Paragraph 19:25–27

This paragraph tells how Jesus provided for his mother Mary.

19:25

The Greek begins with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible leaves implicit but the New Revised Standard Version translates as “Meanwhile.” It indicates that the attention is changing to different people. It changes from the soldiers to some women. The women were standing there at the same time that the soldiers divided Jesus’ clothes among themselves. Here are other ways to introduce this new part of the story:

But (English Standard Version)
-or-
Now (NET Bible)

Introduce this new attention to different people in a way that is natural in your language. In some languages it may be natural to begin a new paragraph and not translate the Greek conjunction. Nearly all English translations begin a new paragraph here.

This verse is background information for the next event in 19:26–27. Translate the verse in a way that is natural for giving background information in your language.

Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene: Several women stood near the cross on which Jesus was crucified. (You may need to avoid saying “Jesus’ cross” because Jesus did not own it. It was just the cross he was crucified on. See examples below.) There are two ways to interpret how many women were there:

(1) There were four women:

(a) Jesus’ mother,

(b) her sister (not named here, but possibly Salome, who is named in Mark 15:40),

(c) Mary wife of Clopas,

(d) Mary Magdalene.

For example:

Jesus’ mother stood beside the cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too. (Contemporary English Version)

(Contemporary English Version)

(2) There were three women:

(a) Jesus’ mother,

(b) his mother’s sister, who was Mary the wife of Clopas,

(c) Mary Magdalene.

For example:

Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene (New Living Translation (2004))

(New Living Translation (2004), Revised Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible)

All other English translations can be understood either way. Nearly all scholars believe that interpretation (1) is correct. So it is recommended that you follow that interpretation unless you want to be ambiguous. If there are only three women, Jesus’ mother and her sister would both be named Mary, which is not likely. (It is possible, though, if sister here refers to a sister-in-law.) Because either interpretation is possible, you may want to follow the interpretation of a major language translation in your area. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

Standing near the cross was the mother of Jesus and his aunt who was the sister of his mother. Also there was Maria who was the wife of Cleopas and Maria Magdalena. (Tagbanwa Back Translation)
-or-
There close by to where Jesus was put on the cross stood his mother with his mother’s sister and with Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (Otomi Back Translation)
-or-
There were those standing near Jesus’ cross, his mother, the younger-sibling of his mother, Maria the spouse of Clopas and Maria Magdalena. (Kankanaey Back Translation)

It is quite possible that Mary’s sister was the mother of the disciple John, a son of Zebedee. (Matthew 27:56 says that the mother of the sons of Zebedee was present at the cross). Her name may have been Salome, mentioned in Mark 15:40 as being at the cross with the other women. Because John did not identify himself by name, it is natural that he did not identify his mother either.

Mary Magdalene: Mary Magdalene was a devoted follower of Jesus. He had healed her of demon-possession. See Luke 8:2. In Greek the name Mary is spelled “Maria.” See how you translated this name in 11:1. The word Magdalene indicates that this Mary was from the village of Magdala. For example:

Mary from Magdala (God’s Word)

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