Translation commentary on Luke 21:1

Exegesis:

anablepsas ‘looking up,’ or ‘looking closely,’ preferably the latter; it suggests an attentive look.

eiden tous … plousious ‘he saw the rich.’ plousious is stressed by its position at the end of the participial phrase that goes with it (see below).

ballontas eis to gazophulakion ta dōra autōn ‘dropping their gifts into the treasury,’ participial phrase going syntactically with tous … plousious. ballō eis may mean ‘to drop into,’ or ‘to put into,’ here preferably the former.

gazophulakion ‘treasury,’ ‘contribution box.’

dōron (also v. 4) ‘present,’ ‘gift.’

Translation:

Saw the rich putting, or, ‘saw the rich (who) put.’ The aspect is iterative: Jesus saw that again and again one of the rich came to bring a gift.

Gifts, or, ‘offerings,’ ‘the money they offered’ (Balinese). To use a term for ‘alms’ is not advisable.

Treasury, or ‘box (for) gifts’ (Balinese), ‘money-box of the church/temple’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘place/box where people put in the money.’

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.

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