12:21a

They came to Philip: The Greeks approached one of the disciples, Philip. See how you spelled his name in 1:43.

who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: This clause gives some additional background information about Philip. Consider how it is natural to present this background information. You may want to put it in parentheses. For example:

(he was from Bethsaida in Galilee) (Good News Translation)

Bethsaida: Bethsaida was a town that had many people living there who were not Jewish. It is also mentioned in 1:44.

Galilee: This word is the name of one of the provinces or districts in Palestine. See how you spelled it in 1:43a and 2:1a.

12:21b

and requested of him: This phrase introduces an implied request. The Greeks told Philip what they would like, and by implication asked him to make that happen. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

and asked him (English Standard Version)
-or-
and they requested

Sir: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Sir was the normal polite way to address an adult male. Use a form of address that is natural and polite in your language.

we want to see Jesus: This clause indicates that these non-Jews wanted to meet with Jesus and talk with him. They were asking Philip to introduce them to Jesus. For example:

we want to meet Jesus (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
we would like to meet Jesus (God’s Word)
-or-
Please take us to Jesus.

we: The word we here is exclusive. It does not include Philip himself.

© 2020 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.