18:28a
Look…we have left: In Greek Peter began his reply to Jesus with a word that draws attention to what he was about to say. Sometimes it is translated in English as Look, as in the Berean Standard Bible, or “Listen.” Some versions, such as the New International Version, have not translated this Greek word here. Other English versions translate it in several ways in this context. For example:
Look! We have left… (Good News Translation)
-or-
Remember, we left… (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
What about us? We left… (Revised English Bible)
Use a natural way in your language to indicate that Peter wanted Jesus to pay special attention to what he was about to say.
we: The pronoun we refers to the disciples. It does not include Jesus.
In this context the pronoun is emphatic. It implies a contrast with the rich man or with rich people in general. (See 18:24.) In contrast to the rich leader who would not give up his possessions, the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. In some languages it may be necessary to make this contrast explicit. For example:
Unlike the rich leader/people
Indicate this contrast in a natural way in your language.
have left all we had: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as have left means “left behind” or “abandoned.” This verb implies here that the disciples thought that following Jesus was more important than keeping their possessions. Whether they gave away their possessions or just left them with relatives is not known.
Some other ways to translate this are:
abandoned everything that we had
-or-
put aside all that we owned
all we had: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as all we had is literally “our own things.” There are two ways to interpret it in this context:
(1) It refers in general to property and possessions, including homes and families. For example:
we have left everything we own (NET Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, NET Bible, New International Version, King James Version, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, God’s Word, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) It refers specifically to homes. For example:
We have left our homes (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Peter was saying that he and the other disciples of Jesus had left everything so that they could be his disciples. The phrase all we had probably includes the things that Jesus mentioned in 18:29.
18:28b
to follow You: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as to follow You is literally “and we(excl) followed you.” It expresses the purpose that the disciples had for leaving everything. They left everything to become his disciples. Express this purpose in a natural way in your language.
The disciples followed Jesus in both a literal and figurative way. They literally followed him wherever he went, and they also “followed him” by learning from him as his disciples. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate the figurative meaning along with the literal meaning. For example:
in order to follow you ⌊as your disciples⌋
-or-
to follow you ⌊and learn from you⌋
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