1:19a

Going on a little farther: The phrase Going on a little farther connects 1:19a with the preceding verse.

Here is another way to translate this:

Jesus walked on and soon saw (Contemporary English Version)

He: The pronoun He refers to Jesus. The focus is on Jesus, but Simon and Andrew were also still with Jesus. In some languages, it may be necessary to indicate that in some way. For example:

Jesus and his two followers

1:19b

He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John: In New Testament times Jewish people used the name of their father to identify the family they belonged to. Zebedee was the father of James and John. See “Proper Names in Mark” in the Introduction for information on how to transliterate these names.

See the note in 1:16b for ways to translate the word brother. Since John was mentioned last, he was probably the younger brother.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee (God’s Word)
-or-
Jesus saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee (New Century Version)

Notice that in the God’s Word, the word “brother” is implied by the fact that both James and John were sons of the same man. If you follow a model like the New Century Version, be sure that “more brothers” does not imply that James and John were also brothers of Simon and Andrew.

1:19c

They were in a boat: The boats used on Lake Galilee were small boats used for fishing and travel across the lake. They could hold from about four to fifteen people. People used sails or oars (long paddles) to cause the boats to move across the water. If you do not have a word for boat in your language, here are some translation options:

• Use a phrase that describes the function of a boat. For example:

a vehicle for crossing water
-or-
something for carrying people on top of water

• Use the word for a specific kind of boat in your culture. For example:

canoe

Consider how your language talks about people in a boat. In some languages it may be more natural to say that they were riding or sitting in a boat.

mending their nets: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mending means “restoring to a former condition.” This would include cleaning, repairing, and folding the nets. In translating this phrase, you may focus either on “preparing” the nets or on mending the nets. For example:

repairing their nets (New Living Translation)
-or-
getting their nets ready (Good News Bible)
-or-
preparing their nets to [go fishing] (God’s Word)

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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