The Greek and Hebrew that are translated as “worry” or “anxious” in English are translated in Navajo (Dinė) as “my mind is killing me.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 24)
Nida (1952, p. 124) also gives other examples:
“The Piro in Peru use almost the same idiom when they say that a worried man is ‘one who is hard chased.’ The worried person is like a pursued animal in the forest trying to elude the hunter. The impenetrable jungle of the future, the failing strength, and the exhaustion of doubt all press hard upon the soul. And one’s heart seems to fail and even disappear. This is the very phrase employed by the Tzeltal Indians in the rugged mountains of southern Mexico. They describe ‘worry’ by the words ‘their hearts are gone.'”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:11:
Noongar: “‘When they take you and test you in the Meeting Houses or in front of kings or other leaders, you must not be down-hearted when you stand before them and you do not know the words you will say,” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘If they bring you to the house of prayer and accuse you to the religious judges or the government because of your following of Me, do not be afraid about what your answer should be or what you should say.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When in the future the people will seize you and bring you to their prayer-houses to be judged, or they bring you before their leaders and the ones who rule the country, don’t be troubled/worried as to how you shall defend yourselves or as to what you shall say.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when, because of your faith, people take you into their church in order to judge you, and when they investigate you in front of kings and judges, don’t be worried about what you will answer them, and what you will do at that time.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘When they arrest you to go file-charges-against you in the church of the Jews and in front of governors and other rulers, don’t worry about what you will answer and what you will say.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well supposing you are interrogated in the worship-places, or brought before the government-officials or whoever is in authority here in the land, don’t be distressed as to what you will answer or say.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 (Dinė): “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 (Dinė): “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)
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
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 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.
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®).
hotan de eispherōsin humas epi tas sunagōgas kai tas archas kai tas exousias ‘when they drag you to the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities.’
eispherō lit. ‘to bring (in) to,’ here of forceful bringing, ‘to drag,’ ‘to hale.’
sunagōgē ‘synagogue,’ here of the synagogue in its function of a local court.
archē here in a concrete sense, ‘ruler,’ ‘magistrate.’
exousia (cf. on 4.6) here in a concrete sense ‘ruler,’ ‘authority.’ There is little or no difference between exousia and archē in the present context. Both words refer to judicial officers before whom the disciples may be brought.
mē merimnēsēte ‘do not worry,’ cf. on 10.41.
pōs [ē ti] apologēsēsthe ē ti eipēte ‘how you are to defend yourself, or what you are to say.’ [ē ti] is best disregarded for translational purposes.
apologeomai (also 21.14) ‘to answer,’ ‘to say in one’s defense,’ ‘to defend oneself.’ As shown by pōs the verb refers here to the manner of the defense, as contrasted with eipein which refers to the actual wording.
Translation:
Bring you before, i.e. ‘bring you up,’ ‘bring you to be tried before’ (cf. Good News Translation); specific terms are available in some languages e.g. Javanese, Sundanese (lit. ‘to escort’), Toraja-Sa’dan (see on 21.12).
Synagogues, here, ‘the councils, or, those assembled, in the synagogue’ (cf. Bahasa Indonesia, Toraja-Sa’dan).
Rulers and authorities here usually best rendered by two rather common synonyms, e.g. “governors or rulers” (Good News Translation), ‘princes and/or kings,’ ‘chiefs low and/or high,’ or, interpreted as a hendiadys, “state authorities” (New English Bible).
Do not be anxious, see 10.41. The connexion with what follows may have to be clarified, e.g. by inserting, ‘asking yourself (or, saying within yourself, or, thinking)’ before the dependent clauses.
How … you are to answer or what you are to say. The first verb has been rendered, ‘say-in-reply’ (Kele, a “reversive” form of ‘to reply,’ implying that an accusation has been made), ‘defend-oneself’ (West Nyanja), ‘say back’ (Ekari). Since “answer” and “say” refer to virtually the same act the two verbs have sometimes been combined into one verb or verbal expression, e.g. ‘how or what you are to reply,’ ‘how or what you must speak to defend yourself (Nieuwe Vertaling), or, answer to pull yourself out from it’ (Sranan Tongo, using an idiomatic expression for ‘preservation of life’).
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.
When you are brought before synagogues: The clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as When you are brought before synagogues contains implied information. It implies that people would arrest the disciples and take them to the synagogues, the local Jewish meeting places. There the Jewish leaders would ask them questions and decide whether they should be punished because they were loyal to Jesus. Jesus implied that the Jewish leaders would be hostile to the disciples because they were Jesus’ followers. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:
When you are brought ⌊to trial⌋ in the synagogues -or-
When you are ⌊arrested and tried⌋ in front of the synagogue ⌊courts⌋
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as are brought is a passive verb. If it is more natural to use an active verb in your language, you should supply a general subject. For example:
When ⌊people/they⌋ ⌊arrest you and accuse⌋ you in the synagogues
synagogues: The term synagogues describes buildings where Jews gathered to pray, read Scripture, teach their beliefs, and worship. The Jews also gathered there for cultural activities. There was only one temple (in Jerusalem), but each Jewish community had a synagogue. 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.
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 synagogues also occurs in 11:43b. See synagogue in the Glossary.
rulers, and authorities: The phrase rulers, and authorities refers to all kinds of government leaders, both Jews and Gentiles, who ruled people and also acted as judges. For example:
governors or rulers (Good News Translation) -or-
the leaders and other powerful people (New Century Version)
Use one or more terms in your language that would allow for a variety of civil rulers.
12:11b
do not worry about: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as worry means to be anxious or concerned about something. Jesus told his disciples not to be anxious about what they should say when they were accused.
how to defend yourselves or what to say: The two clauses how to defend yourselves and what to say both refer to what the disciples will say when they are accused in court. The first phrase refers in general to the method or type of defense that the disciples will use to answer the accusations against them. The second phrase refers more specifically to what the disciples will say.
Some ways to translate these similar ideas are:
• Use two separate clauses or phrases, as the Berean Standard Bible does. For example:
the way you will answer and what you will say -or-
how you will answer the accusations against you and what you will say
• Combine the ideas in one clause or phrase. For example:
what to say in your defense (New Living Translation (1996))
Translate these ideas in a way that is natural in your language.
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