ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τοῦ κόσμου ἐπιζητοῦσιν, ὑμῶν δὲ ὁ πατὴρ οἶδεν ὅτι χρῄζετε τούτων.
30For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
The Greek that is translated as “your Father” in English (when Jesus refers to the God as the Father of his followers) is rendered as “our Father” in Tzotzil “so as to not exclude Jesus.” (Source: Marin Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff.)
See also Father (address for God).
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:30:
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.
The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”
If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also Lord and my / our Father.
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).
(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 shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is 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, shitteo-rare-ru (知っておられる) or “knowing” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Exegesis:
tauta gar panta ta ethnē tou kosmou epizētousin ‘all these things the peoples of the world are pursuing’ (taking tauta panta together), or ‘these things all the people of the world are pursuing’ (taking panta ta ethnē together), preferably the former. tauta panta refers to such things as eating and drinking. ta ethnē refers to the peoples of the world that live outside the covenant-relationship between God and Israel. The present tense of epizētousin is habitual. epizēteō, cf. on 4.42.
humōn de ho patēr ‘your father,’ with continuing emphasis on humōn, ‘you as distinct from the peoples of the world.’
oiden hoti chrēzete toutōn ‘knows that you need these things.’ toutōn refers to the same things as tauta panta. chrēzō, cf. on 11.8.
Translation:
The nations of the world has the same reference meaning as “the Gentiles” in 2.32 (which see); it may be translated, ‘the heathen’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), “the pagan world” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘the other (or, non-Jewish) peoples in the world.’
Your Father, cf. on 6.36.
You need them, i.e. you are in need/want of them, or since the implied reference is to food, ‘you live-on those things’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).
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.
12:30a
For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For introduces a reason why Jesus’ disciples should not worry about what they should eat and drink and wear. They should not worry, because if they worried, they would be like the people of other nations who did not know God.
the Gentiles of the world strive after all these things: Scholars disagree as to what the word all refers to:
(1) It refers to the phrase these things. For example:
These are all things that occupy the minds of the Gentiles (Revised English Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) It refers to the phrase the Gentiles of the world. For example:
For all the nations of the world seek these things (Revised Standard Version)
(Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, New Century Version, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The word “all” appears with “these things” five other times in Luke. This interpretation also agrees with the parallel passage in Matthew 6:32.
the Gentiles of the world: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Gentiles of the world is literally “the nations of the world.” It refers to the various people groups throughout the world who did not trust in the God of the Jews. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
people who don’t know God (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
nations who do not worship/know God
-or-
other/Gentile nations
strive after: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as strive after means “desire” or “seek.” It has almost the same meaning as the verb that was translated as “be concerned about” in 12:29a and as “seek” in 12:31a. Other ways to translate the verb here are:
are always concerned about (Good News Translation)
-or-
set their hearts on (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
occupy the minds of (Revised English Bible)
-or-
trying to get (New Century Version)
all these things: The phrase all these things refers to all sorts of material things, including the food, drink, and clothes that Jesus had just been talking about.
12:30b
and your Father knows that you need them: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and is often translated as “but” in English. Here it occurs with your, which is in an emphatic position. It contrasts the disciples with the people who do not know God. The disciples can trust God to care for them. As their Father, he knows what they need. One way to express this meaning is:
But as for you, your Father knows that you need these things
your Father: This refers to God. If this would not be clear in your language, you may need to make this explicit:
your Father ⌊God⌋
-or-
your ⌊heavenly⌋ Father
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