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OET (OET-LV) It_will_ not _be thus among you_all, but whoever if among you_all may_be_wanting to_become great, he_will_be servant of_you_all,
OET (OET-RV) But among all of you, it shouldn’t be like that. Instead anyone who wants to become great should be your servant,
In this section, Jesus again dealt with the issue of who is important. In 18:1–4, the disciples had asked Jesus “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus had answered them there. Here, the mother of James and John asked Jesus to give her two sons the most important positions in his kingdom. Jesus again responded to the disciples’ concern to become important people.
Jesus said that the most important person in his kingdom is the person who behaves like a servant rather than like someone in charge. He finished by saying that he himself came to help other people rather than to ask other to help him. He showed that the values in his kingdom are different than the values here on earth.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Request of the Mother of James and John (NRSV)
The mother of James and John asks Jesus to make her sons the most people in his kingdom
Jesus Teaches about Serving Others (NLT)
There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 10:35–45.
It shall not be this way among you.
But that is not the way it should be among you(plur).
But you(plur) must not be/act like that.
There is a contrast here. The contrast is between how the kings of the earth act (20:25b–c) and how the followers of Christ should act (20:26b–27). Some English versions indicate this contrast with the conjunction “But.” For example:
But it should not be that way among you. (NCV)
It shall not be this way among you: The pronoun It refers to the way leaders use their power and authority. The Greek word that the BSB translates this way means “like that.”
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Do not behave/act like that
You must not do/be like that
You must act differently
shall not be this way: The tense of the Greek verb that the BSB translates as shall not be is future. In this context, the future tense has the force of a command.
Here are some other ways to translate this verb:
must not be (NET)
should not be (NCV)
do not (CEV)
among you: The pronoun you refers to the disciples. Jesus spoke with the disciples as people who would become leaders of the church.
As in 20:25b–c, verses 20:26b–c and 20:27 are a parallelism. This means that they are two ways of saying the same thing. (However, the statement in 20:27 is more intense.) Notice the parallel parts in these two statements:
26b whoever wants to be great among you 26cmust be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.
Jesus repeated this idea in order to emphasize it. You should show this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language. Some languages can repeat the idea. In other languages, it may be more natural to combine the two parts and translate them together. For example:
The person among you who wants to be an important person or the most important person, he must become like a slave and serve everyone.
Notice that this idea contrasts with the one in 20:25b–c.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you
Rather, if any of you(plur) wants to become an important/big person in God’s kingdom,
Instead: There is a contrast here. The contrast is between a negative clause (in 20:26a) and a positive clause here in 20:26b. The negative clause is “It shall not be this way among you.” The positive clause is “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” Languages have different ways to indicate this negative-positive type of contrast. Here are some of the ways:
With the conjunction Instead, as in the BSB.
With a conjunction other than Instead. This is a common way in English to show this type of contrast. For example:
Rather
on the contrary
But (ESV)
With no conjunction. For example:
it should not be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant. (NCV)
You should do what is natural in your language.
whoever wants to become great: The Greek verb phrase that the BSB translates as wants to become is more literally “might want to become.” The word great refers to having high status/rank in God’s kingdom.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
whoever would be great (ESV)
Whoever wants to be a leader (NLT)
If you desire/wish to be a big/important person in God’s kingdom
among you: The pronoun you refers primarily to the twelve disciples Jesus addressed. But it also applies to the whole community of believers.
must be your servant,
must become the servant of the rest of you.
he must serve the rest/others of you.
must be your servant: In Greek, the tense of must be is future. But it functions as a command. Here the command is a bit unusual in that it is a third person command.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
he must become the servant of the rest of you
it is necessary that he become your servant
your servant: The Greek word that the BSB translates as servant refers to someone who was responsible for household duties. It was a very low-status role. It is a different Greek word than the normal word for servant/slave (in 20:27).
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
servant of all the others (CEV)
servant of his companions
serve the rest/others of you
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / declarative
ἔσται
˱it˲_will_be
Jesus is using the future form to give a command. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea using a form that expresses a command or obligation. Alternate translation: [should be] or [has to be]
OET (OET-LV) It_will_ not _be thus among you_all, but whoever if among you_all may_be_wanting to_become great, he_will_be servant of_you_all,
OET (OET-RV) But among all of you, it shouldn’t be like that. Instead anyone who wants to become great should be your servant,
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.