Paragraph 11:13

11:13a

And in that hour: The earthquake probably occurred immediately after the two witnesses ascended to heaven. For example:

Just then (NET Bible)

there was a great earthquake: The Greek clause is literally “a great earthquake occurred.” In some languages it is more natural to follow the literal Greek. For example:

a great/big earthquake came/shook

11:13b

and a tenth of the city collapsed: The context implies that the earthquake caused a tenth of the city to collapse. For example:

13a there was a terrible earthquake 13b that destroyed a tenth of the city (Contemporary English Version)

and: The Good News Translation omits this conjunction and uses the semi-colon (;) to imply that the earthquake caused a tenth of the city to collapse:

13a there was a violent earthquake; 13b a tenth of the city was destroyed

a tenth of the city collapsed: This clause indicates that one of every ten buildings broke and fell. Other ways to translate this clause are:

one part in ten ⌊parts⌋ of the city collapsed
-or-
one of every ten buildings in the city collapsed
-or-
one part of the city collapsed and nine parts not

11:13c

Seven thousand were killed in the quake: This clause is passive. Some languages must use a active or intransitive clause. For example:

The earthquake killed seven thousand people
-or-
The earthquake caused seven thousand people to die
-or-
Seven thousand people died because of the earthquake

11:13d

the rest: This phrase refers to the people in the city who did not die because of the earthquake. For example:

The rest of the people (Good News Translation)
-or-
the survivors (New International Version)

were terrified: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as were terrified is literally “became afraid.” For example:

were frightened (Contemporary English Version)

11:13e

gave glory to the God of heaven: This phrase indicates that the people honored God. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

praised the greatness of the God of heaven (Good News Translation)
-or-
acknowledged the glory of the God of Heaven (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
glorified/praised the God of heaven

the God of heaven: This phrase refers to the true God. The phrase of heaven indicates that he is not one of the gods or idols whom people have invented on their own. Heaven is where the true God lives and rules from. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

the God who lives in heaven
-or-
the God who rules in heaven (Contemporary English Version)

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