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As Jesus and his disciples continued their journey to Jerusalem, they came to Jericho. A blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. He asked Jesus to make him able to see again. Luke does not mention the beggar’s name, but Mark mentions that his name was Bartimaeus. Jesus healed him and told him that the reason he could now see was because he believed in Jesus.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it. Some other possible headings for this section are:
Jesus Heals a Blind Man (NCV)
Jesus gives sight to a blind man
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 9:27–31, 20:29–34 and Mark 10:46–52.
So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
So he shouted, “Jesus, descendant of King David, be(sing) merciful to me!”
Then he called loudly to him, and said, “Jesus, I know that you(sing) are the descendant of King David! Please pity me and help me!”
So: This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Some English versions, such as the ESV, translate it that way. The BSB and some other versions (NET, NLT) translate it as So in order to show that it introduces what the blind man did in response to what the people told him. Other versions, such as the NIV and GNT, do not translate this conjunction. Connect 18:38 to 18:37 in a way that is natural in your language.
he called out: The Greek word that the BSB translates as called out means “to shout.” The context implies that he shouted like this so that Jesus would hear him. He was not shouting in an angry or impolite way.
Jesus, Son of David: The blind man used two terms of address for Jesus. He called him by his name, and he also addressed him as Son of David. In some languages it may be more natural to make the phrase Son of David a separate statement. For example:
I know that you are the Son of David.
The Notes have included the article “the” because the blind man referred to a particular descendant of David. In many languages an article is not necessary.
Son of David: The phrase Son of David refers to a descendant of King David. The Jewish people used this phrase as a title for the Messiah. It does not refer to one of David’s own children. Jesus was born hundreds of years after King David died. David was a famous ancestor from the past.
In your translation try to avoid the impression that David was the birth father of Jesus. Some languages have a special term to refer to ancestors from the distant past. Refer to David in an appropriate way in your language. One way to translate the title is:
Descendant of King David
It may be helpful to add a footnote in your translation to give the information in the first paragraph of this note.
have mercy on me: The request have mercy on me indicates that the blind man was asking Jesus to pity him and help him. He wanted Jesus to show kindness and compassion to him. He specifically wanted Jesus to heal him, but he made that request later (18:41b). Other ways to say this are:
Be merciful to me!
Show compassion to me!
Pity me!
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
καὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐβόησεν λέγων Ἰησοῦ Υἱέ Δαυίδ ἐλέησον μέ)
Luke uses And to introduce the results of what the previous sentence described. When the blind man learned that Jesus was walking by, he knew that Jesus would hear him if he called out, so as a result, he shouted to him. Alternate translation: [So]
ἐβόησεν
˱he˲_shouted
Alternate translation: [he called out] or [he shouted]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
Υἱὲ Δαυείδ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐβόησεν λέγων Ἰησοῦ Υἱέ Δαυίδ ἐλέησον μέ)
The blind man is using the word Son to mean “descendant.” Alternate translation: [Descendant of David]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
Υἱὲ Δαυείδ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐβόησεν λέγων Ἰησοῦ Υἱέ Δαυίδ ἐλέησον μέ)
David was Israel’s most important king, and God had promised him that one of his descendants would be the Messiah. So the title Son of David implicitly meant “Messiah.” Alternate translation: [Messiah]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / imperative
ἐλέησόν με
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐβόησεν λέγων Ἰησοῦ Υἱέ Δαυίδ ἐλέησον μέ)
This is an imperative, but it should be translated as a polite request rather than as a command. It may be helpful to add an expression such as “please” to make this clear. Alternate translation: [please be merciful to me]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐλέησόν με
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐβόησεν λέγων Ἰησοῦ Υἱέ Δαυίδ ἐλέησον μέ)
The blind man assumes that Jesus will know that he is asking specifically to be healed. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [please have mercy on me and heal me] or [please be merciful to me by healing me]
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.