complete verse (Luke 12:39)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:39:

  • Noongar: “And you already know this truth: if a man owns his house and he knows when the thief will come, he will not allow the thief to break his house and enter it.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘Store my parable in your hearts: If the house-owner knows ahead-of-time what time robbers will come, he will definitely guard so that they do not enter.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But remember this, that if the owner of a house knew at what time the thief will arrive he would certainly watch/stay awake and he would not let/abandon his house to be broken into and entered.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said again, ‘Don’t you forget that if the owner of the house knew when the thief would come, he would have carefully be on guard and that thief could not have entered into his house.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Remember this also: if the house owner had known the hour that the thief would arrive, he would have been prepared so the thief would not have-been-able-to-enter.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Consider this. Supposing a householder knew at what hour a thief would come, of course he wouldn’t just allow his house to be entered.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Kabwa: “If a house owner would know the time when a thief is coming, he would prepare himself, and the thief would not enter inside his house.”
  • Suba-Simbiti: “If only a house owner would know the time at which a thief would come, he would prepare himself. He would not sleep, leaving the thief destroying his house.” (Source for this and above: R.M. Mészároš in Journal of Translation 18/2022, p. 115ff. )

Translation commentary on Luke 12:39

Exegesis:

touto de ginōskete ‘this you must know,’ or ‘this you know,’ presumably the former.

hoti … ouk an aphēken dioruchthēnai ton oikon autou ‘that … he would not have let his house be broken into.’ For aphiēmi cf. on 8.51.

diorussō lit. ‘to dig through,’ here of digging through the sun dried brick wall of a house, hence, ‘to break into.’

ei ēdei ho oikodespotēs ‘if the master of the house had known.’ The picture changes rather abruptly from the servants waiting for the return of their master to the master expecting a thief but not knowing when he will come. The common element in vv. 36-38 and v. 39 is that of watchfulness.

poia hōra ho kleptēs erchetai ‘at what time the thief would come.’ erchetai, though in the present tense, has future meaning. poia lit. ‘of what kind’ is here equivalent to tini ‘what.’

Translation:

But know this, that, or as a co-ordinate sentence, “and remember this!” (Good News Translation), ‘Take notice also of this!.’

The subsequent sentence may better be divided into two, e.g. ‘a householder cannot know (or, no householder knows) at what hour a thief will come; if he did/knew, he would not have let….’

The householder, or, ‘the master of the house,’ ‘the one who owns the house.’

Would not have left (or, let) his house to be broken into, or, ‘would not have allowed him (or, that thief) to break into his house’ (cf. Batak Toba, Good News Translation). To break into a house is variously rendered, e.g. ‘to enter a house with force’ (Kituba, similarly Tzeltal), ‘make a hole through (the wall of) a house’ (Zarma, Thai 1967; Kele, Tae’ 1933), ‘to pierce through the wall to enter a house,’ ‘to steal (the contents of) a house’ (Trukese).

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 12:39

Paragraph 12:39–40

In this paragraph Jesus continued to teach his disciples that they needed to be ready for his return. He used a short illustration about a house owner who needed to be ready in case a thief broke into his house. This story is not a continuation of the previous story.

12:39a

In some languages it may be helpful to introduce this verse by indicating in some way that Jesus was beginning to give a different illustration. For example:

⌊Then Jesus said⌋ ⌊to his disciples⌋
-or-

⌊Then Jesus gave another example. He said⌋

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as translates as But here introduces a new illustration that teaches the same point as the one in 12:35–38. The new illustration does not contrast with the previous one. Be careful not to use a conjunction that implies a wrong connection between the two illustrations. In some languages a conjunction will not be needed.

understand this: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as translates as understand this is literally “know this” or “you know this.” Jesus used this clause to emphasize that what he was about to say was important. The word this refers to the illustration that he was about to give them. Some ways to translate this clause are:

you can be sure that (Good News Translation)
-or-
Here is another example for you to think about
-or-
Remember/Consider this also

12:39b–c

Here Jesus used an illustration to teach his disciples that he will return when people do not expect him.

If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into:
This short illustration contains much implied information:

(a) The owner of the house did not know that a thief was coming or what time he would come.

(b) A thief did come.

(c) The thief broke into the house.

(d) The owner could have prevented this if he had been ready.

In some languages a literal translation may be confusing. It may imply to some readers that Jesus was telling about a past event that happened to a specific house owner. Use a natural way in your language to indicate that Jesus was giving an illustration. Some ways to do this in English are:

You would surely not let a thief break into your home, if you knew when the thief was coming. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. (New Living Translation (2004))

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