17:14a

When Jesus saw them, He said: Jesus realized that the men were lepers when he saw the way they looked and acted. He did not need to ask what kind of help they needed. Another way to translate 17:14a is:

Jesus saw them and said (Good News Translation)

17:14b

Go, show yourselves to the priests: The commands Go and show contain implied information that Luke’s readers understood. The phrase the priests referred to the priests who were on duty at the temple in Jerusalem at that time. The command show implied that the men would go to Jerusalem and let the priests look at their skin to see if they were well.

In some languages you may need to make some or all of the implied information explicit. For example:

Go ⌊to Jerusalem⌋, ask the priests ⌊who are performing their duties in the temple⌋ to examine you ⌊and see if you are well⌋

Jesus gave a similar command to the leper in 5:14.

show yourselves to the priests: Only a priest could examine the men and confirm that they no longer had leprosy. If the priests saw that the men were well, they would declare the men to be ritually clean. This process is described in Leviticus 14:1–32. Some other ways to translate this are:

Go and let the priests examine you (Good News Translation)
-or-
Go(plur) to the priests so they can see/examine you
-or-

⌊Jesus⌋ told them to go show ⌊their skin⌋ to the priests

priests: Jewish priests were men who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. They also performed other rituals for the people.

Some ways to translate priests are:

• Use a descriptive term that focuses on the function of priests. For example:

sacrificers
-or-
men/people who offer sacrifices to God
-or-
men who represent people to God

• Use a local word for priests. This option may be acceptable if the duties of local priests are similar to those of Jewish priests. You may need to indicate that the word refers to Jewish priests. For example:

Jewish people’s priests/sacrificers

If possible, you should choose a term that can be used in both Old Testament and New Testament contexts. Remember that in the book of Hebrews believers are called priests and Christ is called our high priest.

See priest in the Glossary for more information.

17:14c

And as they were on their way, they were cleansed: In Greek this part of the verse begins with a phrase that is literally “and it happened.” It introduces the situation in which the next event happened. The lepers had started to obey Jesus and begun to walk to the priests when they became well. Other ways to translate this are:

and it happened that while they were going, they were healed
-or-
then it came about that as they were on their way ⌊to the priests⌋, they became well

Most English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, do not translate the phrase “and it happened.” Consider whether it is natural in your language to translate it here.

they were cleansed: In this context the phrase they were cleansed indicates that they were healed of their leprosy and so became ritually pure. It does not refer to being cleansed from physical dirt. In some languages it may be possible to translate both the idea of being healed and the idea of becoming ritually clean. For example:

they were healed and ⌊ritually⌋ cleansed
-or-
they were cleansed of their leprosy (New Living Translation (2004))

In other languages it may be more natural to translate only the idea of healing here. For example:

they were healed (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
they became well

The verb were cleansed is passive. In some languages it may be more natural to translate the action without using a passive verb. For example:

They became well/clean
-or-

⌊God/Jesus⌋ healed them from the leprosy

Translate the action in a natural way in your language.

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