11:18a

When the chief priests and scribes heard this: The word this indicates that the Jewish leaders heard what had happened. They heard what Jesus had said and done. They probably did not all hear directly the things Jesus said at the temple, but they all heard reports about what had happened.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

The chief priests and the scribes heard about this
-or-
When the chief priests and scribes heard what had happened

the chief priests and scribes: The chief priests and the scribes were two groups who were the leaders of the Jews. The chief priests were the leading priests, and the scribes were the experts in the law of Moses.

See how you translated these expressions in 8:31c.

chief priests: A Jewish priest was a man who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. He also performed other rituals for them. The phrase chief priests refers to the leaders among these priests.

Here are some other ways to translate chief priests:

the leading/ruling priests
-or-
the elders among the Jewish sacrificers
-or-
the most prominent priests

See how you translated “priest” at 1:44b.

scribes: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as scribes refers to men who studied, interpreted, and taught the law of Moses. This word is sometimes translated as “teachers of the law,” as in the New International Version. That is because the original work of these men was to copy the laws of Moses by hand. In New Testament times, this was no longer their main task.

Here are some other ways to translate this term:

teachers of the Law of Moses (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
teachers of religious law (New Living Translation)
-or-
experts in the law

See teacher of the law in the Glossary.

11:18b

they looked for a way to kill Him: The Good News Bible makes explicit the logical connection between 11:18b and what precedes it in 11:18a:

…so they began looking for some way to kill Jesus.

looked for a way: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as looked for a way is literally “they were seeking how.” In other words, the religious leaders tried to find an opportunity to have Jesus put to death.

looked: The form of the Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as looked shows a continuing action. For example, the New Revised Standard Version says:

they kept looking

to kill Him: The Jewish leaders did not plan to kill Jesus with their own hands. They wanted the Roman rulers to order their soldiers to kill Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

to bring about his death (Revised English Bible)
-or-
to cause him to be killed/executed
-or-
to have him put to death

11:18c–d

For they were afraid of Him, because the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching: There are two reason clauses in 11:18c–d. For a way to change the order of these clauses, see the General Comment on 11:18a–d below.

11:18c

For they were afraid of Him: The phrase they were afraid of him means that the chief priests and the teachers of the law were afraid of Jesus. They were not afraid that Jesus would do something to them. Rather, they feared and resented him because he was popular with the people and influenced them. The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus so that the people would not follow him.

11:18d

because the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching: This clause indicates the reason why the religious leaders feared Jesus (11:18c). It was because of his influence on the people. For example, the God’s Word says:

because he amazed all the crowds with his teaching

the whole crowd: The phrase the whole crowd may be a specific reference to the people who saw Jesus chase the merchants out of the temple. But it probably refers to the people in general. It does not mean literally that every person was amazed at Jesus’ teaching. You should translate the phrase in a way that refers generally to many people. See how you translated this phrase in 2:13b, where the Berean Standard Bible translates it as “All the people.”

astonished: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as astonished also means “amazed” (as in the New International Version). See how you translated this word in 1:22a.

His teaching: The phrase His teaching refers to everything Jesus taught the people. It does not only refer to the things he taught from Scripture as he chased people from the temple.

General Comment on 11:18a–d

There are two reason clauses in 11:18c–d. The clause “for they feared him” gives the reason that the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus (11:18b). The clause “because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching” gives the reason that they feared him. In some languages, it is more natural to change the order of these clauses so that the reason clauses come first. For example:

18dThe whole crowd was amazed at Jesus’ teaching. 18cSo the chief priests and teachers of the law were afraid of him. 18aThat is why, when they heard about this, 18bthey began to look for a way to kill him.

Paragraph 11:19

© 2008 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.