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 10:12:
Noongar: “I tell you, when the Day of Judgement comes, God will give more mercy to Sodom than their town.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Yesus also said to his followers: ‘I say to you, on Kiama Day, the punishment of God punishing those townspeople will be greater than his punishment of the townspeople of Sodom town long ago.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I tell you,’ said Isa, ‘that when the day comes when God judges mankind the judgment for the people of that place will be really greater (lit. heavier) than the judgment at the place Sodom, the place that is well known because of the sin of it’s people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “I say to you,’ said Jesus, ‘that when the day arrives in the future for punishment, God’s punishment to that village will be greater than His punishment long ago to those wicked people who lived in the town of Sodom.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Because I tell you that when the time-of-God’s -judging the many-people arrives, the punishment of the residents there will be heavier than the punishment of those-from-Sodoma.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For what I will say to you really is true that at the day of judging, much heavier will be the punishment of those people there in those towns, heavier that that which will be experienced by the taga Sodoma.'” (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®).
Sodomois … anektoteron estai ‘for Sodom it will be more tolerable.’
Sodoma (neuter plural) ‘Sodom.’
anektos ‘endurable,’ ‘tolerable,’ especially with reference to judgment.
en tē hēmera ekeinē ‘on that day,’ i.e. on the coming day of judgment, cf. v. 14.
Translation:
This sentence does not continue the words Jesus tells the disciples to speak, but gives his judgment of the fate of a city that rejects his disciples.
It shall be more tolerable … for Sodom than for that town. Some changes of structure that may be required are: adding a term for ‘suffering,’ ‘punishment,’ e.g. ‘there will be less suffering people in Sodom…’ (Kekchi), ‘the punishment of the city of S. will be lighter (or, less heavy/severe) than the punishment of that city’ (several Indonesian languages), or more generically, ‘what S. will experience shall be lighter than that town’ (Javanese); taking ‘Sodom’ as subject, e.g. “Sodom will fare better than that town” (An American Translation), ‘S. will have a less severe fate than that city’ (Bible de Jérusalem); making explicit the implied agent, e.g. ‘God will punish Sodom less severely than that town’; or, transposing the parts of the comparison, e.g. ‘that town will suffer more than S.’ (cf. Navajo). Some ways to express the comparative here are, ‘the Sodom people will suffer little (lit. eat comparatively little pain), while that town will suffer much (lit. eat much pain)’ (cf. Melpa), ‘it will be big, God’s punishing that town. To-the-extent it is a lie (i.e. much less) his punishing … Sodom…’ (cf. Tboli).
On that day, or making explicit the specific meaning, e.g. ‘at that great time’ (Melpa), ‘when the time of punishment arrives’ (Tzeltal), ‘when arrives that day of God’s judging people’ (Tboli, similarly Kituba), ‘on the day of judgment’ (cf. Navajo, Kele, Sinhala).
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.
Jesus’ instructions to his disciples about what they were to say to people ended at the end of 10:11c. In 10:12 Jesus told the disciples about God’s punishment for a town that rejected his message.
In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit that 10:12 does not continue the words that the disciples were supposed to speak. The TRT suggests two ways to do this. For example:
⌊Jesus continued,⌋ -or-
⌊After giving those instructions, Jesus said,⌋
I tell you: Jesus often used the words I tell you to begin a statement that he wanted to emphasize. He wanted people to listen with extra attention. Some ways to show this emphasis could be:
• As a phrase before Jesus’ statement. For example:
Let me tell you this -or-
Listen -or-
I assure you
• As an emphatic word within Jesus’ statement. For example:
It will certainly be better on the day of judgment for the people of Sodom
If you have another way in your language to emphasize a statement or to alert people to listen with special attention, consider using it here. See the note on 4:24a.
it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town: This comparison means that on the day when God judges people, he will punish the people of Sodom less than he will punish the people of a town that rejected Jesus’ disciples. See 10:14 for a similar comparison. The people of Sodom had sinned greatly (see Genesis chapter 19), but people who rejected Jesus’ disciples sinned even more. See Matthew 10:15 and 11:24. Other ways to translate this comparison are:
on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town (Good News Translation) -or-
on the Judgment Day it will be better for the people of Sodom than for the people of that town (New Century Version) -or-
On the Judgment Day God will punish the people of that town more severely than the people of Sodom
more bearable: In this context more bearable indicates that Sodom will not be punished as severely as a town that refuses to welcome Jesus’ disciples.
on that day: The phrase on that day refers to the future day or time when God will judge people. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
on the Judgment Day (Good News Translation) -or-
at the time when God judges people
Sodom…that town: The word Sodom and the phrase that town are figures of speech that refer to the people who lived there. In some languages these figures of speech may not be clear or natural, and it may be necessary to make the meaning explicit. For example:
the people of Sodom…the people of that town (Contemporary English Version)
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