1:31a

So: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So is a common connector that is often translated as “and,” as in the Revised Standard Version. It connects a sequence of events in a story. In this context the Berean Standard Bible uses So because it also introduces what Jesus did as a result of what the people told him. Connect this verse to 1:30 in a natural way in your language.

He went to her: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as went to is literally “having approached.” In this context it indicates that Jesus came and stood close to where the woman was lying.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

So Jesus approached the place where she was lying
-or-
He went to where the woman was

took her by the hand, and helped her up: The phrase took her by the hand, and helped her up means that Jesus grasped one of the woman’s hands in order to help her to sit or stand up.

took her by the hand: In some languages it is necessary to specify whether Jesus grasped the woman’s left hand or right hand. You may choose whatever one would be more appropriate in your language. The Greek text does not specify which hand.

helped her up: The phrase helped her up means that Jesus helped her to rise from a lying position. It is not clear whether he helped her to sit or to stand. If you need to specify one or the other, you should choose “stand.”

1:31b

The fever left her: The phrase The fever left her means that the woman’s body cooled and became normal again, and she was well. The context implies that she became well immediately. The phrase The fever left her may be expressed differently in some languages. For example:

she became healthy
-or-
her fever/body cooled

and she began to serve them: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as she began to serve them indicates that the woman served or passed food and drink to them. The Contemporary English Version says:

she served them a meal (Contemporary English Version)

A translation should not imply that she cooked food for them. 1:12b and 1:32a indicate that Jesus healed her on the Sabbath day, and the law of the Jews forbade people to cook food on that day. (A number of scholars comment that the woman prepared a meal, but the TRT (pages 15–16) reminds us of the importance of understanding an event in its historical context. According to the Jewish law, all food to be eaten on the Sabbath day had to be prepared the previous day.)

them: Here the pronoun them refers to Jesus and his disciples.

Paragraph 1:32–34

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.