weapon

The Greek in John 18:3 that is translated as “weapon” in English is translated as “machete” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.).

Judas (Iscariot)

The term that is transliterated as “Judas” in English means “Praise of the LORD.” The name Iscariot means “man of Kerioth” or “a man of murder.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

It is translated in American Sign Language with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying holding a bag of money, referring to John 12:6. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Judas” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with with the sign for “kiss,” referring to Matthew 26:49 et al. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Judas” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In Hungarian Sign Language it is based on the sign for betrayal. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)


“Judas” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Painting by Nalini Jayasuriya (1927 – 2014). “Jayasuriya grew up in Sri Lanka and later studied art in England. She experimented with many forms of art hut is best known for her acrylic and pastel paintings on Biblical themes. She has written extensively on art subjects and held many exhibitions. In her painting of Judas the tortured face of the disciple reflects some of the complexities of the man who betrayed Jesus.” (Source for this and the image: The Bible Through Asian Eyes by Masao Takenaka and Ron O’Grady 1991)

See more images of Nalini Jayasuriya.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Judas .

complete verse (John 18:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 18:3:

  • Uma: “So, the leaders of the priests and the Parisi people ordered a group of Roman soldiers and House of God guards to go with Yudas going to that garden. They carried fighting equipment, lampu and torches.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Judas led the soldiers of the Roman tribe and the temple guards to that orchard. These guards were sent along with him by the Pariseo and the leading priests. They carried weapons (bessi) and torches (la’al) and lamps (payita’an).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Judas arrived there accompanied by a company of soldiers and police who were sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying lights and they were armed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And there is where-he-led a unit-group of soldiers and Temple police that the leaders of the priests and Pharisees had sent. They were all-using-torches/lights and all-carrying-arms.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore Judas went there to that plantation because that was his agreement with the chiefs of the priests and the Pariseo. He was leading the Templo guards they had sent and also one iskuwadra (generic for any military group) of soldiers. They had lights and they were well armed with weapons.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Judas arrived to where Jesus was. Accompanying him was a group of soldiers and the police sent by the priests and Pharisees. They brought swords and lamps. Some carried wood which was burned to light the way.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Pharisee

The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharisee” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “pointing out the law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Pharisee” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the box of the phylacteries attached to the forehead:


“Pharisees” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”

See also Nicodemus.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharisees .

Translation commentary on John 18:3

Good News Translation restructures the first part of this verse. In Greek went to the garden is literally “comes there” and is preceded by the long clause, taking with him a group of Roman soldiers, and some temple guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees. Moreover, they were armed and carried lanterns and torches is literally “with lanterns and torches and weapons.” In the Greek text this entire clause follows the verb “comes there.” Most modern English translations restructure this complex sentence. However, Revised Standard Version, attempting to follow the word order of the Greek, sounds as if Judas were the one who brought the lanterns and torches and weapons (“So Judas, procuring a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.”) Lanterns and torches are mentioned only in John’s account.

A literal translation of the first part of verse 3 may be misleading, for it may imply that Judas first went to the garden and later took along a group of Roman soldiers. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the temple guards are described as having been sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, and their assignment to this task must have taken place before Judas lead them to the garden. The fact that the syntactic order and the temporal order of events do not match may require some readjustment in structure, for example, “The chief priests and Pharisees sent some temple guards to accompany Judas. There was also a group of Roman soldiers, and Judas lead them to the garden.” It is unlikely that Judas himself was armed, and therefore one may translate “The soldiers and guards were armed and carried lanterns and torches.” In translating were armed one may say “they had their swords” or “they carried their weapons.”

John is the only one of the four Gospels to mention Roman soldiers in connection with the arrest of Jesus. The Greek word translated a group of Roman soldiers (New English Bible “a detachment of soldiers”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Barclay “Roman soldiers”) is a technical military term (translated “cohort” by many) referring to the tenth part of a legion. Even though the full complement of a cohort was six hundred men, the actual number varied considerably sometimes there were as few as two hundred. For that reason, it is better to use a generic term, such as “group” or “detachment,” rather than the technical term “cohort.” Out of this larger group apparently only a smaller detachment of soldiers was sent along with an officer in command (see verse 12).

The word translated temple guards is the same word translated “guards” in 7.32 (see there) The temple guards were no doubt Jewish, but the Roman soldiers were Gentiles.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on John 18:3

18:3a

So: The connector that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So here introduces what Judas did because he knew where Jesus was. It also indicates a return to the main story after the parenthetical information in 18:2.

Judas brought a band of soldiers: Judas led a group of soldiers to the garden in order to show them where Jesus was. These were probably Roman soldiers. In some languages you may want to make this explicit. For example:

Judas…taking with him a group of Roman soldiers (Good News Translation)

brought: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as brought is more literally “having taken…he came.” Judas told a group of soldiers to go with him to the garden. Then he went to the garden and brought them with him. Here are other ways to translate this verb:

came…guiding (New International Version)
-or-
led
-or-
went…taking with him (Good News Translation)

a band of soldiers: This phrase refers to a group of Roman soldiers called a cohort. John does not tell how many soldiers there were. Try to use a term that does not indicate the size of the group. For example:

a group of Roman soldiers (Good News Translation)
-or-
some Roman soldiers (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
a detachment of soldiers (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
the squad of soldiers (NET Bible)

18:3b

and officers: The Greek noun that the Berean Standard Bible translates as officers refers to those who assist or help others in an official capacity. The word is sometimes translated as “officials” or “servants.” From the other Gospels we learn that at least some of these men were the guards at the temple. See how you translated this term in 7:32. For example:

temple police (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
temple guards (Good News Translation)

from the chief priests and Pharisees: This phrase indicates that the chief priests and Pharisees sent police to go with Judas and the soldiers to arrest Jesus. In some languages it may be natural to supply a verb. For example:

⌊sent⌋ by the chief priests and the Pharisees
-or-
whom the chief priests and the Pharisees ⌊had told to go with him/Judas⌋

the chief priests and Pharisees: This phrase refers to the leaders of the Jewish nation. These leaders formed a council called the Sanhedrin. See how you translated this phrase in 11:47. For example:

the leading priests and the members of the Pharisee group
-or-

⌊the leaders of the Jews⌋ , the chief priests and the Pharisees

the chief priests: This phrase refers to the most important of the Jewish priests, the leading priests. These priests were usually not Pharisees but members of a different religious group, the Sadducees. They did sacrifices and were in charge of the religious rituals in the temple. See how you translated priests in 1:19 and chief priests in 7:45.

Pharisees: This phrase refers to a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws very carefully and exactly. See the notes on 1:24, where the Pharisees are first mentioned. Translate this as you did there and in 11:46.

18:3c

They arrived at the garden: The pronoun They refers to the soldiers and the police. They went armed to the garden where Jesus and his disciples were.

carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons: The men carried lanterns and torches to give them light because it was night. In some languages it may be natural to translate this as a separate sentence. For example:

They were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons. (New Century Version)

lanterns, torches: This phrase refers to two kinds of lights that the soldiers and police carried with them to the garden. The lanterns could have been made of burnt clay or metal with a place for oil and a wick. The wick, the string lit to give light, was made of flax (a plant) or other type of string. The torches were made from sticks with a rag tied to the end and dipped in oil. The exact details of the lights are not important. Translate these words using common words for lights that do not need batteries or other modern technology. In some languages it is more natural to translate lanterns and torches with the same word. For example:

They carried lights with them
-or-
They had fires to see with.