘Bruchko, I’ve tied my hammock strings into Jesus. Now I speak a new language.’
I didn’t understand what he meant. ‘Have you learned some of the Spanish I speak?’
He laughed, a clean, sweet laugh. ‘No, Bruchko, I speak a new language.’
Then I understood. To a Motilone, language is life. If Bobby had a new life, he had a new way of speaking. His speech would be Christ-oriented.
Awabakal: ngurruliko: “to know, to perceive by the ear” (as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch — source: Lake, p. 70) (click or tap here to read more)
“[The missionary translator] Lancelot Threlkeld learned that Awabakal, like many Australian languages, made no distinction between knowing and believing. Of course the distinction only needs to be made where there are rival systems of knowing. The Awabakal language expressed a seamless world. But as the stress on ‘belief’ itself suggests, Christianity has always existed in pluralist settings. Conversion involves deep conviction, not just intellectual assent or understanding. (…) Translating such texts posed a great challenge in Australia. Threlkeld and [his indigenous colleague] Biraban debated the possibilities at length. In the end they opted not to introduce a new term for belief, but to use the Awabakal ngurruliko, meaning ‘to know, to perceive by the ear,’ as distinct from knowing by sight or by touch.”
Language in southern Nigeria: a word based on the idiom “lose feathers.” Randy Groff in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 65 explains (click or tap here to read more):
What does losing feathers have to do with faith? [The translator] explained that there is a species of bird in his area that, upon hatching its eggs, loses its feathers. During this molting phase, the mother bird is no longer able to fly away from the nest and look for food for her hungry hatchlings. She has to remain in the nest where she and her babies are completely dependent upon the male bird to bring them food. Without the diligent, dependable work of the male bird, the mother and babies would all die. This scenario was the basis for the word for faith in his language.
Teribe: mär: “pick one thing and one thing only” (source: Andy Keener)
Tiv: na jighjigh: “give trust” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Luba-Katanga: Twi tabilo: “echo” (click or tap here to read more)
“Luba-Katanga word for ‘Faith’ in its New Testament connotation is Twi tabilo. This word means ‘echo,’ and the way in which it came to be adapted to the New Testament meaning gives a very good idea of the way in which the translator goes to work. One day a missionary was on a journey through wild and mountainous country. At midday he called his African porters to halt, and as they lay resting in the shade from the merciless heat of the sun. an African picked up a stone and sent it ricocheting down the mountain-side into the ravine below. After some seconds the hollow silence was broken by a plunging, splashing sound from the depths of the dark river-bed. As the echo died away the African said in a wondering whisper ‘Twi tabilo, listen to it.’ So was a precious word captured for the service of the Gospel in its Luba Christian form. Twi tabilo — ‘faith which is the echo of God’s voice in the depths of human sinful hearts, awakened by God Himself, the answer to his own importunate call.’ The faith that is called into being by the divine initiative, God’s own gift to the responsive heart! (Source: Wilfred Bradnock in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 49ff. )
The Japanese term shin-kō (信仰) was a newly coined word for the purpose of Bible translation but is used widely today beyond its Christian origin. Junko Nakai (in: The Bible Translator 2006, p. 115ff. ) explains: “There are many words either newly created or adapted to introduce new Christian concepts distinct from the established religious ones. An example is the Sino-Japanese noun, shin-kō, as the equivalent of pistis “faith.” The existing term for “belief” or “trust” was mainly the Sino-Japanese noun, shin, often used as the stem of a verb, shin-zu ‘believe.’ The term shin-kō, formed by adding another verb aogu, to ‘look up’ with respect, or to ‘ask,’ in native Japanese, read as kō in Sino-Japanese, did exist, but not in wide use. (…) This word was used in Buddhist scriptures, but read as shin-gō in early days. During the process of translating the Bible, the Chinese compound written in the same Chinese characters (信仰) but read as shin-kō establishes itself as the term denoting Christian ‘faith.’ Later it comes to be recognized as the new term denoting ‘faith’ in general in a wider religious context. This fact attests to the impact of Bible translation on the development of modern Japanese language.”
J.A. van Roy (in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. ) discusses how a translation of “faith” in a an earlier translation into Venda created difficult perceptions of the concept of faith (click or tap here):
The Venda term u tenda, lutendo. This term corresponds to the terms ho dumela (Southern Sotho), and ku pfumela (Tsonga) that have been used in these translations of the Bible, and means “to assent,” “to agree to a suggestion.” It is important to understand this term in the context of the character of the people who use it.
The way in which the Venda use this term reveals much about the priority of interpersonal relationships among them. They place a much higher priority on responding in the way they think they are expected to respond than on telling the truth. Smooth interpersonal relationships, especially with a dominant individual or group, take precedence over everything else.
It is therefore regarded as bad form to refuse directly when asked for something one does not in fact intend to give. The correct way is to agree, u tenda, and then forget about it or find some excuse for not keeping to the agreement. Thus u tenda does not necessarily convey the information that one means what one says. One can tenda verbally while heartily disagreeing with the statement made or having no intention whatsoever to carry out what one has just promised to do. This is not regarded as dishonesty, but is a matter of politeness.
The term u sokou tenda, “to consent reluctantly,” is often used for expressing the fatalistic attitude of the Venda in the face of misfortune or force which he is unable to resist.
The form lutendo was introduced by missionaries to express “faith.”
According to the rules of derivations and their meanings in the lu-class, it should mean “the habit of readily consenting to everything.” But since it is a coined word which does not have a clearly defined set of meanings in everyday speech, it has acquired in church language a meaning of “steadfastness in the Christian life.” Una lutendo means something like “he is steadfast in the face of persecution.” It is quite clear that the term u tenda has no element of “trust” in it. (…)
In “The Christian Minister” of July 1969 we find the following statement about faith by Albert N. Martin: “We must never forget that one of the great issues which the Reformers brought into focus was that faith was something more than an ‘assensus,’ a mere nodding of the head to the body of truth presented by the church as ‘the faith.’ The Reformers set forth the biblical concept that faith was ‘fiducia.’ They made plain that saving faith involved trust, commitment, a trust and commitment involving the whole man with the truth which was believed and with the Christ who was the focus of that truth. The time has come when we need to spell this out clearly in categorical statements so that people will realize that a mere nodding of assent to the doctrines that they are exposed to is not the essence of saving faith. They need to be brought to the understanding that saving faith involves the commitment of the whole man to the whole Christ, as Prophet, Priest and King as he is set forth in the gospel.”
We quote at length from this article because what Martin says of the current concept of faith in the Church is even to a greater extent true of the Venda Church, and because the terms used for communicating that concept in the Venda Bible cannot be expected to communicate anything more than “a mere nodding of assent”. I have during many years of evangelistic work hardly ever come across a Venda who, when confronted with the gospel, would not say, Ndi khou tenda, “I admit the truth of what you say.” What they really mean when saying this amounts to, “I believe that God exists, and I have no objection to the fact that he exists. I suppose that the rest of what you are talking about is also true.” They would often add, Ndi sa tendi hani-hani? “Just imagine my not believing such an obvious fact!” To the experienced evangelist this is a clear indication that his message is rejected in so far as it has been understood at all! To get a negative answer, one would have to press on for a promise that the “convert” will attend the baptism class and come to church on Sundays, and even then he will most probably just tenda in order to get rid of the evangelist, whether he intends to come or not. Isn’t that what u tenda means? So when an inexperienced and gullible white man ventures out on an evangelistic campaign with great enthusiasm, and with great rejoicing returns with a list of hundreds of names of persons who “believed”, he should not afterwards blame the Venda when only one tenth of those who were supposed to be converts actually turn up for baptismal instruction.
Moreover, it is not surprising at all that one often comes across church members of many years’ standing who do not have any assurance of their salvation or even realise that it is possible to have that assurance. They are vhatendi, “consenters.” They have consented to a new way of life, to abandoning (some of) the old customs. Lutendo means to them at most some steadfastness in that new way of life.
The concept of faith in religion is strange to Africa. It is an essential part of a religion of revelation such as Christianity or Islam, but not of a naturalistic religion such as Venda religion, in which not faith and belief are important, but ritual, and not so much the content of the word as the power of it.
The terms employed in the Venda Bible for this vital Christian concept have done nothing to effect a change in the approach of the Venda to religion.
It is a pity that not only in the Venda translation has this been the case, but in all the other Southern Bantu languages. In the Nguni languages the term ukukholwa, “to believe a fact,” has been used for pisteuo, and ukholo, the deverbative of ukukholwa, for pistis. In some of the older Protestant translations in Zulu, but not in the new translation, the term ithemba, “trust”, has been used.
Some languages, including Santali, have two terms — like English (see above) — to differentiate a noun from a verb form. Biswạs is used for “faith,” whereas pạtiạu for “believe.” R.M. Macphail (in The Bible Translator 1961, p. 36ff. ) explains this choice: “While there is little difference between the meaning and use of the two in everyday Santali, in which any word may be used as a verb, we felt that in this way we enriched the translation while making a useful distinction, roughly corresponding to that between ‘faith’ and ‘to believe’ in English.”
Likewise, in Noongar, koort-karni or “heart truth” is used for the noun (“faith”) and djinang-karni or “see true” for the verb (“believe”) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Hungarian Sign Language “faith” is translated with a sign that refers to the gesture of clinging to God, which expresses a certainty in things unseen (see Hebrews 11:1). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
The first part of this verse emphasizes the comparison made in verse 1 between the readers and the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. This is the point of For. The conjunction For indicates a rather loose causal relationship. It would be wrong to translate For in such a way as to suggest that the first sentence of verse 2 is linked directly with the last clause of verse 1. In fact, it was not because believers heard the Good News that they failed to receive the promised rest. It may therefore be necessary to drop the causal conjunction.
We have heard the Good News is literally “we have been evangelized,” “we have had the Good News preached to us” (see 2.1). The tense of the Greek verb implies that the effects of hearing the Good News are lasting. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch suggests that the writer means specifically “this piece of good news about the rest,” and this makes good sense. Other translations suggest he means the Christian message in general. It is a point in favor of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch that the same verb for “to tell the good news” is used in verse 6 about the Israelites, where it can scarcely mean “the good Christian message,” unless, as a few scholars have thought, Christ is thought of as speaking Psalm 95 to Israel before his incarnation (see comments on 3.7). There may be advantages in rendering we have heard the Good News in such a way as to specify the particular aspect of the Good News, namely, the promise of rest. Otherwise this expression could be interpreted to mean that the Good News as preached by Jesus Christ was also preached to the Jewish people as they left Egypt. The comparison may then be translated as “we heard the Good News about this rest in the same way that they heard about it.”
Just as they did is emphatic. They are all the people who were led out of Egypt (3.16), whom the writer identifies with the people who sinned (3.17). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes this explicit: “just like the people in the wilderness” (compare Num 14.29).
It did them no good may be expressed as “having heard about it was no benefit to them” or “they did not profit from having heard about the rest.”
The Greek which Good News Translation translates they did not accept it with faith contains a difficult textual problem. A literal translation would be “not having been joined in faith with those who heard.” “Not having been joined” suggests a continuing state; “those who heard” suggests a single past event. The main textual problem is to know whether “not having been joined” is singular, referring to the message, or plural, referring to the mass of the Israelites at the time of the Exodus (the people who sinned, 3.17; compare 3.16, 18). Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, and most other translations prefer the singular, but the UBS Greek text has the plural, and this is followed by Jerusalem Bible and Bible de Jérusalem, which translate “they did not share the faith of those who listened.” In the setting of Numbers 14, this would mean that the whole community of Israel (verse 10) did not share the faith and loyalty of Caleb and Joshua (verses 6-9, 24); compare Hebrews 4.8.
The translation of with faith varies, partly according to the text chosen. If a text making “not having been joined” singular is used, the meaning is that the “message” was not mixed or united with faith on the part of those who heard it. In other words, they did not respond positively by accepting and believing the message. If a text using the plural is chosen, the meaning is that those who heard the message but did not believe it were not united in faith (or, less probably, “by faith”) with those who both heard and believed the message.
They did not accept it with faith may be expressed idiomatically in some languages as “they did not receive the message in their hearts,” “they did not trust what was said about the rest which God had promised,” or “they did not have confidence in their hearts that God would give them rest.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
The Berean Standard Bible translates 4:2a–c as one sentence. In some languages it is more natural to use more than one sentence. For example:
We heard the good news, as our ancestors did. But the message did not help our ancestors because they did not join those who accepted it with faith.
4:2a
For…also: This part of the verse begins with two Greek conjunctions that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as For and also. Some versions translate also as “indeed” here, because it emphasizes the statement in 4:2a. The word For indicates that 4:2c will explain why the good news did not help the Israelites who heard it (as 4:2b says). Connect the clauses in this verse in a natural way in your language.
we…received the good news just as they did: The Greek phrase which the Berean Standard Bible translates as we…received the good news just as they did is more literally “we were evangelized.” It uses a passive verb form, implying that someone told the listeners good news.
In this context the good news refers to the promise of rest that God offers his people. It does not refer specifically here to the gospel of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The phrase just as they did indicates that the Israelites whom Moses led out of Egypt (3:16) were also told good news.
Some ways to translate the phrases in 4:2a are:
• Use passive verbs. For example:
The good news was told to us, just as it was told to them
• Use verbs that focus on receiving the good news. For example:
We received the good news just as they did. -or-
We have heard the good news just as they have.
• Use active verbs and supply subjects. For example:
⌊ Someone⌋told us the good news, just as ⌊someone⌋ told the good news to them.
Translate the verbs in a natural way in your language. A different form of the same verb is used again in 4:6.
we: The pronoun we refers to both the author and the readers.
just as they did: The phrase just as they did indicates that the readers and hearers of Hebrews received good news, just as the Israel people whom “Moses led out of Egypt” (3:16) also received good news. In some languages it may be helpful to refer to they more specifically. For example:
our ancestors -or-
those ⌊Israel⌋ people of long ago
Refer back to them in a natural way in your language.
4:2b
but: The word but introduces a contrast. Both the readers of this letter and their ancestors received good news, but their ancestors failed to profit from the good news.
the message they heard was of no value to them: This clause indicates that hearing the message without believing it did not help the people of Israel. Some ways to translate this meaning are:
they listened to the message but they received no help from it -or-
They heard his word but they gained nothing from hearing it
the message they heard: The phrase the message they heard refers to the good news that was told to the people of Israel (4:2a). It was God’s promise that he would give them rest in the land to which he was leading them. Indicate clearly that the message and the “good news” refer to the same message. For example:
this message that they heard -or-
that good news that they heard
4:2c
since: The word since introduces the reason that God’s message did not benefit the people of Israel.
they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it: There is a textual issue concerning the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as share. The form of this word causes scholars to interpret 4:2c in different ways. The two textual options are:
(1) In some Greek manuscripts the verb share is plural. The clause indicates that the people who did not enter God’s rest (3:19) did not “join” with the people who listened to what God said. For example:
they did not share the faith of those who did listen (New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) In other Greek manuscripts the word share is singular. The clause indicates that the message was heard but was not combined with faith in some people. For example:
it was not combined with faith in those who heard it (Revised English Bible)
It is recommended that you follow option (1). It is followed by many Greek manuscripts, including some of the oldest and most reliable ones. However, many scholars also support option (2), and it is also acceptable.
Since both options are acceptable, you may want to include a footnote in your translation to mention the option that you decide not to follow. For example, the New Revised Standard Version has this footnote:
Other ancient authorities read: “it did not meet with faith in those who listened.”
did not share the faith of those who comprehended it: This phrase refers to the time when most of the people of Israel did not believe the good news that God told them. He promised to give them rest in the land of Canaan. However, only Moses, Joshua, and Caleb trusted God to do what he said. The phrase did not share the faith indicates that most of the people refused to join the ones who listened to God and believed him.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
they did not join in with those who heard it in faith (NET Bible) -or-
they refused to unite with the ones who believed ⌊that good message⌋
faith: In this context the word faith refers to believing the message that God was able to give the people rest in the land that he promised them. The people of Israel did not believe that this message was true. See the examples in the preceding note. For more information, see believe, sense C2, in Key Biblical Terms.
General Comment on 4:2b–c
In some languages it may be helpful to change the order of 4:2b–c. For example:
2c They, however, did not believe the good news that they heard, 2b and so it did not help them. -or-
2c but they did not believe the good news which they heard, 2b and so it was not of any use to them
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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