Section 10:13–16

Jesus blessed little children

Some people brought their children for Jesus to bless them. The disciples probably thought that Jesus was too important to bless children. So they prevented the people from bringing the children. But Jesus wanted to bless them. He allowed the children to come to him.

Jesus used the things that happened with these children to teach that God accepts people who are humble. The people whom God rules should be like little children: they should humbly accept God’s rule in their lives.

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 and Little Children (NET Bible)
-or-
Some little children were brought to Jesus

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 19:13–15 and Luke 18:15–17.

Paragraph 10:13–16

10:13a–b

Now: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now indicates that the story in 10:13–16 began sometime after the story in 10:10–12 ended. The Greek text does not indicate how much time passed between these two stories. In some languages, it is natural to begin a story with a time word or phrase. If your language is like that, use an expression here that is not too specific. For example:

One day (New Living Translation)
-or-
Then (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

In other languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this story in a natural way in your language.

people were bringing the little children to Jesus: The form of the Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as were bringing indicates that parents brought their children to Jesus over a period of time. They did not all come at the same time.

the little children: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as little children is used to refer to children of many different ages. It can refer to children from a newborn baby to a child thirteen years old. The parallel passage in Luke uses a word which refers only to very young children. Translate this expression using a general expression for children that can include babies and young children.

for Him to place His hands on them: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as place His hands on is more literally “touch,” and it refers to giving a blessing. In Jewish culture, parents often brought a young child to a religious leader for him to bless the child. To bless the child, the religious leader would place his hands on the child’s head and pray for him. (For a discussion of the word “bless,” see the note on 10:16b.)

If people in your area will not understand what the phrase place His hands on refers to, you may want to add some implied information. For example:

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him place his hands on their heads and bless them.
-or-
People were bringing little children to Jesus, wanting him to place his hands on them and ask God to bless them.

10:13c

and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and indicates a contrast. The contrast is between 10:13b and 10:13c. The parents were bringing their children to Jesus, but the disciples did not want this to happen.

the disciples rebuked those who brought them: In this context, the word rebuked refers here to telling people that they are wrong for doing a certain action. The disciples thought that the people were wrong because they interrupted Jesus and asked him to bless the children.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

the disciples spoke sternly to them (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
the disciples scolded the people (Good News Bible)
-or-
his disciples told the people to stop bothering him (Contemporary English Version)

See how you translated the word rebuke in 8:32c.

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