The Greek that is translated as “woe to you” or similar in English is translated in Martu Wangka as “you sit as sorry ones.”
complete verse (Luke 11:46)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 11:46:
- Noongar: “Jesus said, ‘Very terrible also for you Law Men! You put loads on the backs of people, loads too heavy (lit.: “sweat-making”) to carry but you don’t raise up one of your fingernails to help them to carry their loads.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “Yesus replied: ‘Disaster also to you religion teachers! Because you burden [lit, cause-to-carry-on-back] the people with rules and customs that are heavy. But you do not want to help them carry that load. You do not support [it] for them with even a finger.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “‘Yes,’ said Isa. ‘You also are to be pitied, the teachers of the religious law. For you make it heavy/difficult for the people with the laws which they are not able to do/carry out and you don’t help them even a little bit in doing so.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said, ‘You also, the teachers of the Law, pity you also because there are very many difficult things that you make the people do, but you don’t help them in any way to do these things.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Then Jesus said, ‘Pitiful also are you teachers of the law, because you have-the many-people -carry-heavy -loads which are the many rules that you force them to follow, but you don’t however join-in-carrying even a little-bit.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Jesus replied, saying, ‘Really very hard is what is in store for you also, explainers of law. Because through your teaching, it’s like you bundle up big bundles which you cause to be shouldered by people who aren’t able to shoulder them. But even your little finger, you don’t want to touch with it to lend-a-hand/help-out.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
formal pronoun: Jesus addressing religious leaders
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 Translator 2002, 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.
second person pronoun with low register
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. )
See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.
Translation commentary on Luke 11:46
Exegesis:
kai humin tois nomikois ouai ‘to you, experts in the law also woe’ humin is emphatic as its position before ouai shows.
phortizete tous anthrōpous phortia dusbastakta ‘you burden people with burdens hard to bear.’
phortizō ‘to cause (someone) to carry,’ hence ‘to burden,’ ‘to load.’
phortion ‘burden,’ ‘load,’ here figuratively of the burden of keeping the law as laid down by the experts.
dusbastaktos ‘hard to carry, or, to bear.’
kai autoi ‘and you yourselves,’ emphatic.
heni tōn daktulōn humōn ou prospsauete tois phortiois ‘with (so much as) one of your fingers you do not (even) touch the burdens.’
prospsauō ‘to touch (lightly).’
Translation:
You load men with burdens hard to bear, or, ‘you cause/order men to carry very heavy loads/burdens,’ i.e you compel men to do things (or, impose on men duties) that are very difficult to perform.
Touch the burdens with one of your fingers, i.e. in order to bear/perform those burdens/duties yourselves.
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.