OET interlinear MAT 20:17

20:17a

As: This is the beginning of a new section. In Greek, this section begins with a conjunction. Here, this conjunction probably simply indicates that the story continues, which the BSB translates as As. There is no obvious connection between this section and what comes before it. Perhaps for that reason, many English versions do not translate this conjunction.

You should use a natural way in your language to begin this new section. For example:

When

While

Jesus was going up to Jerusalem: When the writers of the Bible said that people were going to Jerusalem, they usually said that they were going up to Jerusalem. This is because the city of Jerusalem was higher than most parts of the land of Israel. It was located in the mountains at an altitude of about 800 meters above sea level.

In some languages, it is natural to speak of going up or down when traveling on a road. In other languages, this may not be natural, or it may not be understood. If that is true in your language, you may use a more general expression. For example:

as Jesus was going to Jerusalem

The disciples were with Jesus on this journey, as 20:17b indicates. In some languages, it may be natural to make this explicit. For example:

as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem with his disciples

as Jesus and his twelve disciples were going up to Jerusalem

20:17b

He took the twelve disciples aside: There is a textual issue in this verse. The word disciples does not occur in all manuscripts.

Many Greek manuscripts, including early important ones, include the word disciples. Most English versions, including the BSB, follow these manuscripts.

(BSB, ESV, NIV84, NASB, RSV, KJV, NLT, GNT, CEV, JBP)

Some early Greek manuscripts do not include the word. A few English versions follow these manuscripts. For example:

he took the Twelve aside (NET) (NIV2011, NET, NJB, REB)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with most English versions. Even if the word disciples were not part of the Greek text, it would be natural to add it in some languages to make the meaning clear.

He took…aside: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as took…aside means that Jesus went with his disciples apart from the larger group of people. He did this to speak to them in private. They were probably with a much larger group of pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. But Jesus wanted to speak to his disciples alone.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

he called/asked the twelve disciples to gather by themselves

he asked his twelve disciples to separate themselves

and said: There are two ways to interpret the Greek phrase that the BSB leaves untranslated after and said:

It should be translated as a separate phrase. For example:

he took the twelve aside privately and said to them on the way (NET) (ESV, NET, NASB, RSV, REB, GNT, JBP)

The idea is included in the verb “going up” (in 20:17a). It is not translated separately. For example:

he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them (NIV) (BSB, NIV, NJB, KJV, NLT, CEV, NCV, GW)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Jesus probably spoke to the disciples as they walked along the road. They did not stop for a meeting.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

along the way

while they were walking