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OET (OET-LV) And the scribes and the Farisaios_party began to_be_reasoning saying:
Who is this who is_speaking slander?
Who is_able to_be_forgiving sins except not/lest only the god?
OET (OET-RV) “Who’s this guy who’s insulting God?” the teachers and Pharisees started to say among themselves. “Only God is able to forgive sins.”
In this section, Luke focused on Jesus’ authority. Jesus used his authority from God to forgive the paralyzed man’s sins. The religious leaders questioned that authority. Jesus proved his authority to forgive sin when he healed the paralyzed man.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
Jesus showed that he had authority to forgive sins
Jesus forgave the sins of a paralyzed man and healed him
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 9:1–8 and Mark 2:1–12.
But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves,
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law thought/reasoned in their minds/hearts:
The experts in the law and the Pharisees thought to themselves,
the scribes: The Greek word that the BSB translates literally as the scribes is not the same word that is used in 5:17b, but it refers to the same people. The original work of these men was to write copies of the laws of Moses. In Jesus’ time, their main task was to study, interpret, and teach the laws of Moses as well as related Jewish laws and traditions.
Translate this word in the same way as you did in 5:17b. See teacher of the law in the Glossary.
Pharisees: The word Pharisees also occurs in 5:17b. Translate here as you did there.
began thinking to themselves: The Greek word that the BSB translates as thinking to themselves means “to think, reason, or discuss something thoroughly.” There are two ways to interpret the meaning of the word in this context:
It means that the religious leaders were reasoning and questioning within themselves (in their thoughts). For example:
began to think this over (NJB) (BSB, NIV, NET, NJB, GW, NCV, GNT, NCV)
It means that the religious leaders were questioning one another out loud. For example:
began to question, saying (RSV) (KJV, NASB, RSV, REB, NLT, CEV)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This is implied by 5:22a. Mark 2:6 also implies that the religious leaders did not discuss this out loud but only thought these things about Jesus.
“Who is this man who speaks blasphemy?
“Who is this man who dishonors/insults God?
“Who is this man who is speaking as if he were God? (NCV)
“This man has no authority to talk like that! He does not honor God.
Who is this man who speaks blasphemy?: This is a rhetorical question. Luke wrote the thoughts of the religious leaders using the form of a rhetorical question. They thought that when Jesus told the man that his sins were forgiven, he was blaspheming God. In their minds, they were criticizing Jesus.
Some ways to translate this criticism are:
As a rhetorical question. For example:
Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! (NLT)
Who is this man who is speaking as if he were God? (NCV)
This person is dishonoring/spoiling God’s name. Who is he?
As an exclamation. For example:
This man dishonors/insults God!
Jesus must think he is God! (CEV)
This man has no authority to act like he is God!
Translate these thoughts of criticism in a way that is natural in your language.
speaks blasphemy: The Greek words that the BSB translates as speaks blasphemy here mean to speak against God or to dishonor him in a serious way. In this context the Pharisees and the teachers of the law accused Jesus of dishonoring God. They thought that he was dishonoring God by trying to do something that only God had the authority and ability to do. Some other ways to translate this are:
speaks irreverently
dishonors/insults God
dishonors/insults God by speaking as if he were God
Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Who besides God can forgive sins?” (GW)
God is the only one who can forgive sins!” (GNT)
Who can forgive sins but God alone?: This is another rhetorical question. It expresses another part of what the religious leaders thought. The religious leaders were very angry at Jesus. They were shocked that Jesus was claiming to be God and to have God’s authority. The rhetorical question emphasized that God is the only one who has authority to forgive sins.
Some ways to translate this emphasis are:
As a rhetorical question. For example:
Who but God can forgive sins? (NLT96)
As an exclamation. For example:
No one except God can forgive sins!
Only God can forgive sins. (NCV)
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
forgive sins: See the note at 5:20b.
The reason the religious leaders criticized Jesus is stated after the criticism. You may need to reorder this in your language to state the reason first. For example:
No one except God can forgive sins! He is speaking blasphemy!
Who does he think he is? God? That’s blasphemy!
You could also combine parts of 5:21b–c to make the relationship between speaking blasphemy and forgiving sins clear. For example:
Who is this man who dishonors God by claiming to forgive sins? Only God can do that.
This man insults God by claiming to do something that only God can do. We all know that only God can forgive sins.
Note 1 topic: translate-unknown
οἱ γραμματεῖς
the scribes
Here and elsewhere in the book, the term the scribes does not refer to people who make copies of documents. Rather, it refers to people who were teachers of the Jewish law, which they had studied extensively. Alternate translation: [the teachers of the Jewish law]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
διαλογίζεσθαι
˓to_be˒_reasoning
These men were not debating or arguing out loud, since the next verse shows that this was rather something they were thinking. So this implicitly means that they were wondering. Alternate translation: [to wonder]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks
λέγοντες
saying
Luke uses the word saying to introduce his quotation of what the religious leaders were thinking. If you indicate the quotation in some other way, such as with quotation marks or with some other punctuation or convention that your language uses, you do not need to represent this word in your translation.
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὃς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας?
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἤρξαντο διαλογίζεσθαι οἱ γραμματεῖς καί οἱ Φαρισαῖοι λέγοντες Τίς ἐστίν οὗτος ὅς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας Τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας εἰ μή μόνος ὁ Θεός)
These religious leaders do not expect someone to tell them who Jesus is. Instead, they are using the question form to emphasize how inappropriate they think it is for Jesus to tell someone that he forgives their sins. As the next sentence explains, they think this means Jesus was claiming to be God, and so in their view, he would be speaking blasphemies. If it would be helpful in your language, you could translate their words as a statement or exclamation. Alternate translation: [This man is speaking blasphemies!]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ Θεός?
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἤρξαντο διαλογίζεσθαι οἱ γραμματεῖς καί οἱ Φαρισαῖοι λέγοντες Τίς ἐστίν οὗτος ὅς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας Τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας εἰ μή μόνος ὁ Θεός)
Once again the religious leaders are using a question form for emphasis, and you can translate their words as a statement or exclamation. Alternate translation: [No one can forgive sins but God alone!]
5:17-26 The healing of the paralyzed man initiated the conflicts Jesus had with religious leaders throughout his public ministry until he was crucified in Jerusalem.
OET (OET-LV) And the scribes and the Farisaios_party began to_be_reasoning saying:
Who is this who is_speaking slander?
Who is_able to_be_forgiving sins except not/lest only the god?
OET (OET-RV) “Who’s this guy who’s insulting God?” the teachers and Pharisees started to say among themselves. “Only God is able to forgive sins.”
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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