Translation commentary on Luke 10:30

Exegesis:

hupolabōn ho Iēsous eipen lit. ‘taking up (scil. the question) Jesus said.’ The answer to the question comes in the form of a story. Elsewhere hupolambanō means ‘to assume’ (cf. 7.43).

anthrōpos tis katebainen apo Ierousalēm eis Ierichō ‘a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,’ imperfect tense. For katabainō cf. on 2.51.

kai lēstais periepesen ‘and fell into the hands of robbers,’ aorist tense, indicating a punctiliar event.

lēstēs ‘robber,’ ‘bandit.’

peripiptō (†, cf. v. 36, empiptō) with dative ‘to fall into the hands of.’

hoi kai ekdusantes auton kai plēgas epithentes apēlthon aphentes hēmithanē ‘who after stripping him and after inflicting blows went off, leaving him half dead,’ kai after the relative pronoun serves to focus the attention on what follows (cf. e.g. Acts 1.11).

ekduō ‘to strip off (clothes).’

plēgē (also 12.48) ‘blow,’ ‘stroke.’

epitithēmi (cf. on 4.40) here ‘to inflict.’

aphiēmi ‘to leave (behind).’

hēmithanēs ‘half dead.’

Translation:

Replied, or, “took this up and said” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘continued-the-discussion, saying’ (Javanese, a verb lit. meaning ‘to put-an-extension-to,’ then, ‘to continue an activity started by someone else’).

A man was going down from …, introductory clause, cf. on 8.4. For the verb cf. on “went up” in 2.4. Jericho is some 20 miles from Jerusalem, the road ascending about 3000 feet from the neighbourhood of Bethany to the entrance of the plain of the Jordan.

He fell among robbers, or, ‘he accidentally met robbers’ (Tagalog), ‘he-had-the-ill-luck to be-attacked (or, he was-set-upon) by robbers’ (Javanese, Sundanese); or in active construction, ‘on the way robbers surprised/attacked him.’ Robber, or, “bandit” (Phillips), ‘one-who-murders-to-rob’ (Toraja-Sa’dan). In some cases one term covers both ‘robbers,’ i.e. those who take away possessions by force, and ‘thieves,’ who do so by stealth, e.g. in Sranan Tongo, or in Tae’ (etymologically ‘one-who-lifts-up’).

Stripped, or, ‘cleaned-out,’ ‘plundered’ (Low Malay, lit. ‘took-away all he had,’ and Sranan Tongo, lit. ‘stole pulled from his hand’). Beat, probably with sticks or clubs.

Leaving him (i.e. letting him remain there) half dead, or, ‘they left him lying (on-the-ground, or, neglected) half/nearly dead’ (cf. Nieuwe Vertaling, Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘leaving him like-one-dead (lit. dead-dead) on the road’ (Sranan Tongo; a similar form in Batak Toba). In Conob the idiom for “half dead” is ‘whirling in his head.’

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.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 10:30

Paragraph 10:30–35

Jesus told the story in this paragraph in order to teach people what the Law meant by the command to love our neighbors. Most scholars think that this story probably did not really happen. If you must distinguish in your language between events that actually happened and fictional stories, you can indicate that it is a fictional story.

10:30a

Jesus took up this question and said: The Greek that the Berean Standard Bible translates as took up reflects the idiomatic language used in the Greek. It means that Jesus responded to the question. Jesus answered the question in 10:29b by telling the parable in 10:30–35. In some languages it may be helpful to make this explicit. For example:

Jesus replied with a story (New Living Translation (2004))

10:30b

A man: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as A man is more literally “A certain man.” This is a way to introduce a new person into a story, as well as to introduce a new story itself. Consider what is a natural way to introduce a new story and a new person in the story in your language. For example:

There was once a man (Good News Translation)
-or-
One day, a certain man

The people who heard this story may have assumed that the man was Jewish. However, Jesus did not specify what ethnic group the man was from.

going down from Jerusalem: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as going down indicates that the man traveled down a hill. The city of Jerusalem was built on a hill. So anyone leaving the city had to walk down the hill to a place that was lower in elevation.

In some languages, it is important to say whether people go up or down when they travel. In other languages, this will be unusual or may be confusing. If it is not natural in your language, you may use a more general expression. For example:

left Jerusalem and traveled
-or-
was going from Jerusalem

If you do not include the information that the man went downhill¸ you may want to add a footnote with this information. For example:

Jericho was located about 27 kilometers (17 miles) from Jerusalem. It was about 1000 meters (3300 feet) lower in altitude. The road was steep. It passed through isolated, rocky places where it was easy for bandits to hide and attack people

to Jericho: Jericho was a town near the Jordan River. It was about twenty-seven kilometers east of Jerusalem.

10:30c

he fell into the hands of robbers: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he fell into the hands of robbers is an idiom. It indicates here that some robbers attacked the man and overcame him. It does not mean that the man stumbled and fell. It also does not imply that the man was planning to meet these robbers. The robbers were looking for a traveler to attack. Here is another way to say this:

some robbers attacked him (New Century Version)

robbers: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as robbers refers to men who attacked people who were traveling from one place to another. The robbers would beat the people and steal from them and sometimes kill them. Other ways to translate the word are:

brigands
-or-
highwaymen
-or-
bandits/brigands
-or-
violent thieves

10:30d

They stripped him: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as stripped indicates here that the robbers took the man’s clothes off his body. This probably also implies that they took his money and everything else that he had with him. So you may wish to translate this as:

They stripped him ⌊of everything he had⌋
-or-
They removed his clothes ⌊and took them,⌋ ⌊along with everything he had with him⌋

10:30e

beat him: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as beat him means “hit him.” The text does not say with what the robbers hit the man, but it was probably with sticks or clubs.

leaving him half dead: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as half dead means “severely hurt” or “only just alive.” Some other ways to say this are:

almost dead (New Century Version)
-or-
he was near death

Apparently, the robbers beat the man until he was unconscious and then went away. In some languages there may be an idiomatic way to say this.

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