21:27a
But nothing unclean will ever enter it: The Greek clause is literally “Every profane (thing) shall never enter it.” This clause refers to things as well as people. Translate this clause so that it includes people. For example:
Nothing ⌊or no one⌋ impure will ever enter it
-or-
No impure thing ⌊or person⌋ will ever enter it
unclean: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as unclean is literally “common” or “ordinary.” Here the word is used as an opposite to “holy.” So it means “anything that God says is bad.” Other ways to translate this word are:
unworthy (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
not holy
-or-
against God
21:27b
nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie: The phrase “will ever enter it” is implied from 21:27a but not repeated here. In some languages it is more natural to include some or all of the implied words. For example:
nor ⌊will⌋ anyone who practices an abomination or a lie ⌊ever enter it⌋
anyone who practices an abomination: The Greek phrase is literally “the (one) doing abomination.” This phrase refers to people who do things that God considers detestable or very awful. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
anyone who does what is shameful (New International Version)
-or-
anyone who does obscene things
-or-
anyone who does what is detestable (NET Bible)
a lie: This word refers to a person who tells lies as a way of life.
21:27c
but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active or intransitive clause. Jesus probably wrote the book, since it is his. For example:
only those whose names ⌊the Lamb⌋ had written in his Book of Life
-or-
only those whose names were in the Lamb’s Book of Life
If you translate according to the last example, your translation should imply that the names were written.
the Lamb’s Book of Life: This phrase refers to a Book that has in it the names of people to whom God will give eternal Life. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
the Lamb’s Book ⌊in which is the names⌋ of ⌊those who have⌋ ⌊eternal⌋ life
-or-
the Lamb’s Book ⌊with/having the names⌋ of ⌊those to whom God will give⌋ ⌊eternal⌋ life
See how you translated the phrase “the Book of Life” in 3:5 or 20:12.
© 2020 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.