Zechariah

The name of the father of John the Baptist that is transliterated as “Zechariah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “beard (the sign for a patriarch)” + “mute.” (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)


“Zechariah” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

See also Elizabeth.

complete verse (Luke 1:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:18:

  • Noongar: “Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How will I know when your talking will come true? I am an old man and my wife is also an old woman.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “Zakharia said saying to the angel: ‘But, how do I know the truth of that which you (sing.) said? Because I am already old, and my wife is also old.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Jakariya said to the angel, ‘How shall I be sure of it? I am old and my wife is also old?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Zechariah answered. He said, ‘What is th sign so that I might know that truly will come to pass these things you have been talking about? Because I and my wife, we are now very old.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then Zekarias said to the angel, ‘Yes, but how will I know that these-things will be fulfilled? Because here I am already an old-man and my wife is an old-lady.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Zacarias spoke questioning the angel. He said, ‘What is the proof of that since we married-couple are now bent with old-age?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

angel

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The Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic that is translated as “angel” in English versions is translated in many ways:

  • Pintupi-Luritja: ngaṉka ngurrara: “one who belongs in the sky” (source: Ken Hansen quoted in Steven 1984a, p. 116.)
  • Tetela, Kpelle, Balinese, and Mandarin Chinese: “heavenly messenger”
  • Shilluk / Igede: “spirit messenger”
  • Mashco Piro: “messenger of God”
  • Batak Toba: “envoy, messenger”
  • Navajo: “holy servant” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida 1961; Igede: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Central Mazahua: “God’s worker” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Saramaccan: basia u Masa Gaangadu köndë or “messenger from God’s country” (source: Jabini 2015, p. 86)
  • Mairasi: atatnyev nyaa or “sent-one” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “word bringer” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
  • Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
  • Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)

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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also angel (Acts 12:15) and this devotion on YouVersion .

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on Luke 1:18

Exegesis:

kata ti gnōsomai touto lit. ‘in accordance with what,’ i.e. ‘by what sign shall I know this?.’

ginōskō ‘to come to know,’ ‘to know.’ Here it means ‘to be sure of,’ cf. New English Bible, Phillips, Bible de Jérusalem.

egō gar eimi presbutēs ‘for I am an old man.’ The connexion with the preceding clause is as follows: Zechariah requested a sign because he could not believe what the angel had told him, and he could not believe it because he and his wife were old.

presbutēs † ‘old man,’ substantive.

probebēkuia en tais hēmerais autēs ‘advanced in her days,’ cf. on v. 7.

Translation:

Said, often better, ‘asked,’ because the verb introduces a question. A similar shift must often be considered before direct questions, e.g. in 1.34; 7.19 (“sent saying”, i.e. ‘sent to ask him’); 7.40 (“answering, said”, i.e. ‘in his turn asked’); and, though less common, also before rhetorical questions, or exclamations having the form of a question, such as 2.48; 4.22, 36, etc.

How shall I know this?, or, ‘how (or, by what means, or, by what sign) shall I know this is true,’ ‘how (etc.) can I be sure of this (or, that this will happen),’ ‘how shall the certainty of this be’ (Tboli), ‘relying on what can I know this thing’ (Chinese).

Advanced in years, see on v. 7. If there ‘old/aged’ has been used, as being the closest natural equivalent, this rendering will sound repetitive in the present verse. Tagalog solves the problem by saying, ‘I am very old already, and like that also is my wife.’

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.