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OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) having_called_to the apprentices/followers of_him said:
I_am_feeling_compassion for the crowd, because already they_are_remaining with_me three days, and they_are_ not _having anything they_may_eat, and I_am_ not _willing to_send_ them _away hungry, lest they_may_be_exhausted on the way.
OET (OET-RV) Then Yeshua called his apprentices and told them, “I feel sorry for this crowd because they’ve been out here with me for three days and haven’t had anything to eat, but I’m not happy to just send them away hungry in case they collapse on the way home.”
In this section, Jesus miraculously provided food for over four thousand people. He did something similar in 14:13–21. In both of these stories Jesus began with only a small amount of food, but he caused it to miraculously multiply so there was enough for all of them to eat. Matthew told us the number of the men only, even though many women and children were also there and ate.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Feeding the Four Thousand (NRSV)
Four Thousand Fed (NASB)
There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 8:1–10.
Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said,
¶ Then Jesus called his disciples together. He said,
¶ Then Jesus called his disciples to come to him. When they gathered, he said,
Then: The events in this paragraph occurred soon after the events in 15:29–31. Here is another way to indicate this:
After that
Jesus called His disciples to Him and said: The Greek word that the BSB translates as called means “summoned.” It is implied that Jesus called/summoned his disciples to talk to them. It is also implied that after Jesus called his disciples, they came. Then he spoke the words of 15:32b.
This clause does not imply that Jesus called his disciples to him from a distant place. They disciples were already with Jesus. They traveled with Jesus wherever he went.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Jesus called his disciples to come together. When they gathered, he said
Jesus called to his disciples, and they gathered to him. Then he said
“I have compassion for this crowd,
“I pity this group of people,
“I feel sorry for these people.
I have compassion for this crowd: The Greek word that the BSB translates as have compassion means “feel sympathy or pity for the troubles that others have.” A person with compassion wants to help other people. Jesus understood that the people would have difficulty returning home because of their hunger. So he pitied them and wanted to help them.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
I pity the crowd of people
I feel sorry for these people (GNT)
You may have an idiomatic way to translate this term. The JBP has one example in English:
My heart goes out to this crowd (JBP)
this crowd: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as the crowd refers to the large crowds that were mentioned in 15:30a.
because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat.
because they have been here with me for three days and have no food.
This is now the third day that they are here with me, and they have nothing to eat.
because: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as because introduces the reason for Jesus having compassion (15:32b). In some languages, it may be more natural to put 15:32c before 15:32b. For example:
32cThe crowd has been with me now three days. They have had nothing to eat. 32bThat is why I have compassion on them.
they have already been with Me three days: The counting of the days included the day on which Jesus spoke. So he was referring to the day he spoke, the day before, and the day before that.
Here is another way to translate this clause:
this is the third day that they have been with me
have nothing to eat: The Greek does not say how long the people were without food. It was perhaps only the last day. Or perhaps they did not have anything to eat since they came to Jesus. Many English translations are also vague about this. It is recommended that you follow the BSB and other translations and translate in a general way. For example:
don’t have anything to eat (CEV)
they have nothing left to eat (NLT)
I do not want to send them away hungry,
I do not want to dismiss them when they are hungry,
I do not want to tell them to go home while they are hungry.
I do not want to send them away hungry: In this context, the Greek word that the BSB translates as send…away refers to telling the crowd go home. It does not mean “chase away.”
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
I do not want to send them away hungry (NIV)
I do not want to dismiss them while they are hungry.
or they may faint along the way.”
so that they might not collapse on the way home.”
If I do, they may lose consciousness from hunger while walking/going home.”
or: The Greek word that the BSB translates as or means “otherwise,” “so that not,” or “in order that not.” This gives the purpose for not wanting to send the crowd away hungry. Jesus did not want them to go away if they would faint because of their hunger.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
so that not
if I do send them away like that
they may faint: The Greek word that the BSB translates as faint means “become exhausted” or “collapse.” It refers to being unable to complete the journey because of hunger.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
they may collapse (NIV)
they may become exhausted (GW)
they may lose consciousness
along the way: The phrase on the way refers to the journey that the people would make in order to go home.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
while they are on their way home
while they are walking/going home
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-words-phrases
δὲ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ Ἰησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος τούς μαθητάς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν Σπλαγχνίζομαι ἐπί τόν ὄχλον ὅτι ἤδη ἡμέραι τρεῖς προσμένουσιν μοί καί οὐκ ἔχουσιν τὶ φάγωσιν καί ἀπολῦσαι αὐτούς νήστεις οὒ θέλω μήποτε ἐκλυθῶσιν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ)
Here, the word But introduces the next thing that happened. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces the next event, or you could leave But untranslated. Alternate translation: [Then]
Note 2 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
σπλαγχνίζομαι ἐπὶ τὸν ὄχλον, ὅτι ἤδη ἡμέραι τρεῖς προσμένουσίν μοι, καὶ οὐκ ἔχουσιν τι φάγωσιν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ Ἰησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος τούς μαθητάς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν Σπλαγχνίζομαι ἐπί τόν ὄχλον ὅτι ἤδη ἡμέραι τρεῖς προσμένουσιν μοί καί οὐκ ἔχουσιν τὶ φάγωσιν καί ἀπολῦσαι αὐτούς νήστεις οὒ θέλω μήποτε ἐκλυθῶσιν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ)
If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these clauses since the second clause gives the reason for the result that the first clause describes. Alternate translation: [The crowd is remaining with me already three days and does not have anything to eat, so I have compassion on them]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
σπλαγχνίζομαι ἐπὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ Ἰησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος τούς μαθητάς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν Σπλαγχνίζομαι ἐπί τόν ὄχλον ὅτι ἤδη ἡμέραι τρεῖς προσμένουσιν μοί καί οὐκ ἔχουσιν τὶ φάγωσιν καί ἀπολῦσαι αὐτούς νήστεις οὒ θέλω μήποτε ἐκλυθῶσιν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of compassion, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [I sympathize with]
ἐκλυθῶσιν
˱they˲_˓may_be˒_exhausted
Alternate translation: [they might become weary] or [they might lose their strength]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ
on the way
Here Jesus implies that the people would be walking on the way to their homes. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [on the way to their homes] or [while they going home]
OET (OET-LV) And the Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa) having_called_to the apprentices/followers of_him said:
I_am_feeling_compassion for the crowd, because already they_are_remaining with_me three days, and they_are_ not _having anything they_may_eat, and I_am_ not _willing to_send_ them _away hungry, lest they_may_be_exhausted on the way.
OET (OET-RV) Then Yeshua called his apprentices and told them, “I feel sorry for this crowd because they’ve been out here with me for three days and haven’t had anything to eat, but I’m not happy to just send them away hungry in case they collapse on the way home.”
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.