10:29

Some English versions begin a new paragraph here. You will need to decide whether it is more natural in your language to begin the paragraph here or at 10:30.

10:29a

But wanting to justify himself: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as justify himself here means “vindicate himself,” “make himself appear to be in the right,” or “make himself appear wise.”

The Greek text does not say in what sense the legal expert wished to make himself appear to be in the right. Scholars suggest two possibilities:

(1) He wanted to justify his earlier question. In other words, he wanted to show that his first question was not as easy as it appeared to be. For example:

wanting to show the importance of his question (New Century Version)

(New Century Version, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, Revised English Bible)

(2) He wanted to justify his own behavior. He was looking for an excuse for not having loved people as he should have. For example:

wanted to justify his actions (New Living Translation (2004))

(New Living Translation (2004))

Many English versions do not explicitly say in what sense the legal expert wanted to justify himself (Berean Standard Bible, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible). If possible, you should follow these examples and not be explicit. However, if it is necessary to be explicit, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

10:29b

he asked Jesus: The legal expert asked a further question because he wanted to “justify himself.” Some versions (Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation, God’s Word, New International Version, New Living Translation (2004)) include the word “so” to indicate that 10:29a is the reason for 10:29b. For example:

he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus (New International Version)

Other ways to express this connection are:

the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus (NET Bible)
-or-
because/since the man wanted to justify himself, he asked Jesus

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And here introduces another question. In some languages it may not be necessary to translate this conjunction explicitly.

It is also implied from the context that the law expert agreed with Jesus’ previous statement in 10:28b. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

⌊Yes, but⌋ who is my neighbor?

who is my neighbor?: In this context the question that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as who is my neighbor implies: “What does the Law mean by ‘neighbor’?” The law expert was asking Jesus to clarify or define the meaning of the word neighbor.

In some languages a literal translation of “my neighbor” may not make sense in this context. If that is true in your language, you may need to make the meaning more explicit. For example:

But who is my companion/fellow ⌊whom I must love⌋?
-or-
Who ⌊does the law mean when it says⌋ “my neighbor”?

Be sure to translate the word neighbor in the same way as you did in 10:27c.

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