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Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)
OET (OET-RV) Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the holy spirit.![]()
OET-LV And having_said this, he_breathed_on them and is_saying to_them:
Receive holy the_spirit.
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SR-GNT Καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν, ἐνεφύσησεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, “Λάβετε ˚Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον. ‡
(Kai touto eipōn, enefusaʸsen kai legei autois, “Labete ˚Pneuma Hagion.)
Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
ULT And having said this, he breathed on them and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
UST After he said this, Jesus blew on them and said, “Accept the Holy Spirit.
BSB [When] He had said this, He breathed on [them] and said, “Receive [the] Holy Spirit.
MSB (Same as BSB above)
BLB And having said this, He breathed on them and He says to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
AICNT And having said this, he breathed on them and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit;[fn]
20:22, Spirit: The Greek word is given the following definitions by BDAG: (1) air in movement, blowing, breathing, (2) that which animates or gives life to the body, breath , (life-)spirit, (3) a part of human personality, spirit, (4) an independent noncorporeal being, in contrast to a being that can be perceived by the physical senses, spirit, or (5) God's being as controlling influence, with focus on association with humans, Spirit, spirit ... (c) Because of its heavenly origin and nature this Spirit is called (the) Holy Spirit. (BDAG, πνεῦμα)
OEB After saying this, he breathed on them, and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit;
WEBBE When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
WMBB (Same as above)
NET And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
LSV having said this, He breathed on [them], and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit;
FBV Saying this, he breathed on them, and told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
TCNT After saying this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
T4T After saying that, he breathed on us and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit!
LEB And when he[fn] had said this, he breathed on them[fn] and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
20:22 *Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had said”) which is understood as temporal
20:22 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
BBE And when he had said this, breathing on them, he said to them, Let the Holy Spirit come on you:
Moff And with these words he breathed on them, and added, "Receive the holy Spirit!
Wymth Having said this He breathed upon them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
ASV And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:
DRA When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
YLT and this having said, he breathed on [them], and saith to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit;
Drby And having said this, he breathed into [them], and says to them, Receive [the] Holy Spirit:
RV And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
(And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith/says unto them, Receive ye/you_all the Holy Ghost: )
SLT And having said this, he inspired, and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit:
Wbstr And when he had said this, he breathed on them , and saith to them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
KJB-1769 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
(And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith/says unto them, Receive ye/you_all the Holy Ghost: )
KJB-1611 And when he had said this, hee breathed on them, and saith vnto them, Receiue ye the holy Ghost.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation and punctuation)
Bshps And when he had saide those wordes, he breathed on them, & saith vnto them: Receaue ye the holy ghost.
(And when he had said those words, he breathed on them, and saith/says unto them: Receive ye/you_all the holy ghost.)
Gnva And when he had saide that, he breathed on them, and saide vnto them, Receiue the holy Ghost.
(And when he had said that, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive the holy Ghost. )
Cvdl And whan he had sayde yt, he brethed vpo the, and sayde vnto the: Receaue the holy goost.
(And when he had said it, he brethed upon them, and said unto them: Receive the holy ghost.)
TNT And when he had sayde that he brethed on them and sayde vnto the: Receave the holy goost.
(And when he had said that he brethed on them and said unto them: Receave the holy ghost. )
Wycl Whanne he had seid this, he blewe on hem, and seide, Take ye the Hooli Goost;
(When he had said this, he blew on hem, and said, Take ye/you_all the Holy Ghost;)
Luth Und da er das sagte, blies er sie an und spricht zu ihnen: Nehmet hin den Heiligen Geist!
(And there he the said, blew he they/she/them at/to and speaks/says to/for to_them: Nehmet there/therefore the saints/holy_ones spirit!)
ClVg Hæc cum dixisset, insufflavit, et dixit eis: Accipite Spiritum Sanctum:[fn]
(This when/with would_have_said, insufflavit, and he/she_said to_them: Accipite Spirit Sanctum: )
20.22 Accipite Spiritum sanctum. AUG. In terra datur spiritus ut diligatur proximus, e cœlo datur Spiritus, ut diligatur Deus.
20.22 Accipite Spirit holy. AUG. In earth/land given spirit as diligatur neighbour/nearest, e sky given Spirit, as diligatur God.
UGNT καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν, ἐνεφύσησεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, λάβετε Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον.
(kai touto eipōn, enefusaʸsen kai legei autois, labete Pneuma Hagion.)
SBL-GNT καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐνεφύσησεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον·
(kai touto eipōn enefusaʸsen kai legei autois; Labete pneuma hagion;)
RP-GNT Καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐνεφύσησεν καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον.
(Kai touto eipōn enefusaʸsen kai legei autois, Labete pneuma hagion.)
TC-GNT Καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἐνεφύσησε καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Λάβετε Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον.
(Kai touto eipōn enefusaʸse kai legei autois, Labete Pneuma Hagion. )
Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).
20:22 Jesus commissioned the disciples and then empowered them with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not been given previously because Jesus had not yet been glorified (7:39). The glorified Jesus, resplendent in his resurrected body, poured the Spirit on his followers. This gift fulfilled many promises that the Spirit would be sent (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 13). It foreshadows the arrival of the Spirit’s empowering presence at Pentecost (Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-47).
This section tells how Jesus showed himself to ten of the disciples that evening. The disciples were in a locked room when Jesus came to them. They were very happy to see him. He told them that he sent them as the Father sent him. Then he breathed on them and invited them to receive the Holy Spirit. He also told them that if they forgave anyone’s sins, they would be forgiven.
Here are other possible section headings:
Jesus showed himself to the disciples
Jesus’ appearance to the disciples
Jesus invited the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit
When He had said this, He breathed on them
After saying that, Jesus breathed/blew on them
Then Jesus breathed/blew on them
When He had said this, He breathed on them: These clauses indicate that Jesus breathed on the disciples. The Greek verb that the BSB translates as breathed is the same verb that is used in the Greek translation of Genesis 2:7. There it says that God created man, breathed the breath of life into his nose, and the man became a living being. Here Jesus breathed on the disciples in order to give them the Holy Spirit (see 20:22b).Jesus probably gave them the Holy Spirit here to provide what they needed for the mission that he was sending them to do. A few commentaries say that this is John’s way of referring to what happened at Pentecost in Acts 2. However, many commentaries say that this is a different event. A few believe that this is only a symbol of what would happen at Pentecost. You should not indicate that this action is a symbol because the Greek text does not do that. It is good to use the same verb for breathed that you used in Genesis 2:7. Here are other ways to translate these clauses:
After he said this he breathed on them (NCV)
Then he breathed on them (GNT)
He breathed on them: Use the expression that is natural in your language for obviously blowing in someone’s direction.The Greek text does not include the words on them here, though the words “to them” in 20:22b (“and said to them”) could also connect to He breathed. All English translations that were looked at include the words “on them.” The Greek text does not say whether he breathed on them as individuals or as a group. It is good to leave this ambiguous. For example:
he blew on them
he blew on them with his breath
and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
and said, “Accept(plur) the Holy Spirit.
and said, “Take/Welcome(plur) the Holy Spirit into your lives.
Receive the Holy Spirit: Jesus was inviting the disciples to receive God’s Holy Spirit into their life. His breathing on them showed them that he was giving them the Spirit. The text does not say whether they received the Holy Spirit then or later. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Accept the Holy Spirit into your life
Welcome the Holy Spirit coming to you
Receive: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as Receive is often translated as “take.” Here it refers to receiving a person, as in 1:12. See how you translated this word there.
Note 1 topic: translate-symaction
ἐνεφύσησεν
˱he˲_breathed_on_‹them›
When Jesus breathed on them, he did this symbolic action in order to show that he would give his disciples the Holy Spirit in the near future. If this would be helpful to your readers, you could explain its significance. Alternate translation: [he breathed on them as a symbolic action] or [he breathed on them to symbolically show that he was going to give them the Holy Spirit]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐνεφύσησεν
˱he˲_breathed_on_‹them›
Here, breathed on refers to Jesus blowing air out of his mouth. It does not refer to the normal act of inhaling and exhaling air into one’s lungs. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [he blew air on them]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / pastforfuture
λέγει
˓is˒_saying
Here John uses the present tense in past narration in order to call attention to a development in the story.