14:3a

The one who eats everything must not belittle: This is a command to The one who eats. He or she must not despise those who think they must not eat certain foods. For example:

The one who eats must not despise (New American Bible, Revised Edition)

The one who eats everything: This phrase refers to the person who believes he can eat any food (14:2a). In some languages a literal translation would not make that meaning clear. If that is true in your language, make it clear. For example:

the one who eats ⌊anything⌋

belittle: This word refers to considering someone to be worthless. Here are other ways to translate this word:

have contempt for
-or-
look down on (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
call worthless

the one who does not: The Greek is literally “the one not eating.” It refers to the person who believes it is not right for him to eat certain foods, so he does not eat them. In some languages a literal translation would not make that meaning clear. If that is true in your language, make it clear.

the one who does not eat ⌊certain foods⌋
-or-
the one who avoids ⌊some kinds of food⌋

General Comment on 14:3a

The words “eats” and “does” are in the English present tense. They indicate what is usually done by these two people. In some languages using the way to indicate habitual action would be the best translation.

14:3b

judge: Here this phrase refers to considering someone to be a bad person. It does not refer here to what a judge does in a courtroom. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

condemn (New International Version)
-or-
consider as a bad person
-or-
criticize (God’s Word)

14:3c

for: Here this word introduces the reason why believers should not despise or pass judgment on other believers. For example:

because (New Jerusalem Bible)

accepted: The Greek word refers to bringing in someone into your group of friends and accepting him or her. See how you translated this word in 14:1.

him: Here this word refers to both the believer who eats all foods and the believer who does not eat certain foods. It refers to both men and women. For example:

them (New International Version (2011))

© 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.