Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 10:1-12:
Later the Lord chose seventy-two other followers
and sent them out two by two to every town and village
that he intended to visit. He said to them:
“So many crops in the field, and so few workers!
Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send more workers.
Now go, and remember I’m sending you out
like lambs among hungry wolves.
Take only the clothes you absolutely need,
and don’t waste time just hanging loose!
Ask God’s blessing upon every home
where you are welcomed,
but withhold it where you are rejected.
Stay with the first family that invites you,
eating and drinking whatever they provide,
without moving from place to place.
Remember you are worth what you receive,
if you work really hard.
“When a town welcomes you, heal their sick and say,
‘The Ultimate Kingdom will soon be here!’
But when a town rejects you,
stand on the top of a soap box and shout,
‘This is your final warning!
The Ultimate Kingdom will soon be here!’
“My followers, I tell you now
that no town will be judged more harshly
than those that reject you!”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 10:10:
Noongar: “‘But if you go into a town and they do not welcome you, go to the street and say,” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “But if you enter into a town and you are not received, go to the main-road and say:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But whatever village you come to and the people don’t treat you according-to-custom, go to the roads and say,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But if you come to a village and they don’t welcome you there, give a sign to those people there, and say,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But if you go to a town and they reject you, go out into the street and say to them,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But whichever town won’t receive you, don’t stay around there. However what you are to do is, stand wherever many people are. And speak saying,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
eis hēn d’ an polin eiselthēte kai mē dechōntai humas ‘into whatever town you go and they do not receive you,’ cf. on v. 8.
exelthontes eis tas plateias autēs eipate ‘going out into its streets say.’ exelthontes is equivalent to an imperative (cf. Revised Standard Version).
plateia ‘wide road,’ ‘street.’
(V. 11) kai ton koniorton ton kollēthenta hēmin ek tēs poleōs humōn eis tous podas ‘the very dust that sticks to us from your city to the feet,’ i.e. ‘to our feet from your town.’ ek tēs poleōs humōn goes with kollēthenta, and the picture is that of the dust which still sticks to the feet of the messengers when they leave the town which does not receive them. For koniortos cf. on 9.5. hēmin is dative of advantage. eis tous podas still has the suggestion of the dust finding its way to the feet of the messengers.
kollaō (also 15.15) here in the passive ‘to cling to,’ ‘to stick to.’
apomassometha humin ‘we wipe off against you.’ The dative humin is equivalent to eph’ humas ‘against you,’ i.e. ‘in protest against you,’ cf. Acts 13.51, and eis marturion ep’ autous ‘as a witness against them’ in 9.5.
apomassomai ‘to wipe off,’ a more thorough act than shaking off (9.5).
plēn touto ginōskete ‘but know this.’ plēn is stronger than the common alla.
Translation:
Go into its streets and say, i.e. go out from the house that has lodged you and say in the streets you pass on your way out of the town (as implied in the wording of v. 11a). Hence, go into may better be rendered ‘go out into,’ ‘leave the house and go into/along.’ Streets, or, better to bring out the public character, “open streets” (An American Translation), places publiques (Bible de Jérusalem).
(V. 11) The clause even the dust of (or, from, Good News Translation) your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off has virtually the same meaning as the main clause of 9.5. Taking ‘from the town’ with the verb one may render the object phrase by, ‘the very dust that clings/sticks to our feet in/from your town’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, Brouwer), ‘even the dust from your town on our feet’ (Willibrord), ‘the very dust on our feet, which comes from your town.’ The rendering of wipe off may have to coincide with that of “shake off” in 9.5.
Against states briefly what “as a testimony against” has expressed more explicitly in 9.5.
Know here implies an act of will; hence, “take note of” (New English Bible), “understand” (An American Translation).
The kingdom of God has come near, differing from v. 9b in not having ‘to you’ it is preferable that this probably intentional difference should be preserved in translation.
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.
But: In this context, the Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But introduces a contrast to the situation described in 10:8–9. Most English versions also translate it that way.
if you enter a town: This clause is identical to 10:8a. See how you translated the same clause there.
and they do not welcome you: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they do not welcome you is literally “they do not receive you.” This phrase is identical to 10:8a except for the word not. Translate this phrase in a way that clearly shows the contrast to the opposite situation in 10:8a. See the note there.
10:10b
go into the streets and declare: The streets of a town were places where many people gathered to buy and sell things. The command go into the streets indicates that Jesus wanted his disciples to go to a place in the town where many people could hear them.
In some areas streets have a different use, so people will not understand why Jesus told the disciples to go into the streets. If that is true in your area, you may:
• Make explicit the function of streets. For example:
go in its/the streets ⌊where everyone can see/hear you⌋ (Translator’s Reference Translation)
• Omit the reference to streets and translate the function of streets directly. For example:
go to a place in the town where there are lots of people -or-
go where many people in the town will be able to see/hear you
Translate this in the way that is most natural in your language.
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