Translation commentary on Luke 8:8

Exegesis:

epesen eis tēn gēn tēn agathēn ‘fell into good soil.’ The article, again, is generic. agathēn is somewhat emphatic by position.

hekatontaplasiona ‘a hundredfold,’ adverb, going with the phrase epoiēsen karpon ‘bore fruit’ as a whole. Returns of hundredfold are not extraordinary.

tauta legōn ephōnei ‘saying this he cried.’ ephōnei, after legōn, indicates a raising of the voice.

Translation:

Yielded a hundredfold, or, ‘it-bore-fruit so-that its grains were in-hundreds’ (Balinese), ‘(it, i.e. its ears) became-full, one sowing-seed became hundred’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘it produced fruit a hundredfold (in-proportion-to what had been sown)’ (Tae’ rev.). A hundredfold may have to be rendered analytically, e.g. ‘ten-times-ten of fruit’ (Kele), and approximately, e.g. ‘forty of a second sixty of fruits’ (Ekari), or generically, e.g. ‘very many (fold),’ and cf. ‘when they fruit-ed, really heavy, to that extent the thickness of their fruit’ (Tboli), ‘complete it gave grains’ (Tzeltal).

As he said this, he called out, or, ‘and in a loud voice he added’ (Willibrord), ‘thus he said, then he spoke again rather loudly’ (Balinese).

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. A rendering may easily sound ridiculous; hence adjustments such as, ‘those who not in vain have ears…’ (Tzeltal), ‘ear-road they-have those hear’ (Enga), ‘if you can hear at all you had better listen.’ Batak Toba shifts to a restrictive sentence with the second person pronoun, ‘you, all-who have-ears that can-hear, ear (imperative of a verb derived from the noun ‘ear,’ and meaning ‘to hear-intently,’ ‘to grasp-the-sense-of’) this parable.’ At its first occurrence the verb (for which cf. on 1.41) refers to the faculty of hearing, at the second to the actual hearing of, or listening to something (i.e. ‘my words,’ or, ‘this parable’).

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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