3:4a

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces what Jesus said next. Connect 3:3 and 3:4 in the way that is most natural in your language.

He asked them: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as asked is literally “said,” as in the Revised Standard Version. Because Jesus was about to ask a rhetorical question, the verb asked is appropriate here in English. Use the verb that is appropriate in your language.

He: The pronoun He refers to Jesus.

them: The pronoun them refers to the people who wanted to accuse Jesus. It does not refer to the whole crowd.

3:4b–d

Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus asked this question to rebuke the Pharisees. He rebuked them by emphasizing a fact that everyone knew to be true: It was lawful on the Sabbath to do good, not evil. It was also lawful to save life, not to kill. There are at least two ways to translate this rebuke:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm…? (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil…? (New International Version)
-or-
What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To help or to harm? (Good News Bible)

• As a statement. For example:

It is certainly lawful on the Sabbath to do good, and not to do harm. It is certainly lawful to save life, and not to kill.

Use whichever form is most natural in your language to emphasize a fact that everyone knows is true and that expresses a rebuke.

3:4b

is lawful: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as is lawful here means “is permitted by the Jewish religious law.”

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

What does our Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? (Good News Bible)
-or-
Is it right to do good or to do evil on the day of worship…? (God’s Word)

Sabbath: See how you translated the word Sabbath in 1:21b and 3:2c. If you used a longer phrase, such as “the rest day of the Jews” in those verses, it may be appropriate to use a shorter form of the phrase here, for example, “the rest day.”

3:4c

to do good or to do evil: The phrase to do good here means to do good to people or to help them. The phrase to do evil here means to hurt or harm people.

Here is another way to translate this:

to help someone or to harm someone

3:4d

to save life: The phrase to save life in this context refers to saving someone from danger.

If you cannot speak generally about saving a life, here are some other ways to translate this:

to save/rescue a person
-or-
to save/rescue a person from danger/death

General Comment on 3:4b–d

In some languages, it may be clearer to express 3:4b–d as four separate questions or statements. For example:

Does our Law allow us to help people on the Sabbath? Or does it allow us to harm people? Does it allow us to save someone’s life? Or does it allow us to kill someone?

In other languages, it may be more natural to express 3:4b–d as two questions. One question could refer to the actions of doing good and saving life. The other question could refer to the actions of doing evil and killing. For example:

Is it lawful to do good and to save life? Or it is lawful to do evil and to kill someone?

3:4e

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But introduces a contrast. In this context it was expected that the Pharisees would answer Jesus. But instead they kept silent.

they: The pronoun they refers to those who wanted to accuse Jesus. The context shows that they were some of Jesus’ enemies from the Pharisee party.

were silent: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as were silent indicates that they did not respond to Jesus. They remained silent because they did not know how to answer Jesus without admitting that they themselves were wrong.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

But they wouldn’t answer him. (New Living Translation)
-or-
But no one said a word. (Contemporary English Version)

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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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