OET interlinear MAT 16:24

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-condition-hypothetical

εἴ τις θέλει

if anyone /is/_wanting

Here Jesus uses the conditional form to refer to anyone who wants to come after him. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use whatever form naturally introduces anyone who wants to follow Jesus. Alternate translation: “Anyone who wants” or “When someone wants”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν

after me /to/_come

Here, the phrase come after me refers to traveling with Jesus and being his disciples. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “to be my disciples” or “to travel with me as my students”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / imperative3p

ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν, καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι

˱him˲_/let/_renounce himself and ˱him˲_/let/_take_up the cross ˱of˲_him and ˱him˲_/let_be/_following ˱after˲_me

If your language does not use the third-person imperative in this way, you could state this in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: “he should deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations

ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν & αὐτοῦ

˱him˲_/let/_renounce himself & ˱of˲_him

Although the terms him, himself, and his are masculine, Jesus is using the words in a generic sense that includes both men and women. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use phrases that make this clear. Alternate translation: “let that person deny himself or herself … his or her”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν

˱him˲_/let/_renounce himself

Here, the phrase deny himself refers to a person choosing not to do what they would naturally do. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “let him exercise self-control” or “choose not to do what he naturally desires”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ

˱him˲_/let/_take_up the cross ˱of˲_him

Jesus assumes that the disciples will know that the Romans executed some criminals by nailing them to a wooden beam with crossbar that was set upright so that the criminals would slowly suffocate. Jesus also assumes that the disciples will know that the Romans made these criminals carry these wooden crosses through the streets to the place where they were going to be executed. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make some of this information more explicit. Alternate translation: “take up the wooden cross on which he will be executed”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ

˱him˲_/let/_take_up the cross ˱of˲_him

Here Jesus speaks of taking up a cross in order to describe people who are ready and willing to suffer and even die because they follow Jesus. Because this figure of speech is connected to how Jesus himself died on a cross, if possible you should preserve the metaphor or express the idea in simile form. See how you translated the similar expression in 10:38. Alternate translation: “be ready to suffer, which is like taking up his cross,” or “take up his cross, ready to suffer or die,”