13“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
The Greek that is translated as “woe to you” or similar in English is translated in Martu Wangka as “you sit as sorry ones” (source: Carl Gross). Toraja-Sa’dan has two expressions that can be used: upu’ allomu or “to-their-end are your days” and sumpu sumandakmu or “finished is what-is-measured-out to you.” In the case of Luke 10:13, where “woe” is doubled, both are used for stylistic, non-repetitive purposes (see Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Matumbi it is translated as Wakibona or “You will see” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext) and in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with a phrase containing tsoka, a word to describe something bad that happens (or may happen) to a person because of doing something against established traditions in a community (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
In Hebrew it is translated as oy (אוֹי) and in Yiddish as oy (אוי) or vey (וֵויי). Note that oy vey in combination is also commonly used in Yiddish as an interjection of dismay and vey is derived from the GermanWehe (which in turn has the same root than the English woe). (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
The Greek that is translated as “they would have repented” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with hätten sich selbst diese hartgesottenen Sünder bekehrt or “even these hard-core sinners would have repented.”
The Hebrew or Greek which are translated into English as “sackcloth” are rendered into Chamula Tzotzil as “sad-heart clothes.” (Source: Robert Bascom)
Pohnpeian and Chuukese translate it as “clothing-of sadness,” Eastern Highland Otomi uses “clothing that hurts,” Central Mazahua “that which is scratchy,” Tae’ and Zarma “rags” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel), and Tangale as “torn clothes that show contrition on the body” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin). In the English translation by Goldingay (2018), “put on sackcloth” is translated as wrap on sack.
“In Turkana, a woman removes her normal everyday skin clothes and ornaments and wears rather poor skins during the time of mourning. The whole custom is known as ngiboro. It is very difficult to translate putting on sackcloth because even material like sacking is unfamiliar. The Haya, on the other hand, have a mourning cloth made out of the bark of a tree; and the use of this cloth is similar to the Jewish use of sackcloth. It was found that in both the Turkana and Ruhaya common language translations, their traditional mourning ceremonies were used.” (Source: Rachel Konyoro in The Bible Translator1985, p. 221ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing what a sackcloth looked like in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Greek and Hebrew that are often translated as “miracles” or “miraculous powers” into English are translated as “thing which no one has ever seen before” (San Blas Kuna), “thing marveled at” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “breathtaking thing” (Ngäbere), “long-necked thing” (referring to the onlookers who stretch their necks to see) (Huautla Mazatec), “sign done by God’s power” (Mossi), “supernatural power” (Javanese), “thing that has heaven-strength” (Highland Totonac) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida), “amazing thing” (Muna) (source: René van den Berg), “sign no one else could do” (Tenango Otomi) (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125), or “impossible thing” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004).
The Greek and Hebrew that is often translated as “repent” or “repentance” is (back-) translated in various ways (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
Embu: “change heart” (“2 Cor. 7:10 says ‘For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.’ In ordinary speech the terms ‘repent’ and ‘regret’ are used interchangeably in Embu, so that this verse comes out as: ‘godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no repentance,’ which is contradictory. The problem was solved by using ‘changing heart’ in the first, and ‘sadness’ in the second.”) (source: Jan Sterk)
Muna: dofetompa’ao dhosa bhe dodoli ne Lahata’ala: “radically-end sin and to turn to God” (source: René van den Berg)
Bacama: por-njiya: “fetch sand” (“Before the coming of Christianity 100 years ago, when the elders went to pray to the gods, they would take sand and throw it over each shoulder and down their backs while confessing their sins. Covering themselves with sand was a ritual to show that they were sorry for what they had done wrong, sort of like covering oneself with sackcloth and ashes. Now idol worship for the most part is abandoned in Bacama culture, but the Christian church has retained the phrase por-njiya to mean ‘repent, doing something to show sorrow for one’s sins’” — source: David Frank in this blog post .)
Enlhet “exchange innermosts.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
Merina Malagasy: fifonana, deriving from mifona “meaning ‘to completely uproot so that something new can grow’ (a term also used for the loss of a baby tooth)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)
“In Tzotzil two reflexive verbs to communicate the biblical concept of repentance are used. Xca’i jba means to know or to reflect inwardly on one’s self. This self inquiry or self examination is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son where Luke 15:17 records that ‘he came to his senses.’ Broke, starving, and slopping hogs, the prodigal admitted to himself that he was in the wrong place. The second reflexive verb ‘jsutes jba’ means turning away from what one is and turning to something else. In a sense, it is deciding against one’s self and toward someone else. It is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son when he said, ‘I will get up and go to my father’ (Luke 15:18).” (source: Aeilts 2009, p. 118)
The name that is transliterated as “Chorazin” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines the signs for “close to Capernaum ” and “river” because of the location in proximity to Capernaum and a river. (Source: Missão Kophós )
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 10:13:
Noongar: “‘That Day will be terrifying for you, Chorazin! That Day will be terrifying for you also, Bethsaida! Great things were done in you. If these things had been done in Tyre and in Sidon, long ago the people of those towns would have sat down, put on sorry clothes and sprinkled dust on their heads, to show they had turned away from their sin.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘Disaster to you Yahudi people who live in the towns of Korazim and Betsaida! I have done indeed many miracles in your towns, but you still do not repent from your sins. If for example those miracles had been done in the towns of Tirus and Sidon, they would long ago have repented from their sins, even though they were not Yahudi people. They would have taken gunny-sacks to use-as-clothes, and they would sit sprinkling their bodies with ashes/dust, a sign of their regret.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘You are to be pitied, people of Korasin. You are to be pitied, people of Betsaida. For if I had done the powerful works/miracles in Tiros and Sidon that I have done there at your place, the people there would long have regretted and left their sin and as is their custom they would dress in sacks and sprinkle ashes on themselves to show their regret.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said again, ‘Pity you in the future, you inhabitants of Chorazin! Pity you also in the future, you inhabitants of Bethsaida; as for the miracles which I caused you to see in your Jewish village, if I had done them in the villages of Tyre and Sidon where the people are not Jewish, they would have clothed themselves with sacks and they would have put ashes on their heads as a sign that they were abandoning their wicked customs.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus continued to say, ‘Pitiful are you from-Korazin and likewise also you from-Betsaida! Because many are the amazing things I have done in your towns, but you didn’t repent of your sins. If it had been in Tiro and in Sidon where I had done these amazing things, they would have put-on sacks immediately and sat in the ashes to show that they repented.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus continued speaking, saying, ‘Alas, really very hard is in store for you who are taga Corazin and taga Betsaida. Because supposing that there in Tiro and Sidon, whose people are not Judio, were done all these amazing things which were done here with you, it’s true that for a long time now the people from there would have dressed in rough (clothes) and sat in the ash-place, so as to cause it to be recognized that they were truly repenting/sorry.” (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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