Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 13:17:
Noongar: “When Jesus replied, the official who argued became ashamed, and all the people became happy because of the great things Jesus was doing.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Those words of Yesus embarrassed his enemy. But as for the people, they were glad to see all the surprising things that he did.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Isa said this, his opponents were very ashamed. But all the people were happy about the wonder causing works he was doing.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And that answer of Jesus caused great shame to his enemies, but the many other people who were there, they were very happy with all of the miracles which he did.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The one opposing Jesus was totally shamed by this answer of his while at-the-same-time great was the happiness of the many-people at all the amazing-things he had been doing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Those who were opposing Jesus were embarrassed because of that answer of his. But the crowd of people were really pleased with those far from ordinary things he was doing.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in <em>The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, hanas-are-ru (話される) or “speak” is used.
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-ude (みわざ) or “work (of God)” in the referenced verses. (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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
kai tauta legontos autou ‘when he was saying this,’ or, ‘because he said this,’ preferably the former.
katēschunonto pantes hoi antikeimenoi autō ‘all his adversaries were put to shame.’
kataischunō ‘to put to shame,’ ‘to humiliate.’
antikeimenos (also 21.15) ‘opposing,’ then ‘adversary,’ ‘opponent,’ here with dative of the person opposed.
pas ho ochlos ‘all the crowd,’ refers to the same people as ochlos in v. 14.
epi pasin tois endoxois tois ginomenois hup’ autou ‘at all the glorious things that were done by him.’ For endoxos cf. on 7.25; here it is used as a substantive in the plural, meaning ‘glorious things, or, deeds.’ ginomenois ‘happening,’ is virtually equivalent to the passive of poieō ‘to do.’
Translation:
Adversaries, or, ‘enemies,’ ‘opponents’ (Tae’), ‘the men that were criticizing him’ (Sranan Tongo, similarly Sundanese).
Were put to shame, or, ‘felt ashamed,’ ‘were embarrassed’ (Tzeltal); Good News Translation shifts to an active construction, “his answer made all his enemies ashamed of themselves”. In Kituba one ‘sees shame,’ in Tae’ one’s ‘eyes are-ashamed,’ in East Nyanja and Yao ‘shame is done to, or, poured upon’ one, and in West Nyanja one can ‘do shame.’ Some figurative expressions for ‘be ashamed’ are, ‘the body is cold’ (Kabba Laka), ‘to have to sell face’ (Thai 1967).
All the people, cf. on 3.21.
At all the glorious things that were done by him, or, ‘because Jesus did such glorious things/deeds.’ Glorious things, or, ‘deeds that have-glory’ (Tae,’ cf. “glory” in 2.9), “wonderful things” (New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem), ‘wonders’ (Javanese, using the same term as for Gr terata in Mt. 24.24), ‘big works’ (Sranan Tongo, using the same term as for “mighty works” in 10.13).
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.
When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated: The clause When Jesus said this gives not only the time but also the reason why Jesus’ opponents were humiliated. Another way to translate this is:
His answer made his enemies ashamed of themselves. (Good News Translation)
His adversaries were humiliated: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as His adversaries were humiliated means that Jesus’ opponents felt ashamed because Jesus had publicly shown that they were wrong.
13:17b
the whole crowd: The phrase the whole crowd refers to a different group from “his opponents” in 13:17a. It refers to the ordinary people rather than to the religious leaders. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
everyone else in the crowd (Contemporary English Version) -or-
the rest of the people
rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing: The ordinary people were very happy to see the miracles Jesus was doing. Other ways to translate this verse part are:
But the entire crowd was happy about the miraculous things he was doing (God’s Word) -or-
while all the other people rejoiced because of the amazing/glorious things that he was doing
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