8:18a–b

The Berean Standard Bible puts single quotes around the words Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?. This shows that it may be a quote from Jeremiah 5:21. Many English translations do not put quote marks around these words. That is because Jesus does not state that he is quoting from Jeremiah, and the quotation is not exact. Consider how you might mark a possible quotation in your language. If you do not use quote marks, you could refer to Jeremiah 5:21 in a footnote.

Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?: This is a rhetorical question that has two parts. Both parts have the same meaning, and they function as a rebuke. In some languages it may be more natural to translate the two parts as separate sentences. In other languages it may be more natural to combine them.

Here are some ways to translate this rhetorical question.

• As a rhetorical question. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

Are your eyes blind and your ears deaf?

• As a statement. For example:

You have eyes and ears, but you cannot see or hear.

Use whichever form is most natural to express this rebuke in your language.

do you not see?…do you not hear?: In this context the phrases do you not see and do you not hear are used in a figurative way. The disciples saw things, but they did not learn from what they saw. They heard things, but they did not learn from what they heard. In some languages it may be necessary to make this meaning more explicit. For example:

You have eyes; did you not learn from what you saw? You have ears; did you not think about what you heard?

8:18c–19b

In Greek, 8:18c–19b are expressed as one question. In some languages it may be more natural to use two or more questions, as the Berean Standard Bible has done. There are also different ways to divide the questions. For example:

And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Don’t you remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand people? How many baskets full of leftover pieces did you take up? (Good News Bible)

Connect the ideas in these questions in a natural way in your language.

8:18c

And do you not remember?: This is a rhetorical question. The Berean Standard Bible translates it as an introductory question for the questions in 8:19 and 8:20. Together, these questions imply that the disciples should have remembered when Jesus fed the crowds of five thousand men (6:30–44) and four thousand people (8:1–10). Jesus asked this question to rebuke the disciples because they were speaking as if they did not remember those miracles. There are at least three ways to translate this rebuke.

• As a rhetorical question. For example, the NET Bible says:

Don’t you remember?

• As a statement. For example:

Surely you remember….
-or-
You should be able to remember!

• As a tag question. For example:

You can still remember, can’t you?

Use whichever form is most natural to express this rebuke in your language.

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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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