Exegesis:
kurie ‘lord,’ cf. on 1.6.
epitrepson moi ‘let me,’ ‘permit me,’ cf. on 8.32.
apelthonti prōton thapsai ton patera mou ‘to go (away from here) and bury my father first.’ prōton goes with the clause as a whole. The clause implies that the father was dying or had just died.
thaptō (also in next verse, and 16.22) ‘to bury,’ without ceremonial implications.
Translation:
Another, or, ‘a second (man).’
He said (2X) may have to be specified, e.g. ‘Jesus said’ (Bahasa Indonesia), and/or, “the man replied” (New English Bible).
Let me in the sense of ‘give me permission to’ is sometimes expressed by ‘give me to’ (Tae’), ‘give me opportunity (lit. path) to’ (Sranan Tongo).
Go, or, ‘go home’ (Balinese).
To bury, i.e. to dispose of a dead person by depositing him in the earth. Terms used in other cultures may imply a different place or manner, e.g. ‘to place-in-a-cave’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), or be basically neutral as to place or manner, e.g. ‘to do-as-to-a-dead-person’ (Tae’).
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.
