Luke 12:37 – TIPs

fasten his belt

The Greek that is translated as “fasten his belt” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Kellnerschürze umbinden or “tie on the waiter’s apron.”

truly truly - I tell you

The Greek that is often translated in English as “truly, truly, I tell you” or similar is translated in the Russian BTI translation (publ. 2015) as Поверьте Мне (Pover’te Mne) or “trust me.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

happiness / joy

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.

Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

complete verse (Luke 12:37)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:37:

Noongar: “They are happy, these workers, because their master finds them awake and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his good clothes, tell them to sit, and give them their food and drink.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Fortunate are the slaves whose master found them while they were guarding and waiting for his arrival. Because that nobleman will tie a sarong around his waist, cause-to-sit-down them, and serve them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Those servants will really be happy if, when their master arrives they are still awake and are ready beforehand. Truly I tell you, that their master will seat them at the table and will serve them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “How good is the breath of those servants when their master arrives, and they are ahead of time prepared for his arrival. It’s true what I say to you, that as for that master, he will make them sit down at the table and he will be the one to serve them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “They are fortunate servants if their master comes-upon them waiting and ready, even if it’s the middle of the night or still later when-he-comes-home. I tell you that their master will change (clothes) and seat those servants of his in order to feed them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The slaves really can be happy who, on the arrival of their master, are waiting in readiness. What I will say to you really is true, that this master will serve a meal and he will cause these slaves to eat there at the eating-place, he even being the one to wait on them as they eat.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

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.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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. )

Translation commentary on Luke 12:37 – 12:38

Exegesis:

makarioi hoi douloi ekeinoi … (38) … makarioi eisin ekeinoi ‘blessed those servants … blessed are those.’ makarioi and ekeinoi are emphatic by virtue of their position both at the beginning and the end of vv. 37f and mark the content of both verses as belonging together.

hous elthōn ho kurios heurēsei grēgorountas ‘whom the master when he comes will find awake.’ ho kurios here takes up ton kurion in v. 36.

grēgoreō (also v. 39) ‘to be awake,’ ‘to stay awake.’

amēn legō humin ‘truly I say to you,’ cf. on 3.8 and 4.24.

perizōsetai ‘he will gird himself,’ cf. on v. 35. Here perizōnnumi is used in the middle voice with reflexive meaning.

anaklinei autous ‘he will make them sit, or, lie down at the table,’ cf. on 2.7.

kai parelthōn diakonēsei autois ‘and after coming he will serve them, or, wait on them.’ parelthōn is best understood as referring to coming to the place where the servants are reclining. For diakoneō cf. on 4.39.

(V. 38) kan en tē deutera kan en tē tritē phulakē elthē ‘and whether he comes in the second or even in the third watch….’ kan … kan lit. ‘and if … and if’ is best understood as ‘whether … or even’; it does not refer to two contrasting possibilities, but rather has ascensive meaning, since the time of the second night watch is already very late. For phulakē cf. on 2.8. The reference is here probably to the Jewish and Greek division in three.

kai heurē houtōs ‘and finds (them) so,’ with autous understood. houtōs means grēgorountas.

Translation:

If the structure of the first sentence is too heavy one may shift to, ‘if he/the master comes and finds those (or, his) servants awake, blessed are they.’

For blessed, or ‘happy,’ see 1.45.

Servant. The Revised Standard Version uses this term for Gr. pais, lit. ‘child,’ ‘boy’ (1.54, 69; 7.7; 15.26), oiketēs, lit. ‘domestic (slave)’ (16.13), doulos, lit. ‘slave’ (2.29; 12.37-47; 14.17-23; 15.22; 17.7-10; 19.13-22; 20.10f), and in the expressions “menservants and maidservants” (paidas kai paidiskas, 12.45), “hired servants” (misthioi, 15.17, 19). Gr. doulos is rendered “slave” in two passages (7.2-10; 22.50); diakonos, the word most closely corresponding to ‘servant,’ does not occur in Luke. Juridically speaking each of these ‘servants,’ with exception of the misthioi, probably was a ‘slave’ in that his person and work were at the disposal of another, i.e. his owner or master, but in most New Testament passages this juridical aspect does not predominate. Socially speaking the slave played an important role in New Testament times; he did all and any kind of work, from labour on the field and menial jobs in- and outside the house to the task of manager or agent (cf. 12.42f; 19.13ff; 20.10ff) and he had a recognized social status; possession of slaves was not subject to moral reprobation. Accordingly Gr. doulos did not have the bad connotation that ‘slave’ has in languages reflecting other norms. In such languages the term for ‘slave’ (for which see above 7.2) can better be reserved for those passages where the juridical aspect comes to the fore; in other passages a word for ‘servant’ (i.e. one who exerts himself for the benefit of another, i.e. his employer), will be preferable, e.g. ‘one who is sent here and there’ (Navajo), ‘one who does errands’ (Copainalá Zoque, for Mk. 9.35), ‘one-who-works-for-you’ (Ekari), ‘helper’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl). In some languages one may have to choose between distinctive terms according to the task the servant has to do, e.g. ‘labourer,’ ‘domestic servant,’ etc.

When he comes, i.e. comes home/returns.

The rendering of he will gird himself may be basically the same as in v. 35a, but in some cases a distinction must be made, e.g. in Balinese, where one who is waiting upon persons at a meal would not wear a tucked-in sarong (which is informal dress) but ‘wraps-himself-in a saput (i.e. a garment worn over the sarong, covering the body from the breast to the knees)’; similarly in Batak Toba, ‘puts-on his-ceremonial-dress.’

Have them sit at table, or “make them take their places at table” (An American Translation), ‘cause them to sit down to eat,’ ‘seat them at the place of food’ (Zarma), ‘invites them to take the meal,’ ‘tell them to come and sit to eat’ (Ekari); and see 5.29.

Serve them, here in the sense of, ‘wait upon them (at the meal),’ ‘serve the meal, or, the food to them.’ The verb used often has to differ from the one occurring in the rendering of “servant”, see above.

(V. 38) In the second watch, or in the third, or, “even if it is the middle of the night or before dawn” (New English Bible, similarly Kele), “as late as midnight or even later” (Good News Translation), ‘before or after noon of night’ (Kituba, similarly Kekchi).

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.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 12:37

12:37a

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns: In this context there is one master, and he has more than one servant. Your translation should not imply that there is more than one master. Some other ways to translate the clause are:

How happy are those servants whose master finds them awake (Good News Translation)
-or-
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake
-or-
If their master finds them watching when he arrives, those servants will be most blessed/fortunate.

Blessed are those servants: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Blessed are those servants means that these servants will be truly happy or fortunate. In this context it implies that their master will be pleased with them and will show them special favor.

See bless, Meaning 3 in the Glossary.

servants: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as servants also means “slaves.” Some English versions, such as the New American Standard Bible and New Revised Standard Version, translate it that way. These people were owned by another person. They worked for their owner/master without receiving pay.

In some cultures, slaves may not be known. In other cultures, a word such as “slaves” may have the wrong connotations. If that is true in your language, other ways to translate this are:

workers
-or-
servants

whom the master finds on watch when he returns: The clause whom the master finds on watch when he returns indicates here that the master sees that his servants are awake and expecting him to come. Some other ways to translate this are:

whose master finds them awake and ready (Good News Translation)
-or-
he sees that they were watching for him (New Century Version)
-or-
whom the master finds alert (New Revised Standard Version)

12:37b

Truly I tell you: Jesus often used the words Truly I tell you to introduce a statement that he wanted to emphasize. He wanted people to listen with extra attention. Some other ways to show this emphasis are:

I assure you (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
I can guarantee this truth (God’s Word)

This expression first occurs in Luke at 4:24a. It has almost the same meaning as the expression “I tell you,” which first occurs in Luke in 10:12.

he will dress himself to serve: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he will dress himself to serve is literally “he will gird himself.” Some English versions, such as the Revised Standard Version, translate it that way. It is a different form of the same verb used in 12:35. See the note there. In 12:35 the verb was used as a metaphor for a servant being ready.

In the parable in this context, the master had just returned from a wedding feast. He may have changed his clothes, but it is also possible that he simply tucked his robe up into the sash around his waist. Either way, the clause literally describes what the master did with his clothes in order to serve a meal to his servants.

In some languages a literal translation of the clause will not be clear. Some other ways to translate it are:

• Use clothing that is appropriate in your culture for expressing the meaning. For example:

He will hitch up his robe (Revised English Bible)
-or-
He will fasten his belt (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
put on an apron (New Living Translation (2004))

• Refer to clothing in general and make the function explicit, if necessary. For example:

He will change his clothes (God’s Word)
-or-
He will dress himself to serve (New Century Version)

• Omit the reference to clothing. Translate only the function of the clothing. For example:

he will get ready (Contemporary English Version)

Consider how the people in your language area dress themselves in order to do work such as cooking and serving food.

12:37c

will have them recline at the table: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as have them recline at the table is literally “have them recline.” The Berean Standard Bible has supplied the phrase at the table to indicate the specific meaning in this context.

When people ate formal meals in Jesus’ time, they often lay on couches around a low table. They ate while leaning on one elbow. If people in your culture do not normally lie on couches when they eat formal meals, you may use a natural expression in your culture for this context. For example:

make them sit down at the table (God’s Word)
-or-
tell the servants to sit at the table (New Century Version)
-or-
have them sit down to eat (New Revised Standard Version)

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Verse: Luke 12:37