23:48a
And when all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened: This part of the verse refers to the crowd of people who came to watch the crucifixion. In some languages it may be necessary to divide 23:48a into two separate sentences. For example:
Many people had gathered to witness this sight. When they saw what took place….
for this spectacle: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for this spectacle is more literally “at the spectacle, show.” The word spectacle can refer to any public event that people come to watch. Here it refers to the execution of Jesus and the other two men.
In some languages it may be necessary to make the meaning more explicit. For example:
to see the crucifixion (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
to watch
saw what had happened: The phrase saw what had happened refers in general to the things that happened when Jesus and the men were crucified. Other ways to translate it are:
saw what happened (Good News Translation)
-or-
observed all that occurred there
-or-
saw ⌊and heard⌋ what happened there
23:48b
they returned home beating their breasts: In that culture people beat their chests/breasts with their fists to show sorrow and distress. The people at the crucifixion were distressed because of what happened to Jesus. They realized that Jesus was innocent, and he did not deserve to suffer so terribly. As they left, they mourned over this by beating their chests.
In some cultures, beating the chest does not have this meaning. If that is true in your culture, some other ways to translate it are:
• Translate the action and indicate the meaning. For example:
they felt so distressed that they beat their chests
-or-
beating their chests because they were so sad (New Century Version)
• Translate the meaning without the action. For example:
they felt brokenhearted and went home (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
they left, mourning greatly/deeply
-or-
they…went home in deep distress (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
• Substitute an action that has the right meaning in your culture. For example:
They left, ⌊wailing⌋ in sorrow
Translate the meaning in a natural way in your language for this context.
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