Lord

The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.

In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.

In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:

  • referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
  • meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
  • as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
  • or, most often, referring to Jesus

In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.

Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”

When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).

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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):

  • Navajo (Dinė): “the one who has charge”
  • Mossi: “the one who has the head” (the leader)
  • Uduk: “chief”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “the one who commands”
  • Kpelle: “person-owner” (a term which may be applied to a chief)
  • Central Pame: “the one who owns us” (or “commands us”)
  • Piro: “the big one” (used commonly of one in authority)
  • San Blas Kuna: “the great one over all” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Guhu-Samane: Soopara (“our Supervisor”) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Balinese: “Venerated-one” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Yanesha’: “the one who carries us” (source: Nida 1952, p. 159)
  • Northern Emberá: Dadjirã Boro (“our Head”)
  • Rarotongan: Atu (“master or owner of a property”)
  • Gilbertese: Uea (“a person of high status invested with authority to rule the people”)
  • Rotuman: Gagaja (“village chief”)
  • Samoan: Ali’i (“an important word in the native culture, it derives from the Samoan understanding of lordship based on the local traditions”)
  • Tahitian: Fatu (“owner,” “master”)
  • Tuvalu: Te Aliki (“chief”)
  • Fijian: Liuliu (“leader”) (source for this and six above: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 329ff. )
  • Bacama: Həmə miye: “owner of people” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Hopi: “Controller” (source: Walls 2000, p. 139)
  • Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
  • Ghomala’: Cyəpɔ (“he who is above everyone,” consisting of the verb cyə — to surpass or go beyond — and — referring to people. No human can claim this attribute, no matter what his or her social status or prestige.” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn )
  • Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
  • Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)

    We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.

    New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.

    Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )

  • Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Angami Naga: Niepu (“master,” “owner”)
  • Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
  • Ao Naga: Kibuba (“human master,” “teacher,” “owner of property,” etc.) (source for this and two above: Nitoy Achumi in The Bible Translator 1992 p. 438ff. )
  • Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
  • Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
  • Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
  • Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
  • Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
  • Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
  • Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
  • Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
  • Chichewa: Ambuye Ambuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
  • Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)

Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”

See also Father / Lord.

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 13:15

Exegesis:

apekrithē de autō ho kurios kai eipen ‘but the Lord answered him and said.’ For apekrithē cf. on 1.60; for ho kurios on 1.6.

hupokritai ‘hypocrites,’ cf. on 6.42 and 12.56. The fact that Jesus uses the plural, though addressing one man, means that all who tacitly agree with the leader of the synagogue are involved.

hekastos humōn tō sabbatō ou luei ton boun autou ē ton onon apo tēs phatnēs ‘does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the manger?’ hekastos humōn and tō sabbatō are emphatic by position. Interrogative ou suggests that the obvious answer to the question is ‘yes.’ For luō cf. on 3.16. For phatnē cf. on 2.7.

kai apagagōn potizei ‘and does not (each of you) lead (it) away and water (it)?,’ continuation of the interrogative clause.

apagō ‘to lead away,’ with the connotation of leading to a certain goal; here the goal is indicated by the following verb. The aorist tense of apagagōn suggests an act preceding that expressed by the main verb potizei.

potizō ‘to water,’ ‘to give drink to (an animal).’

Translation:

For you hypocrites see 6.42.

Does not each of you … untie …, or better to bring out the emphasis, “is there a single one of you who does not loose…” (New English Bible), or, as a statement, ‘no doubt any one of you would untie…’ (cf. Good News Translation). Untie, or, ‘loose the tie/bond of.’

Ox and ass. For ox one may use the name of, or a generic designation for, a comparable domestic animal commonly known in the culture, such as ‘buffalo’ (e.g. in Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘head of cattle’ (Shona, West Nyanja). The word is used here in its general sense not in that of ‘castrated bull.’ Ass may have to become ‘horse,’ ‘mount,’ ‘riding-animal.’

Manger, see 2.7. Several versions prefer the meaning ‘stall,’ ‘(compartment of a) stable’; then the verb ‘to untie’ is sometimes rendered by ‘to release’ (Translator’s New Testament, Bahasa Indonesia), or, ‘lead out’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), implying that there is no bond to be untied, but an enclosure to be opened.

To water it, or, ‘to cause-to-drink it’ (Sundanese); or, taking the animal as subject, ‘that it may drink,’ ‘to drink (water)’ (Batak Toba, Sranan Tongo); or again, as a locative, ‘towards the watering place’ (Willibrord).

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 13:15

13:15a

This verse begins with a Greek conjunction. Since it introduces a contrast between what the synagogue leader wanted and what Jesus said was right, some English versions (New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004), New Revised Standard Version) translate it as “But.” Other versions (English Standard Version, NET Bible) translate it as “Then” to introduce what happened next. The Berean Standard Bible and several other versions (Contemporary English Version, Good News Translation, New International Version) do not translate this conjunction. Connect 13:15a to 13:14c-e in a way that is natural in your language.

“You hypocrites!” the Lord replied: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Lord replied is literally “the Lord answered him and said.” The pronoun “him” refers here to the leader of the synagogue. But it is clear from the next phrase, “You hypocrites,” that Jesus was speaking not only to the synagogue leader. He was also speaking to any other people there who agreed with what the leader had just said. In some languages it may be necessary to make this implied information explicit. For example:

The Lord said to the leader ⌊and to those whose thoughts were similar

13:15b

You hypocrites!: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hypocrites refers to people whose words are inconsistent with their behavior. They may also expect other people to follow a different standard than they follow themselves. Jesus called the synagogue leader and his companions hypocrites for at least two reasons:

(a) They scolded other people for “working” on the Sabbath by coming to get healed, but they themselves took care of their animals on the Sabbath.

(b) They talked as though they were criticizing the people and really wanted everyone to obey the law, but their real intention was to criticize Jesus.

Some ways to translate hypocrites in this context are:

You pretenders/fakes
-or-
You who pretend to obey God
-or-
Your words do not fit what you do

See the notes on “hypocrisy” or “hypocrites” in 6:42d, 12:1d, and 12:56a. In some languages, the term for “hypocrite” may be general enough to fit all these contexts. In other languages, it may be necessary to use a different term for different kinds of hypocrisy.

13:15c–d

Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes the obvious fact that each of the hypocrites worked on the Sabbath just as much as the people they were criticizing. They untied their animals and led them out to drink on the Sabbath, as well as on other days. Here are some possible ways to translate this emphasis:

As a rhetorical question. For example:

Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering? (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
So ⌊do you think⌋ you(plur) are not ⌊working when you⌋ untie your ox or donkey from the manger and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath?

As a statement. For example:

Without doubt, all of you untie your ox or donkey from the stall and take it to drink water on the Sabbath day! ⌊And so, you, too, are working!

Translate this emphasis in a way that is most natural in your language.

13:15c

his ox or donkey: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as ox is a general word that can refer to any animal that is like a cow. Although the English word “ox” refers specifically to a castrated bull, the Greek word is more general. In languages that do not have terms for ox or donkey, you may:

Use the names of similar animals in your culture. For example:

cow/buffalo or horse

Use a general term. For example:

your work animals (New Century Version)

from the stall: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as stall may refer specifically to a feeding trough or “manger.” It may also refer more generally to a “stall,” a section or room inside a stable where the animals were fed. There are several ways to translate this term:

Specify a place, such as “manger,” “stall,” “stable,” or “animal shelter,” where the animal was tied. For example:

untie his ox or donkey from the manger (New Jerusalem Bible)

Leave the place implicit. For example:

untie your ox or donkey and lead it out to drink (Contemporary English Version)

13:15d

and lead it to water: This verse part explains the reason people untied their animals every day, even on the Sabbath. They led the animals to a place where they could drink water, and then led them back to their stall. Jews normally considered this as work. But they made an exception for this on the Sabbath, because to them it was necessary.

Languages have different ways to refer to leading an animal to a place where it can drink. For example:

take it out for watering (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
lead them to drink water (New Century Version)
-or-
go and cause it to drink

Use an expression that is natural in your language.

General Comment on 13:15c–d

In some languages it may be more natural to mention the stall in 13:15d rather than 13:15c. For example:

Each Sabbath you all untie your ox or donkey and lead it out from its stall to give it water.

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