9:6a–b

For an example of how to reorder this verse, see the General Comment on 9:5a–6b at the end of 9:6b.

9:6a–b

For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces the reason for Peter’s statement in 9:5. Peter said these things because he did not really know what to say. Indicate this reason in a natural way in your language.

In some languages, it may be natural to begin this verse with a clause that refers to the spoken words of 9:5. For example:

He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say. (New Living Translation)
-or-
He said those words for he did not know what else to say.

they were all so terrified: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they were all so terrified is literally “for they were very afraid.”

This phrase gives the reason for 9:6a. Peter did not know what to say (9:6a) because he and the others were very frightened (9:6b). The New Century Version says:

because he and the others were so frightened

Since 9:6a and 9:6b both express a reason, you may need to use a different way to indicate the reason here. See the General Comment below for translation examples.

they: The pronoun they refers to Peter, James, and John.

so terrified: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as so terrified refers to strong fear.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

so frightened (New International Version)
-or-
terribly afraid (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

did not know what else to say: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as say is literally “respond.” When Peter saw Jesus transfigured and talking to Elijah and Moses, he did not know what to do or say.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

didn’t know how to respond (God’s Word)
-or-
did not know what to say about what he had seen

General Comment on 9:5a–6b

In Greek, 9:5 is the result of 9:6a (the reason), and 9:6a is the result of 9:6b (the reason). Both 9:6a and 9:6b begin with the same Greek conjunction that introduces a reason. For example, the Revised Standard Version says:

And Peter said to Jesus, “Master…” 6aFor he did not know what to say, 6bfor they were exceedingly afraid.

In some languages, it may be natural to leave one or both of these conjunctions implicit. For example:

Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher…” 6aPeter did not know what to say, 6bbecause he and the others were so frightened. (New Century Version)
-or-
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi…” 6a(Peter didn’t know how to respond. 6bHe and the others were terrified.) (God’s Word)

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of the clauses so that the events are talked about in the order in which they occurred. For example:

6bThey were very frightened, 6aso Peter did not know how to respond, so he said to Jesus, “Rabbi…”
-or-
6bThey were very frightened, 6aand Peter did not know how to respond, so he said to Jesus, “Rabbi…”

In other languages it may be natural to change the order of 9:6a and 9:6b and make both the reason for 9:5. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher…” 6bFor they were afraid, 6aand he did not know what to say.

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