31The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed, something greater than Solomon is here!
Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Kako: “heart thinking” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group):
“one storey of growing” (using a term also denoting a storey or floor of a building) in Highland Totonac (source for this and one above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
The Greek that is translated as “the ends of the earth (or: world)” is translated in Bilua as “the bottom of the sky” (= horizon) (source: Carl Gross), in Western Highland Purepecha as “beyond the horizon” (source: Nida 1947, p. 158), and in Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “to the far horizons” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
The Greek terms krino and katakrino/katadikazo that are translated as “judge” and “condemn” respectively in English are translated with only one term in Kutu (tagusa). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 11:31:
Noongar: “When the Judgement Day comes, the Queen of Sheba will stand and accuse the people of today because she travelled from her distant country to hear King Solomon’s wise words, and I tell you, a person stands here who is greater than Solomon.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “On Kiama Day, the queen from the South will be made to live again together/at-one-time with you who live at this time, and she will point-out your wrongs. Because she walked here from a very far town, he really wanted to hear the words of King Salomo who was very clever/smart. But there is in your midst one whose bigness of life is more than Salomo, but you still do not believe his words.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When the day comes when God judges mankind the queen of the place Seba of old will go and stand and blame you. For she, she came here from the edge of the world because she wanted to listen to the words of King Sulaiman the man of old who had really deep wisdom. I tell you here with you now is someone who has greater wisdom than Sulaiman but you don’t accept his teaching.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “In the future, on the day when God judges, that queen long ago who came from the town of Sheba, as for you people today, she will scold you because she came from a long distance just to listen to the teaching of King Solomon, who was very wise. And today, there is someone who is greater than Solomon here among you, and you will not receive his teaching.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When the day of God’s judging all people arrives, in-the-future indeed (prophetic formula), the woman who was queen (Ilo. loan reyna) in Seba back before will stand-up-with (others) to accuse you, because as for her, she went from the farthest country in order to go hear what the wise King Solomon was saying, but I tell you that the one here today is greater than Solomon.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “At the day of judging, you will be rebuked by the woman who reigned in Seba long ago. Because she travelled really very far coming from her land, for she wanted to comprehend the far from ordinary understanding of king Solomon. But today, there is here with you someone who is much more praiseworthy than Solomon, but you don’t want to listen.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
basilissa notou ‘the queen of the south,’ without article but determined by the genitive notou (Hebraism). The reference is to the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10.1-13).
basilissa ‘(ruling) queen.’
notos ‘south wind,’ ‘south,’ ‘a country in the south.’
egerthēsetai ‘will rise,’ i.e. from the dead, or (more general), ‘will appear,’ preferably the latter.
en tē krisei ‘at the judgment,’ cf. on 10.14.
kai katakrinei autous ‘and will condemn them,’ not because she is the one who judges, but by comparison. katakrinō also v. 32.
ēlthen ek tōn peratōn tēs gēs ‘she came from the ends of the earth.’ Sheba was located in the southern part of Arabia near the limits of the world then known. peras.
akousai tēn sophian Solomōnos ‘in order to listen to the wisdom of Solomon,’ i.e. to the wise words of Solomon.
kai idou ‘and behold,’ cf. on 1.20.
pleion Solomōnos hōde ‘something greater than Solomon is here,’ an indirect reference to Jesus himself.
Translation:
Queen, or, ‘woman chief/ruler’ (cf. Zarma, East Nyanja, Yao), ‘woman who holds the country’ (Ekari), ‘woman who has the office of ruler’ (Tzeltal), ‘woman ruling as king’ (Kekchi). If the language possesses a feminine derivation of the word for ‘king’ one should make sure whether it covers both ‘ruling queen’ and ‘wife of the king’ (as in Marathi), or can mean only the former (as in Sinhala, Shona), or the latter (in which case the term in not acceptable here).
The South, or ‘the South(ern) country,’ ‘the land in/towards the South.’ In East Nyanja and Yao the name of the rain wind, which is south-easterly, is used for ‘south.’ The term used in Bahasa Indonesia originally meant ‘region-of-the-straits (of Malacca)’ but now is no longer bound to the local geographical situation. The Balinese equivalent (etym. ‘region-of-the-sea’), however, is still bound so: it means ‘south’ in South Bali, but ‘north’ in North Bali; hence a footnote has to be added, giving the North-Balinese equivalent (etym. ‘interior,’ which in South Bali means ‘north’). Cf. also Safwa, where north of the watershed ‘upstream’ means ‘south,’ but south of it the same term is used in the sense of ‘north.’ This kind of difficulty has often led to the use of a borrowing from a language of prestige, e.g. in Tzeltal, Kituba, Tae.’ In the present verse it is also possible to substitute ‘Sheba’ (as done in Kele), which name, though more specific, is virtually synonymous to ‘the South’ in this passage.
Arise at the judgment with the men …, or, ‘arise when the men … are judged, or when God judges the men….’ Arise with, or, “appear against” (New English Bible), ‘appear in court together with’ (Sundanese).
Condemn them, or, ‘accuse them’ (Kekchi), ‘show them to be guilty.’ It may be preferable to connect the verb more closely with the preceding one, cf. e.g. “the Queen … will stand up and accuse the people of today” (Good News Translation).
The ends of the earth. Comparable phrases used are, ‘the fringes of the earth’ (Ekari), ‘the cessation of the land’ (East Nyanja), ‘the “that’s all” of here below’ (Yao), ‘(one of) the border(s) of the earth’ (cf. Marathi, Shona 1966). Elsewhere the meaning is described by, ‘one of the farthest regions of the earth,’ or simply, ‘(a place) far away’ (cf. Pohnpeian, Trukese, Tzeltal).
The wisdom of Solomon, or, ‘the wise words/sayings of S.’ (Tzeltal, Zarma), ‘how wisely S. spoke.’ In Sinhala one does not ‘hear wisdom’ but ‘see wisdom.’ For wisdom see 2.40. Solomon (following the Greek form), or ‘Salomo’ (cf. the Hebrew form, Shelomo), or ‘Sulaiman’ (cf. on 1.5).
Something, here referring to a person, often has to become ‘somebody,’ ‘a person.’
Greater. For the comparative see on “mightier” in 3.16 and references; for “great” see 1.15.
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.
In 11:31, Jesus made a shocking statement. He said that on Judgment Day, the Queen of the South (a Gentile) would condemn the Jews who had not responded to Jesus’ message. She could condemn them because she responded to Solomon’s message, but they refused to respond to Jesus’ message even though Jesus was greater than Solomon.
See the General Comment on 11:31a–d at the end of 11:31d for a way to put this verse in chronological order.
11:31a
The Queen of the South:The Queen of the South refers to the Queen of Sheba (mentioned in 1 Kings 10:1–13). Her country was south of Israel, perhaps in the country that today is called Ethiopia. She had lived almost a thousand years before the time of Jesus. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this implied information explicit. For example:
The ⌊former⌋ queen of ⌊a country to⌋ the south
Queen: In languages that do not have a word for Queen, it may be possible to use a descriptive phrase. For example:
the woman who was the leader/chief -or-
the woman who ruled
will rise: Scholars have interpreted the Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as will rise in two ways:
(1) It means will stand up, or will appear. The Queen of the South will stand up in God’s court when he judges people at the end of the world. For example:
On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up… (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Living Translation (2004))
(2) It means will rise from the dead, or will live again. This view is supported by some commentators.
The Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, and King James Version translate the verb literally as “rise” or “arise,” which can be understood either way. It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) and use a verb that is appropriate for appearing in court to condemn someone. Notice that interpretation (1) does assume that the Queen of the South will rise from the dead (interpretation 2).
at the judgment: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as at the judgment refers to the time at the end of this world when God judges everyone. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
Judgment Day (Good News Translation) -or-
the time of judgment (God’s Word)
This phrase also occurs in 10:14.
with the men of this generation: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as with the men of this generation means “together with the men who are living now (that is, at Jesus’ time).” This means that the Queen will be standing at the same time as these men. It does not mean that the Queen will stand in support of them. In fact, she will stand to condemn them. Here is one way to make this clear:
against this generation (New Living Translation (2004))
the men of this generation: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as men normally refers to males. In Jesus’ time, men were the leaders and decision-makers of the people. However, this does not mean that women will not be at the judgment. For this reason, you can translate men as “people.” For example:
the people who live now (New Century Version)
11:31b
and condemn them: In this context, the Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as condemn means “show to be wrong.” The Queen of the South will not be acting as the judge. Rather, she will show that what she did pleased God. She will show that the Jewish people of Jesus’ time did not do what pleased God. Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
and accuse the people of today (Good News Translation) -or-
She will show they are guilty (New Century Version)
11:31c
for: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for introduces the reason why the queen will accuse the men (in 11:31a–b). Another way to translate this is:
because (Good News Translation)
(See the General Comment on 11:31a–d at the end of 11:31d for a way to put the reason in 11:31c before 11:31a.)
she came from the ends of the earth: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as from the ends of the earth is an idiom. It means “from a place that was very far away.” The Queen of Sheba left her country far in the south and traveled to Israel. In those days her country was at the very end of the world that people in Israel knew about.
Translate this idiom using an expression that refers to making a journey from a very long distance away. For example:
she came from a long distance -or-
she came from her land very far away
to hear the wisdom of Solomon: The Queen of Sheba journeyed to Israel in order to listen to King Solomon. He was famous for speaking with great wisdom.
In some languages, it may not be possible to use an abstract noun such as wisdom. Another way to translate the wisdom of Solomon is:
the wise things that Solomon said
In other languages, it is not possible to describe things or words as “wise.” If that is true in your language, you may be able to use a phrase such as:
the words of wise ⌊King⌋ Solomon
Solomon:Solomon was a king of Israel more than nine hundred years before Jesus was born. He was famous for being very wise. See 1 Kings chapter 3.
11:31d
now: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as now is literally “behold.” Many English versions translate it that way. This word is used here to call attention to the next statement. It indicates that the next statement is something important or surprising. Some other ways to translate this word are:
I tell you (New Century Version) -or-
I assure you
One greater than Solomon is here: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as One greater is neuter. It can also be translated this way:
something greater (Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version)
In either case, Jesus was referring to himself. He was saying that he was greater than Solomon and that his wisdom was greater than Solomon’s. Consider whether in your language it would be more natural to say “something greater” or “someone greater.”
If a person cannot refer to himself using the third person in your language, you may say:
Someone who is greater than Solomon is here, ⌊and that is I⌋. -or-
⌊I⌋ who am greater than Solomon am here.
General Comment on 11:31d
There is important implied information at the end of this part of the verse. Jesus implied here (but did not say) “but you(plur) will not listen to him!” If the people reading your translation do not understand this implied information, you may need to make it explicit. You could include it in the translation or put it in a footnote. For example:
but you refuse to listen (New Living Translation (2004))
General Comment on 11:31a–d
In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of the parts of this verse so that it is in chronological order. For example:
⌊Long ago,⌋ the Queen of the South 31ccame from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. 31dNow one greater than Solomon is here, ⌊but you refuse to listen to him⌋. 31aThat is why at the judgment she will rise with the men of this generation 31band condemn them.
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