51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.
“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)
Bura-Pabir: “sacrifice mound” (source: Andy Warrren-Rothlin)
Kalanga: “fireplace of sacrifice” (source: project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Ignaciano translators decided to translate the difficult term in that language according to the focus of each New Testament passage in which the word appears (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight
Willis Ott (in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.) explains:
Matt. 5:23,24: “When you take your offering to God, and arriving, you remember…, do not offer your gift yet. First go to your brother…Then it is fitting to return and offer your offering to God.” (The focus is on improving relationships with people before attempting to improve a relationship with God, so the means of offering, the altar, is not focal.)
Matt. 23:18 (19,20): “You also teach erroneously: ‘If someone makes a promise, swearing by the offering-place/table, he is not guilty if he should break the promise. But if he swears by the gift that he put on the offering-place/table, he will be guilty if he breaks the promise.'”
Luke 1:11: “…to the right side of the table where they burn incense.”
Luke 11.51. “…the one they killed in front of the temple (or the temple enclosure).” (The focus is on location, with overtones on: “their crime was all the more heinous for killing him there”.)
Rom. 11:3: “Lord, they have killed all my fellow prophets that spoke for you. They do not want anyone to give offerings to you in worship.” (The focus is on the people’s rejection of religion, with God as the object of worship.)
1Cor. 9:13 (10:18): “Remember that those that attend the temple have rights to eat the foods that people bring as offerings to God. They have rights to the meat that the people offer.” (The focus is on the right of priests to the offered food.)
Heb. 7:13: “This one of whom we are talking is from another clan. No one from that clan was ever a priest.” (The focus in on the legitimacy of this priest’s vocation.)
Jas. 2:21: “Remember our ancestor Abraham, when God tested him by asking him to give him his son by death. Abraham was to the point of stabbing/killing his son, thus proving his obedience.” (The focus is on the sacrifice as a demonstration of faith/obedience.)
Rev. 6:9 (8:3,5; 9:13; 14:18; 16:7): “I saw the souls of them that…They were under the table that holds God’s fire/coals.” (This keeps the concepts of: furniture, receptacle for keeping fire, and location near God.)
Rev. 11:1: “Go to the temple, Measure the building and the inside enclosure (the outside is contrasted in v. 2). Measure the burning place for offered animals. Then count the people who are worshiping there.” (This altar is probably the brazen altar in a temple on earth, since people are worshiping there and since outside this area conquerors are allowed to subjugate for a certain time.)
In the Hebraic English translation of Everett Fox it is translated as slaughter-site and likewise in the German translation by Buber / Rosenzweig as Schlachtstatt.
The name that is transliterated as “Abel” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying “smoke” (referring to his offering mentioned in Genesis 4:4). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 11:51:
Noongar: “starting with the killing of Abel, to the killing of Zechariah, struck between the altar (lit.: “sacred fire”) and the Holy Place. Yes, I tell you, the people of today will be punished because of all these things.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “beginning from the killing of Habel long ago, down to [lit, arriving at] the killing of the prophet Zakharia, who was killed in the yard of the House of God between the offering-burning table and the holy house. Thus truly/It is very true! You who live at this time will definitely be punished because of all the wrongs of your ancestors.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “You will be punished because of the death of those prophets, beginning with Habil the child of grandfather Adam until Jakariya the one they killed between the place for sacrificing and the temple. Yes, I tell you, all that they did will come-home to you, the people living today.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “starting with the killing of Abel, up to the killing of Zechariah, who was murdered between the church, the house of God, and the altar of sacrifice. It’s true what I say that, you people today, you also will be punished because of this:” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “starting from their killing of Abel until their killing of Zacaris whom they killed between the altar and the Temple. Yes, this that I told you is emphatically true that the people today, they are responsible for the death of them all!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “from Abel who was the first to be killed long ago, up to the killing of Zacarias who was killed between the Templo building and the altar (lit. burning-place) which is in its like-a-yard. Yes indeed, this which I am saying to you is really true, that you Judio (pl.) of this time right now are the ones who will be reached by punishment because of all these.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 shows 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. )
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®).
dia touto kai hē sophia tou theou eipen ‘therefore then the wisdom of God said.’ kai reinforces dia touto. Whether hē sophia tou theou is the title of an (unknown) book, or refers to a place in an (unknown) book, in which the personified wisdom of God speaks is uncertain. The meaning ‘God in his wisdom’ is improbable.
apostelō eis autous prophētas kai apostolous ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles.’ For apostellō cf. on 1.19. For apostolos cf. on 6.13.
kai ex autōn apoktenousin kai diōxousin ‘and (some) or them they will kill and persecute,’ or, ‘and (some) of them they will kill and (some others) they will persecute,’ preferably the latter, ex autōn stands for tinas ex autōn ‘some of them.’
diōkō ‘to run after,’ ‘to persecute.’
(V. 50) hina ekzētēthē to haima pantōn tōn prophētōn … apo tēs geneas tautēs ‘so that the blood of all the prophets will be required of this generation,’ i.e. the present generation will be charged with the crimes of the preceding generations.
ekzēteō (also v. 51) ‘to seek out,’ hence ‘to require as a debt,’ ‘to charge with.’
haima ‘blood,’ see next note.
to ekkechumenon apo katabolēs kosmou, going with haima, ‘(the blood) that has been shed since the foundation of the world.’ To shed somebody’s blood means to kill him.
katabolē ‘foundation,’ ‘beginning.’
kosmos here ‘created world,’ ‘creation.’
(V. 51) apo haimatos Habel heōs haimatos Zachariou ‘from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah,’ a specification of apo katabolēs kosmou, stating the slaying of the first and the last prophet of the Old Testament that were killed (cf. Gen. 4.1ff and 2 Chron. 24.20f, the last book in the Hebrew Bible).
tou apolomenou metaxu tou thusiastēriou kai tou oikou, going with Zachariou (Zechariah), ‘who perished between the altar and the temple building.’ The verb implies violence. For thusiastērion cf. on 1.11. Here the reference is to the altar of burnt offering in the inner forecourt of the temple in Jerusalem in front of the temple building itself (to which oikos refers). metaxu also 16.26.
nai, legō humin ‘indeed, I tell you’ (cf. on 3.8), marks the end of the quotation from the wisdom of God (v. 49) and introduces the emphatic repetition of its main words by Jesus himself. In that repetition the emphasis is on apo tēs geneas tautēs ‘of this generation.’
Translation:
The Wisdom of God said, or, ‘it is written (for which cf. 2.23) in (the) book of (i.e. called) Wisdom of God’ (Kituba), following the first interpretation. If the other interpretation is preferred, it may be unidiomatic to take an abstract noun (‘Wisdom’) as subject of ‘said’; then one may shift to something like, ‘the One called Wisdom of God said.’
I will send them. The first pronoun refers to (the Wisdom of) God, the second presumably to Israelites of preceding generations, virtually identical with “your fathers” in vv. 47f.
Apostles, or, ‘personal messengers’ (Zarma), ‘persons sent’ (Trukese, Pohnpeian), and cf. the descriptive renderings mentioned in 6.13 and references, most of which can be used also in the more general sense meant here.
Some of whom, or co-ordinated, ‘some of (or, from among) them,’ referring to the prophets and apostles.
They (same reference as “them” as in “send them”) will kill and persecute. To keep the references clear it may be better to shift to a passive construction, e.g. ‘some of whom will be killed and persecuted’ (cf. Shona 1966, some Indonesian languages), or to specify the agent, e.g. ‘those men’ (Balinese), unless this has been done already in the preceding clause. When kill and persecute are taken as having the same group as object the more logical sequence is ‘persecute and kill’ (followed e.g. in Tzeltal, Trukese, Pohnpeian); this transposition is not necessary, however, when two different groups are envisaged, as advocated in Exegesis. The verb to persecute, i.e. to pursue (or, run after) with enmity and injury, has also been rendered ‘to harass,’ ‘to maltreat’ (Bahasa Indonesia, Tzeltal).
(V. 50) That is resultative, hence in co-ordination e.g. ‘the consequences/result (of this) will be thus: ….’
The intricate pattern of the subsequent clause may require several adjustments. The agent implied in “may be required” is God, that in “blood … shed” is the preceding generations, or, the fathers. To shed (or, cause to flow) the blood of … may have to be rendered by, ‘to cause the death of,’ ‘to kill/murder,’ and the blood of … may be required of this generation by, ‘the blood of … has been avenged on…’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, Batak Toba), ‘this generation may be caused to pay for the blood/death of … (or, to pay because their fathers killed …),’ “the people of this time will be punished for the murder of…” (Good News Translation), ‘the blood of … its account may be taken from this generation’ (Marathi). When an active construction is necessary or preferable, one may say, ‘God will require (etc., as above) of this generation the blood shed (or, which their fathers shed),’ or shift to, ‘this generation will be responsible for the blood of…’; cf. also ‘the killing of…, this generation must pay(-for-it)’ (cf. Kituba).
From the foundation of the world, or, ‘from the (very) beginning of the world onward’ (cf. Trukese, Tzeltal), ‘since the world was made’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘from the oldest times onward’ (cf. Pohnpeian).
(V. 51) The first half of this verse also may better be co-ordinated and recast, e.g. ‘as the first they killed A. and as the last they killed Z., who….’
The altar. To make explicit what was implied in this expression for the original receptors one may have to add some specification, e.g. ‘in the courtyard of the temple’ (Tzeltal). Some other possible renderings are, ‘where they place the gifts to God’ (cf. Huixtec), ‘place where the (killed) gifts to God are burned.’
For sanctuary see “temple” in 1.9.
It refers to ‘the blood, or, murder, of all the prophets.’
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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