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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 (JHN) 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
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 7 V1 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49
OET (OET-LV) And having_heard about the Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa), he_sent_out elders of_the Youdaiōns to him, asking him so_that having_come he_may_cure the slave of_him.
OET (OET-RV) He had heard about Yeshua, so he asked the local Jewish elders to talk to Yeshua on his behalf and to ask him to come to heal his slave.
This section tells how an army officer trusted Jesus to heal his servant. The officer was not a Jew; he was a Gentile, a Roman. He sent some Jewish leaders as messengers to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. Later he sent some friends to say that it was not necessary for Jesus to come to his house. He believed that Jesus could heal his servant from a distance.
The Roman compared Jesus’ authority to his own authority as an army officer. As an officer, he could cause other soldiers to obey him by simply commanding them to do something. He recognized that Jesus also had authority and power to heal by only giving a command. Jesus was amazed that this Gentile trusted him so much. He said that the officer had more faith than any Jew whom he had met.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it. Some other possible headings for this section are:
A Roman army officer shows great faith in Jesus
Jesus is amazed by the faith of a captain in the Roman army
The amazing faith of the centurion
There is a parallel passage for this section in Matthew 8:5–13.
When the centurion heard about Jesus,
When the officer heard about Jesus,
Someone/People told the captain that Jesus could heal people.
When the centurion heard about Jesus: This clause implies that the centurion (officer) heard what people were saying about Jesus. Someone may have told him specifically that Jesus had healed many people. In some languages it may be natural to translate this as:
Someone/People told the centurion about Jesus.
In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit what he heard. For example:
The centurion heard that Jesus had healed people
he sent some Jewish elders
he sent some Jewish elders/leaders to him
So he sent some of the leading men of the Jews
he sent some Jewish elders to ask Him: The Roman army officer was not a Jew himself, but he knew that Jesus was a Jew. He thought that he should ask some of the leaders of the Jews to go to Jesus for him. The context (7:6e) shows that the Roman officer did not feel worthy to come to Jesus himself. He thought that Jesus would be more likely to heal his servant if the Jews pleaded on his behalf.
sent…to ask Him: The words sent…to ask Him indicate here that the officer politely asked the Jewish elders to go to Jesus and ask him a question. He did not command them to go. Another way to say this is:
He asked some Jewish elders to go to Jesus.
In some languages it may be natural to use direct speech here. For example:
He said to some Jewish elders, “Please would you go to Jesus for me…”
Jewish elders: The Greek word that the BSB translates as elders means “old men.” This word often refers to men who were respected leaders in the community. They were not necessarily religious leaders. In some cultures a term that means “old men” may not imply that the men were leaders. If that is true in your language, you may need to use a different term. Some other ways to translate this word are:
leaders
important men
leading men among the people
Jewish: The word Jewish refers to people who follow the religion of the Jews. Most Jews are descendants of the man named Israel. The word “Jew” comes from the name of Israel’s son Judah, who was the great-grandson of Abraham. If you do not already have a word in your language for Jewish, you could write this name based on the Hebrew name “Yehuda” (Judah). Use the form or phrase that your language naturally uses for names of tribes called after a common ancestor. For example, in Arabic the word Jewish is written as “Yahudi.”
to ask Him to come and heal his servant.
in order to ask him to come and heal his slave.
to say to Jesus, “Please come and heal my servant.”
to ask him/Jesus to come and save his servant from death.
to ask Him to come and heal his servant: The phrase to ask Him to come and heal his servant tells the message that the centurion was giving Jesus. He requested that Jesus would come and heal his servant. In some languages it may be natural to use direct speech either for the centurion’s words or for the message that the elders were to give to Jesus. For example:
He told them, “Beg Jesus to come and heal my slave.”
He told them to say to Jesus, “Please come and heal my slave.”
ἐρωτῶν αὐτὸν ὅπως ἐλθὼν διασώσῃ
asking (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἀκούσας Δέ περί τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀπέστειλεν πρός αὐτόν πρεσβυτέρους τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐρωτῶν αὐτόν ὅπως ἐλθών διασώσῃ τόν δοῦλον αὐτοῦ)
In this context, the word save has a specific meaning. Alternate translation: [asking him to come and heal]
7:3 Jewish elders were leaders in the Jewish community. With his tendency to abbreviate accounts, Matthew has the centurion approaching Jesus (Matt 8:5-13). Luke tells the full story in which Jewish elders, and later the centurion’s friends, act as intermediaries.
OET (OET-LV) And having_heard about the Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa), he_sent_out elders of_the Youdaiōns to him, asking him so_that having_come he_may_cure the slave of_him.
OET (OET-RV) He had heard about Yeshua, so he asked the local Jewish elders to talk to Yeshua on his behalf and to ask him to come to heal his slave.
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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