SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 20:11

20:11a

So he sent another servant: In Greek, this clause is literally “And he proceeded to send another slave,” as in the New American Standard Bible. It tells what the owner of the vineyard did when his servant returned without any grapes. He sent another servant. In some languages it may be helpful to use a different conjunction or a phrase or clause to introduce the event. For example:

So/Then he sent a different servant.
-or-
After ⌊that servant returned empty-handed⌋, the owner sent another servant.
-or-
He tried again and sent a second servant… (Revised English Bible)

20:11b–c

but they beat him and treated him shamefully, sending him away empty-handed: The farmers/tenants also abused this slave/servant that the master sent to them. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

…that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They beat this one too, treated him outrageously, and sent him away empty-handed. (NET Bible)
-or-
They insulted him and beat him. Then they made him return to his master without any grapes.

beat: The word beat is the same Greek word that was used in 20:10d.

treated him shamefully: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as treated…shamefully means “dishonored, insulted.” It refers to treating a person badly in order to humiliate him. By treating the servant with contempt in that way, the farmers/tenants were also treating his master, the owner, with contempt. In some languages there may be an idiom to express this meaning. Some other ways to translate the meaning are:

treated him outrageously (NET Bible)
-or-
manhandling him disgracefully (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
They insulted him terribly (Contemporary English Version)

© 2009, 2010, 2013 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.

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