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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Yhn C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21
Yhn 19 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V41
OET (OET-LV) And Nikodaʸmos also came, the one having_come to him at_the first by_night, bringing a_wrapping of_myrrh and aloe, about a_hundred pounds.
OET (OET-RV) Nicodemus (the one who had first visited Yeshua at night) also came, bringing around 30kg of burial spices.
This section describes how Jesus was buried. Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could remove Jesus’ body from the cross. Pilate agreed, so he did that. Nicodemus went with Joseph and took spices to put inside the cloths with which they would wrap Jesus’ body. Then they buried him in a new tomb in a nearby garden.
Here are other possible titles for this section:
Men placed Jesus’ body in a new tomb
Jesus was buried
The burial of Jesus
Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night,
Nicodemus, the man who first visited Jesus by night, came also.
Nicodemus, the Jewish leader who originally went by night to talk to Jesus, went too.
Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought: This clause indicates that Nicodemus came to the cross and helped Joseph take Jesus’ body down and away for burying.
who had previously come to Jesus at night: This clause re-introduces Nicodemus by referring to John 3:1–21. In that earlier passage Nicodemus came to Jesus after dark to ask him questions. Refer back to that incident in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
the man who had come to Jesus at night (NLT)
This was the same Nicodemus who had visited Jesus one night. (CEV)
This was the man who had earlier come to Jesus in the night.
also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
He brought about thirty kilograms of spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes.
He carried about seventy-five pounds of good-smelling powders, myrrh and aloes mixed together, to put on Jesus’ body for a proper burial.
also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes: Nicodemus brought with him good-smelling powders or spices. (Servants may have carried the spices rather than Nicodemus.) It was the Jewish custom to put these on a dead body and the cloths that they wrapped the body in. It may be natural to translate this as a separate sentence with an independent verb. For example:
He brought about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloe. (NCV)
myrrh and aloes: Both myrrh and aloes have a good strong smell that helps hide bad smells like the smell of dead bodies. For translation advice, see the General Comment at the end of the notes on 19:39b.
myrrh: The word myrrh refers to a good-smelling resin (a sticky substance) from a bush. It was made into a powder and used to make dead bodies smell better. It is also mentioned in Matthew 2:11.
aloes: The word aloes probably refers to the powder made from the wood of a sandalwood tree. See Proverbs 7:17; Psalm 45:8.
about seventy-five pounds: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates about seventy-five pounds is more literally “about 100 litpas.” The litpa is the Roman weight measure. It was the same as about 325 grams or less than a pound, about 11 ½ ounces. The BSB refers to a Roman pound, which is about ¾ of the pound that people use now. Translate this in the way that is most natural in your language. For example:
over thirty kilograms in weight
weighing about seventy-five pounds (NET)
In some cultures myrrh and aloes are not known. If that is true in your culture, you may need to translate this phrase in one of the following ways:
Indicate that there was a mixture of spices without including the names of the spices. You may want to put the names of the spices in a footnote. For example:
Nicodemus brought a large quantity of sweet-smelling powders/spices to put on the body for burial. Footnote: One of the powders/spices was called myrrh and the other was called aloes.
Include the names of the spices in the text. You may want to tell more about these spices in a footnote. For example:
Nicodemus brought about thirty (30) kilograms of good smelling powders/spices called myrrh and aloe. Footnote: People made myrrh from the sticky resin of a small bush. Aloes was a powder that people made from the wood of the sandalwood tree.
Note 1 topic: translate-names
Νικόδημος
Nicodemus
Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees who respected Jesus. See how you translated this name in [3:1](../03/01.md).
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ὁ ἐλθὼν πρὸς αὐτὸν νυκτὸς τὸ πρῶτον
the_‹one› (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἦλθεν Δέ καί Νικόδημος ὁ ἐλθών πρός αὐτόν νυκτός τό πρῶτον φέρων ἕλιγμα σμύρνης καί ἀλόης ὡσεί λίτρας ἑκατόν)
This clause refers to the meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus that is described in [chapter 3](../03/01.md). If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [who had met Jesus before when he visited him at night]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
φέρων μίγμα σμύρνης καὶ ἀλόης
bringing (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἦλθεν Δέ καί Νικόδημος ὁ ἐλθών πρός αὐτόν νυκτός τό πρῶτον φέρων ἕλιγμα σμύρνης καί ἀλόης ὡσεί λίτρας ἑκατόν)
According to the burial customs of Jesus’ time, people prepared this mixture in order to put it on Jesus’ body as a way to honor him and to counteract the smell of decay. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes to put on Jesus’ body]
Note 4 topic: translate-unknown
σμύρνης καὶ ἀλόης
˱of˲_myrrh (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἦλθεν Δέ καί Νικόδημος ὁ ἐλθών πρός αὐτόν νυκτός τό πρῶτον φέρων ἕλιγμα σμύρνης καί ἀλόης ὡσεί λίτρας ἑκατόν)
This mixture of myrrh and aloes consisted of pleasant-smelling substances that were mixed together into an ointment that was put on a dead body in order to counteract the smell of decay. If your readers would not be familiar with these substances, you could use a general expression. Alternate translation: [of pleasant-smelling substances]
Note 5 topic: translate-bweight
ὡς λίτρας ἑκατόν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἦλθεν Δέ καί Νικόδημος ὁ ἐλθών πρός αὐτόν νυκτός τό πρῶτον φέρων ἕλιγμα σμύρνης καί ἀλόης ὡσεί λίτρας ἑκατόν)
If it would be helpful to your readers, you could express this weight in terms of modern measurements either in the text or a footnote. One litra is about one third of a kilogram or three quarters of a pound. Alternate translation: [about 33 kilograms in weight] or [weighing about thirty-three kilograms]
19:39 Nicodemus (see 3:1; 7:50), a member of the high council, understood that these bodies had to be buried before the upcoming Sabbath (19:31, 42). His public support, as with Joseph of Arimathea, might indicate that he, too, was becoming a disciple (see study note on 7:49-51).
• Myrrh was a commonly used aromatic powder.
• The aloes were fragrant powdered sandalwood often used as perfume.
• seventy-five pounds: This enormous amount of spices was appropriate for royalty; Jesus, the king, was given a royal burial.
OET (OET-LV) And Nikodaʸmos also came, the one having_come to him at_the first by_night, bringing a_wrapping of_myrrh and aloe, about a_hundred pounds.
OET (OET-RV) Nicodemus (the one who had first visited Yeshua at night) also came, bringing around 30kg of burial spices.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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