come to bring peace

The Greek that is translated as “come to bring peace” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with the slightly pejorative Friedensapostel or “peacemaker (lit: “apostle of peace”).”

peace (absence of strife)

The Greek that is translated as “peace” in English, and like the English can refer to a mental state as well as a lack of strife or absence or cessation of war, needs to be expressed with distinguished terms in other languages. For the meaning of peace when referring to absence of strife, Northern Grebo renders “the palaver has passed,” Highland Totonac “well arranged” (implying reconciliation), Tae’ and Toraja-Sa’dan “being-good-with-each-other” (in Luke 12:51, the 1933 edition of Tae’ has “land and water are well”) or Sranan Tongo “free” (in the sense of “to conclude peace”).

See also peace (absence of conflict).

complete verse (Luke 12:51)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:51:

  • Noongar: “You say that I came to bring peace to the world? No, no peace, but only division.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “Do you think that my coming here, [I] come to make-one-life people? No! My coming here, [I] come to make-at-odds people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Is it that you mistakenly-thought that I have come to bring peace to the world? Not peace, instead I tell you, I have come to bring a reason for opposition/division-of-opinion.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You thought mistakenly, perhaps, that the reason I came here to the earth is so that there would not be any more trouble for mankind. That’s not it, because by means of my coming here, there will be separation of the breaths of people (this phrase means that they are divided in opinion.)” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You probably think I came to bring peace to the earth, but no. I came to cause-people -to-separate.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “You must not think that why I came here was to bring peace/protection so that people here in the world would be harmonious. Because some will believe-in/obey me, others won’t. Therefore it’s like I came here so that people are now in conflict.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

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 12:51

Exegesis:

dokeite hoti eirēnēn paregenomēn dounai en tē gē ‘do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth?’ For dokeō cf. on 8.18. For paraginomai on 7.4; here it expresses coming with a purpose. eirēnēn (emphatic by position) is best understood as referring to a realm of peace, and hence dounai may be rendered ‘to establish.’

ouchi, legō humin, all’ ē diamerisomon ‘no, I tell you, but rather division.’ For ouchi, a strong negation, cf. on 1.60. Here it is reinforced by the parenthetical legō humin. all’ ē (from alla ē) is here equivalent to a stronger alla.

diamerismos ‘division.’ Here it prepares the reader for the forms of the verb diamerizō which dominates vv. 52f.

Translation:

Do you think, or, ‘are you of the opinion,’ ‘do you suppose’ (for which see 2.44).

To give peace on earth, or, ‘to establish (a realm of) peace on earth’ (see Exegesis), ‘to make the earth a peaceful place,’ ‘to produce peace on earth’ (Western Highland Purepecha), ‘to cause the people on earth to be at peace (with each other).’ For peace see 1.79; the reference here is primarily to lack of strife, un-ruffled social intercourse.

No, I tell you, but. The function which the phrase I tell you has here is sometimes better expressed by emphasizing the negation, ‘No!’ (Balinese), “No indeed” (New English Bible), ‘no, not peace.’

Division, or, repeating the verb, ‘I give division/dissension,’ or in a verbal phrase, ‘I cause people to be divided (against each other),’ cf. on v. 52.

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.