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)
In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans don’t make that distinction include:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog)
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 11:43:
Noongar: “43 ‘How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the best seats in the Synagogue. And in the market, you want people saying, ‘You are great’.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘Disaster to you Parisi people! Because you are happy sitting in the seats of honor in the house of prayer, and you are happy when people along the side of the main-road bow to greet you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘You Pariseo are to be pitied. When you are in the prayer-house you want to sit in front. When you are in the market you are really happy when the people come and greet you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Pity you Pharisees because when you are in the church, you want that they will let you sit in the seats of the rulers, and if you’re there in the market, it really makes your breath feel good if the people show respect for you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Pitiful are you Pharisees, because you love to choose the best seats in the synagogue and you also like people to praise/honor you saying ‘Sir’ when you go visiting.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really very hard is what is in store for you Pariseo. For your favorite seats in the worship-place are those seats where the important are seated. And it is your pleasure to be suitably-greeted in the places where there are many people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
agapate tēn prōtokathedrian en tais sunagōgais ‘you love the front seat in the synagogues.’ agapaō is used here with regard to human ambition. prōtokathedria also 20.46.
tous aspasmous en tais agorais ‘the salutations in the market places,’ cf. on 1.29. For agora cf. on 7.32.
Translation:
You love, or, ‘you want,’ ‘you like it to have,’ ‘you desire’; Tzeltal has ‘your hearts are glad.’
The best seat, or, ‘the front seat,’ ‘the seat of honour’; or in a verbal construction, ‘to sit on the best seat,’ ‘to sit in front,’ etc. Cultural equivalents are e.g. ‘the seat at the head end, or, at the inland/upstream side, or, at the right side, or, towards the east.’
Salutations, or, ‘to be greeted’ (e.g. in Shona 1963), ‘that people greet you’ (e.g. in Zarma); cf. “greeting” in 1.29, 40. Some terms for greeting imply already a showing of respect, as e.g. in Tzeltal, ‘to have the backs of your hands kissed,’ or in Marathi, ‘to take namaskar (an obeisance originally given to Brahmins only)’; elsewhere this has to be explicitly stated, either in addition to the term for “salutation”, e.g. ‘to be given praise greetings’ (Shona 1966, cf. also An American Translation), or instead of it, ‘people to honour you’ (Ekari), ‘to be-asked-permission’ (Balinese, referring to the custom that, on meeting a person on higher position, one has to ask to be allowed to pass him).
In the market places, or, ‘in public (places),’ ‘where people have gathered together’ (Shona 1966); and see on 7.32.
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.
Woe to you Pharisees!: In Greek, this verse does not begin with a conjunction. Otherwise, this clause is the same as in 11:42a.
11:43b
This verse part begins with the same Greek conjunction as 11:42b. It introduces another reason why God was going to punish the Pharisees. Many English versions translate this conjunction as “for” or “because.” The Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions do not translate this conjunction. In some languages it may be natural to introduce this reason without using an explicit conjunction.
You love the chief seats: The clause You love the chief seats implies “you love ⌊to sit in⌋ the chief seats.”
love: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as love here means “strongly desire” or “want” or “value.” The Pharisees strongly desired and valued the privilege of sitting in a place that made them look important.
the chief seats: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the chief seats is literally “the-first-seat.” This word refers to a bench in the front of the synagogue that faced the congregation. The places on this bench were reserved for important people. They were the seats of honor.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
the seat of honor (New Revised Standard Version) -or-
the front seats (God’s Word) -or-
the reserved seats (Good News Translation) -or-
the best seats (NET Bible)
in the synagogues: Buildings known as synagogues were places where Jews gathered to pray, read Scripture, teach their beliefs, and worship God. The Jews also gathered there for cultural activities. Some ways to translate synagogues are:
prayer-houses ⌊of the Jews⌋ -or-
meeting-places ⌊of the Jews⌋ -or-
worship buildings -or-
houses for gathering together
If you make explicit a phrase such as “of the Jews,” be sure that it does not imply that Jesus was not a Jew.
You will need a different term to translate synagogue than you use for temple. There was only one temple (in Jerusalem), but each Jewish community had a synagogue.
If the word synagogue is already known in your area, you may write it according to the sounds of your language. You may want to include a word or phrase to explain the meaning. For example:
sinagog house/building
The word synagogue also occurs in 4:15a. See synagogue in the Glossary.
11:43c
and the greetings in the marketplaces: The phrase greetings in the marketplaces implies respectful greetings. In some languages, it may be more natural to start a new sentence here. For example:
⌊You also like people⌋ to greet you ⌊respectfully⌋ in the marketplaces.
The word greetings indicates that people were speaking greetings to each other. In some languages it may be more natural to use a direct quote here. For example:
⌊you also enjoy it⌋ when people honor/greet you in public ⌊by saying, “Sir.”⌋
the marketplaces: The phrase the marketplaces refers to public, outdoor areas where people bought and sold various things, such as food. The people who gathered there commonly showed their respect for the Pharisees by giving them long greetings.
If religious leaders in your area do not normally go to marketplaces, you may use a more general expression. For example:
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