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OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous said, to them:
I_am_asking you_all, whether it_is_permitting on_the day_of_rest to_do_good or to_do_evil, to_save life or to_destroy?
OET (OET-RV) “I want to ask all of you,” said Yeshua, “whether or not it’s allowable to do good on the Rest Day, or only evil—to save life or to destroy it?”
In the Old Testament, God commanded the Jewish people to rest on the seventh day of each week. They called this day the “Sabbath.” The Pharisees believed that Jewish people should not do any work at all on the Sabbath day. They made many strict rules about what people were not allowed to do on the Sabbath.
In this section, the Pharisees continued their disagreement with Jesus from Luke 5:33–39. The Pharisees questioned Jesus’ authority to change the old traditions. They focused on the laws and traditions concerning the Sabbath. Jesus stated and proved that he did indeed have greater authority than the Pharisees to decide what a person could do on the Sabbath. As a result, the Pharisees perceived Jesus as a threat to their own authority.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
The Pharisees and Jesus disagreed about Sabbath-day laws
Jesus showed/taught the true meaning/use of the Sabbath day
A Discussion about the Sabbath (NLT)
There are parallel passages in Matthew 12:1–14 and Mark 2:23–3:6.
In this paragraph, Jesus demonstrated his authority over the Sabbath. He had just stated in 6:5 that he had the authority to decide what people could or could not do on the Sabbath day. When he healed the man with the shriveled hand, he confirmed that authority.
The Pharisees’ laws about the Sabbath day stated that it was work to heal a person whose life was not in danger on the Sabbath. So when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day, the Pharisees found a reason to accuse him.
Then Jesus said to them,
Then Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law,
Then Jesus turned to the Pharisees and experts in the law and said,
Then: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as Then introduces the next development in the conflict. Most English versions translate it here as “Then.” A few versions translate it as “And” (RSV). Connect verses 6:8 and 6:9 in the way that is most natural in your language.
Jesus said to them: Jesus asked the Pharisees and the teachers of the law a question. In some languages, it may be natural to translate this as:
Jesus asked them
them: The pronoun them refers to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They were the people who wanted to accuse Jesus. The pronoun does not refer to the whole crowd.
I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes a fact that everyone knew to be true: It was lawful on the Sabbath to do good, not evil. It was also lawful to save life, not to kill. Jesus emphasized this fact in order to challenge the Pharisees and teachers of the law. He challenged them to admit that healing the man on the Sabbath was lawful.
There are at least two ways to translate this rebuke:
As a rhetorical question. For example:
I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it? (NLT)
As a statement and a challenge. For example:
We know that it is lawful on the Sabbath to do good, and not to do harm. We know that it is lawful to save life, and not to kill. Do you agree with this?
I want you to consider whether our law permits us to do good or to do evil on the rest day. Tell me whether it permits us to save a person’s life or to kill him.
Use whichever form is most natural in your language to emphasize a fact that everyone knows is true and to express a challenge.
“I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath:
“I have a question for you: Is it allowed/permitted on the Sabbath day
“Here is a question for you:(plur) What does our law permit us(incl) to do on the rest day?
“Here is something to think about: On the day for resting our law permits us
I ask you: The phrase I ask you introduces a question. Some other ways to translate this are:
I have a question for you. (NLT)
Here is a question:
Consider this:
which is lawful: The Greek word that the BSB translates as lawful means “permitted in the religious law.” It is the same word that was used in 6:2b and 6:4b. You should translate it in the same way here. Some other ways to translate this word are:
Does the law permit (NLT)
Is it legal (NLT96)
what is the right thing (GW)
Sabbath: For advice on translating the word Sabbath, see the note at 6:1a.
to do good or to do evil,
to do good or to do evil?
Does it permit us(incl) to help people? Or does it permit us to harm people/them?
to do good, not evil.
to do good or to do evil: The terms good and evil are very general terms. Use general terms to describe what is morally good/right and what is morally evil/wrong. You could also use a term that means to help people and a term that means to hurt or harm people. For example:
To help or to harm? (GNT)
to help someone or to harm someone
to save life or to destroy it?”
Is it allowed/permitted to save/rescue someone from danger/death or to kill someone on the Sabbath day?”
Does it permit us on the rest day to preserve life or to take away life?”
It permits us to save life on the day for resting, not to destroy/kill a life. Do you agree with that?”
to save life: The phrase to save life in this context refers to saving someone from danger or distress. If you cannot speak generally about saving life, you could say:
to save/rescue a person
to save/rescue a person from danger/death
See save, Meaning 1a, in the Glossary.
to destroy it: The phrase to destroy it means “to destroy a life” or “to kill.” If you have an expression similar to “save a life,” use an expression here that contrasts with it, even if your expression does not use the word “destroy.” If you must speak about saving a person, then you could simply say “to kill” or “to kill a person” here.
In some languages, it may be clearer to express 6:9b–d as four separate questions or statements. For example:
Does our Law allow us to do good on the Sabbath? Or does it allow us to do evil? Does it allow us to save someone’s life? Or does it allow us to kill someone?
In other languages, it may be more natural to express 6:9b–d as two questions. One question could refer to the actions of doing good and saving life. The other question could refer to the actions of doing evil and killing. For example:
Is it lawful to do good and to save a life? Or it is lawful to do evil and to kill someone?
Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns
πρὸς αὐτούς
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρός αὐτούς Ἐπερωτῶ ὑμᾶς εἰ ἔξεστιν τῷ Σαββάτῳ ἀγαθοποιῆσαι ἤ κακοποιῆσαι ψυχήν σῶσαι ἤ ἀπολέσαι)
The pronoun them refers to the scribes and Pharisees. Alternate translation: [to the scribes and Pharisees]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
ἐπερωτῶ ὑμᾶς, εἰ ἔξεστιν τῷ Σαββάτῳ ἀγαθοποιῆσαι ἢ κακοποιῆσαι, ψυχὴν σῶσαι ἢ ἀπολέσαι?
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρός αὐτούς Ἐπερωτῶ ὑμᾶς εἰ ἔξεστιν τῷ Σαββάτῳ ἀγαθοποιῆσαι ἤ κακοποιῆσαι ψυχήν σῶσαι ἤ ἀπολέσαι)
Jesus asks this question to get the Pharisees to admit that it is legitimate to heal on the Sabbath. The intent of the question is therefore rhetorical. Jesus is not trying to obtain information; he wants someone to admit that something is true. However, Jesus says, “I ask you,” so this question is not like other rhetorical questions that might appropriately be translated as statements. This one should be translated as a question.
ἀγαθοποιῆσαι ἢ κακοποιῆσαι
˓to˒_do_good (Some words not found in SR-GNT: εἶπεν Δέ ὁ Ἰησοῦς πρός αὐτούς Ἐπερωτῶ ὑμᾶς εἰ ἔξεστιν τῷ Σαββάτῳ ἀγαθοποιῆσαι ἤ κακοποιῆσαι ψυχήν σῶσαι ἤ ἀπολέσαι)
Alternate translation: [to help someone or to harm someone]
6:9 Is this a day to save life or to destroy it? Jesus’ question penetrated the religious leaders’ motives. They were plotting against Jesus (an evil act) because he was going to heal someone (a good act).
OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous said, to them:
I_am_asking you_all, whether it_is_permitting on_the day_of_rest to_do_good or to_do_evil, to_save life or to_destroy?
OET (OET-RV) “I want to ask all of you,” said Yeshua, “whether or not it’s allowable to do good on the Rest Day, or only evil—to save life or to destroy it?”
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.