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)
“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)
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is transliterated as “Solomon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “wise” referring to 1 Kings 3:12. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
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)
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®).
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.
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