Translation commentary on Luke 2:41

Exegesis:

kai eporeuonto hoi goneis autou ‘and his parents used to go.’ The imperfect tense suggests customary action.

kat’ etos ‘every year’; kata is used here distributively.

tē heortē tou pascha ‘at (the occasion of) the feast of Passover’; the dative tē heortē is temporal.

heortē ‘religious feast,’ ‘festival.’

pascha ‘the Passover,’ transliteration of the Aramaic pasha’ (Hebrew pesach). Here the word is used in a broader sense, including the feast of the unleavened bread, taking place the subsequent days.

Translation:

Now, cf. on 1.57.

Went, cf. on 1.39. The verb used here can refer to travel in any direction and on any occasion; it is more generic than the one used in v. 42.

At the feast of the Passover, or, ‘when it was the feast of Passover,’ ‘at the time people had-the-feast Pascha (cf. Batak Toba), or, celebrated the Passover.’ In some cases “feast” is simply rendered ‘day,’ the following name being enough to mark it as a festival (Toraja-Sa’dan). — Passover. The term is often transliterated (as is also the case in Greek), but preferably translated (as done in English), cf. ‘the having passed over delivered remember day’ (Ekari), ‘celebrating that (in former days) the Lord (rather than ‘the angels,’ cf. Ex. 11.4f; 12.12, 23, 27) passed by (or, spared) the first-born sons (of Israel).’ When in case of transliteration the resulting form is primarily known as the name of the Christian festival of the resurrection its use here may have its drawbacks; if in case of translation a phrase or term is employed that explicitly refers to the resurrection, its use here would mean a reversal of the historical development, which is not to be recommended.

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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