46And he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.
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)
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)
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. )
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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.
“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied: In Greek, Jesus’ reply is more literally “Also to you experts in the law, woe.” The word you is in an emphatic position in the sentence. It indicates that Jesus was now addressing the law experts specifically. For example:
As for you experts in the law, woe to you also
You may have a natural way to indicate this in your language. Remember that some languages place a focused item first in the sentence; other languages place it last.
Woe to you: This is the same phrase as in 11:43a.
He replied: The Berean Standard Bible has placed He replied after the start of what Jesus said. In the Greek text, these words are at the beginning of the verse. Place them wherever it is natural in your language.
11:46b
You weigh men down with heavy burdens: This is a metaphor. It indicates that the experts in the law were teaching people that they must keep many difficult laws in order to please God. Their teachings were like heavy burdens to the people.
In this metaphor the topic is implied. The chart below gives the full metaphor:
topic
⌊you make the Jewish people follow many complicated religious laws that are too difficult to obey
⌋
image
you make people carry loads that are too heavy for them
point of similarity
both are too difficult to do
God intended that the Old Testament Law should show people how to serve him happily. But these experts in the Law had made it into an unbearable burden by adding many extra laws.
Some ways to translate this metaphor are:
• Change the metaphor to a simile and make the topic explicit. For example:
⌊you make people follow many rules. It is as if⌋ you are placing heavy loads on their backs that they are unable to carry.
• State the meaning of the metaphor directly. For example:
You make strict rules that are very hard for people to obey. (New Century Version)
If possible, use words that would imply a heavy load. For example:
you crush people with unbearable religious demands (New Living Translation (2004))
Remember that one of the purposes of a metaphor is to create a picture in the hearer’s mind. So if possible, your translation of this metaphor should help your readers to imagine a heavy load.
11:46c
but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load is an idiom. It can be translated more literally:
you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers (Revised Standard Version)
There are two ways to interpret this idiom:
(1) It means that the law experts made no effort to help others follow their laws. They did not make the laws any easier, and they did not give any help or counsel to people who were trying to obey them. For example:
you yourselves will not stretch out a finger to help them carry those loads (Good News Translation)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation (2004))
(2) It means that the law experts made no effort to try to obey their own laws. They were hypocrites who did not follow their own teaching. Instead, they were experts in finding ways to avoid following the law. For example:
you yourselves don’t even try to follow those rules (New Century Version)
(New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) along with most English versions. It is clear from the preceding context that the Jewish leaders were careful to follow even unimportant regulations.
will not lift a finger to lighten their load: The phrase lift a finger is an idiom in English as well as in Greek. It means here that the law experts refused to make any effort to help lighten the burdens of the people.
Some ways to translate this are:
you do not help them even by using one of your fingers -or-
you do not do the smallest thing to help them -or-
you do not help people even a little bit
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