2:20a–b

returned: If it is more natural in your language to say to where the shepherds returned, you can say:

returned to the field(s)
-or-
returned to their flock of sheep

glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen: The phrase glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen indicates that the shepherds talked about how great and good God was to cause those events.

glorifying and praising God: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as glorifying and praising have almost the same meaning here. The meaning is that the shepherds honored and praised God. The same Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as praising was also used in 2:13.

The author used two words with the same meaning in order to emphasize the idea. In some languages it may be more natural to express this emphasis in another way. For example:

greatly praised God

glorifying: The word glorifying means “honoring, extolling, praising.” In this context the shepherds were honoring and praising God. They were talking about how God showed his greatness and glory through all that they had heard and seen (2:20b). See glory, sense C1, in Key Biblical Terms.

all they had heard and seen: The phrase all they had heard and seen refers to the baby in the manger, what the angel had said about him, and how the angels had praised God.

2:20c

just as the angel had told them: This clause is passive in Greek, literally “just as it was told to them.” It is similar to the phrase in 2:17b that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “they had received about Him.” In Greek the phrase is more literally “that had been told to them.” In some languages it may be more natural to use an active verb and indicate who told the shepherds the message. If that is true in your language, you may indicate that the angel told the shepherds (2:9–12). For example:

exactly as ⌊the angel⌋ had told them ⌊it would happen⌋

General Comment on 2:20a–c

In some languages, it may be more natural to put 2:20a after 2:20b–c. For example:

20bAll the things that the shepherds heard and saw 20cwere just as they had been told. 20aSo they returned, glorifying and praising God.

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