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OET (OET-LV) But they were_being_ exceedingly _astonished, saying to him:
And who is_able to_be_saved?
A young man asked Jesus how he could obtain eternal life. Jesus gave an answer that was well known to Jews. He told the man to obey God’s commands. The man said that he had been obeying God’s commands since he was a child.
Jesus then told the young man that he still needed to do one thing (10:21). He needed to give away his riches and follow Jesus. But the young man did not follow Jesus’ advice. The man was rich (10:22). He valued his riches too highly to give them up to follow Jesus.
Jesus used the young man as an example to explain that it is hard for rich people to devote themselves to God and his kingdom (10:23–25). He said that unless God makes it possible, neither a rich person nor anyone else is able to enter heaven (10:27).
Jesus promised that those who had left their possessions and family behind to serve him would receive great rewards (10:29–31).
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus taught that riches make it difficult to obtain eternal life
A Rich Young Man’s Question (NCV)
The rich young man (NJB)
Riches hinder rather than help in seeking to enter the kingdom of God
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 19:16–30 and Luke 18:18–30.
The events in 10:23–31 probably happened immediately after the events in 10:17–22. In some languages, it is natural to begin this part of the story with a time word or phrase. For example, the NET has “Then.”
In other languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this part of the story in a natural way in your language.
They were even more astonished
Then the disciples were even more surprised than before,
When his followers heard this, they were even more astonished.
They were even more astonished: The phrase even more astonished means “even more surprised than they had been before.” This refers back to the fact that the disciples were amazed in 10:24a.
The clause They were even more astonished expresses the result of what Jesus said in the previous sentence. In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit the reason for this result. For example:
When they heard this, the disciples were more astonished than ever.
and said to one another, “Who then can be saved?”
and said to one another, “In that case, who can possibly be saved?”
They said to each other, “If it is like that, then we(excl) do not know how God will rescue any people from their sins so that they can enter his kingdom!”
said to one another: There is a textual issue here:
Some Greek manuscripts have to one another. The disciples spoke aloud to each other. For example, the NIV says:
said to each other (BSB, NIV, GNT, NJB, NRSV, GW, CEV, JBP, NET, REB, NCV, KJV)
Other Greek manuscripts have to him. The disciples spoke to Jesus. For example, the RSV says:
said to him (RSV, NASB, ESV)
It is recommended that you follow option (1). But if the major language version follows option (2), you may want to follow that.
Who then can be saved?: This is probably a rhetorical question. It is an emphatic way of saying “If that is true, we do not understand how anyone can be saved!” It expresses the disciples’ surprise at what Jesus said in 10:25. It does not express a strong belief that God will not save anyone.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
As a rhetorical question. For example:
How can anyone ever be saved? (CEV)
Can it be that anyone will be saved?
As a statement. For example:
Then we do not know how anyone can possibly be saved!
then: In this context, the Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as then means “in that case” or “if that is so/true.”
be saved: The verb be saved is passive. If it is more natural in your language to use an active verb and supply a subject, you may say:
Who then will God save?
The Greek verb that the BSB translates as be saved means “to be rescued or preserved from harm.” In this context it refers to being allowed to enter the kingdom of God (10:23–25).
In some languages, it may be necessary to make explicit what the person was saved from. For example:
saved from being shut out of God’s kingdom
rescued from judgment and allowed to enter God’s kingdom
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
οἱ & περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο, λέγοντες
they & exceedingly ˓were_being˒_astonished saying
If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who did the action, it is clear from the context that it was what Jesus said. Alternate translation: [what the disciples heard astonished them greatly, and they said]
Note 2 topic: translate-textvariants
πρὸς αὐτόν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες πρός αὐτόν Καί τίς δύναται σωθῆναι)
Some ancient manuscripts read to him. The ULT follows that reading. Other ancient manuscripts read “to themselves.” If a translation of the Bible exists in your region, you may wish to use the reading that it uses. If a translation of the Bible does not exist in your region, you may wish to use the reading of the ULT.
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion
καὶ τίς δύναται σωθῆναι?
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες πρός αὐτόν Καί τίς δύναται σωθῆναι)
The disciples are using the question form to express their astonishment. If you would not use the question form for this purpose in your language, you could translate this as a statement or an exclamation. Alternate translation: [So it seems that no one is able to be saved.] or [So no one is able to be saved!]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
τίς δύναται σωθῆναι
who ˓is˒_able ˓to_be˒_saved
If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who would do the action, it is clear from the context that it would be God. Alternate translation: [who can receive salvation] or [whom will God save]
10:26 The disciples were astounded: It was generally believed that wealth was a sign of God’s blessing that enabled the rich to do good deeds. Accordingly, it was assumed that the rich had an inside track on entering the Kingdom of God. The disciples’ question was natural, given this understanding. God’s assessment was the opposite of their conventional wisdom.
OET (OET-LV) But they were_being_ exceedingly _astonished, saying to him:
And who is_able to_be_saved?
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.