14:65a
Then some of them began to spit on Him: After the trial was over, some of them started to insult and abuse Jesus.
some of them: The phrase some of them probably refers to members of the council.
spit on Him: In Jewish culture spitting at a person was a way to insult him. When they spit at Jesus, they showed that they felt contempt for him. They thought that he had no value. If the meaning of spit on Him is not clear in your language, you may want to make it explicit. For example:
Some began to spit at him to shame/insult him
14:65b–c
They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!”: These people mocked Jesus by telling him to prophesy. They meant that they wanted Jesus to tell them who hit him, while his eyes were covered so that he could not see. They implied that because he claimed to be from God, he should show the powers of a prophet. He should tell them who hit him.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
They blindfolded him, hit him with their fists, and said, “Tell us who hit you!” (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
and they blindfolded him and hit his face with their fists. “Who hit you that time, you prophet?” they jeered. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
They blindfolded him and beat him with their fists and said, “Prove you are a prophet!” (New Century Version)
14:65b
They blindfolded Him: The phrase They blindfolded Him means that these people tied a cloth over Jesus’ eyes so that he could not see.
They: The word They refers to the same people as the word “some” in 14:65a. They were the same people who spit at Jesus.
struck Him with their fists: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as struck Him with their fists literally means “beat or hit him with a closed fist.” In some languages this may be expressed with a single verb, as in the Greek. For example:
boxed him
14:65c
Prophesy: The verb Prophesy means for a person to speak/say information that God reveals to him or her. In this context it means that the council members were asking Jesus to identify the people who were hitting him. They implied that he should be able to identify them even though his eyes were covered. They were challenging his claim to be the Christ by asking him to use powers from God.
Here is another way to translate this:
…they said to him, “If you are truly from God, then tell us who hit you!”
See prophet in the Glossary.
14:65d
And the officers received Him: After the members of the council insulted and mocked Jesus, the guards were again responsible for him.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Then the guards took charge of Jesus (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Then the guards led Jesus away (New Century Version)
officers: See how you translated officers in 14:54c-d.
with slaps in His face: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as with slaps in His face can mean to hit someone with an open hand or with a fist. It can also mean to beat someone with a whip or a stick. Try to use a general word in your translation.
© 2008 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
