complete verse (Luke 13:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 13:24:

  • Noongar: “‘You must always do everything which you can do to go in the narrow door. So truly, many people will want to go in the narrow door, but they will not be able to go in.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘Receiving goodness of life may be compared to people who enter through a narrow gate. Make-effort/haste to enter through that narrow gate. Because many will search for their way to enter, but they will no longer be able to enter.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Really persevere/strive to enter by the narrow door. For I tell you that many will try to enter but they will not be able to enter.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘Do everything you can so that you might enter in the narrow doorway of the house which is life without end, because I say to you that there are many people who would really like to enter in there, but they cannot enter in.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Put-forth your effort (lit. ability) to enter the narrow doorway to heaven while you still have opportunity. Because starting-from when the house owner closes-the-door, many will try to enter but they won’t be able. Even though they knock saying, ‘Lord, please open,’ he will say in reply, ‘I don’t know you and where you are from.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘You (pl.) are really to persevere to enter at the narrow gate. For what I will say to you is true that the day will come when many will then force who want to enter the kingdom of God, but they won’t be able to enter because they are too late.” (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 13:24

Exegesis:

agōnizesthe eiselthein dia tēs stenēs thuras ‘struggle to go in through the narrow door.’ The saying of entering the kingdom of God (cf. 18.17) is here modified by the picture of entering a house. The article tēs seems to imply that the phrase dia tēs stenēs thuras is a generally known saying. stenos.

agonizomai with the following infinitive, ‘to struggle,’ ‘to strive,’ ‘to strain every nerve.’

hoti polloi, legō humin, zētēsousin eiselthein ‘for many, I tell you, will try to get in.’ legō humin is inserted to emphasize polloi. For zētēsousin cf. on 5.18. eiselthein takes up eiselthein dia tēs stenēs thuras.

kai ouk ischusousin ‘and they will not be able.’ For ischuō cf. on 6.48.

Translation:

Strive, or, “do your utmost/best” (Phillips, Good News Translation), ‘try hard.’

To enter may require a goal, i.e. ‘the kingdom of God,’ anticipating v. 28.

By the narrow door, or, making explicit the concessive force, e.g. ‘how narrow the door may be.’ If the metaphor would be incomprehensible, one may say, ‘along the difficult path,’ ‘how difficult the way (to get in) may be.’ Narrow has been described as, ‘which hole/width-small’ (Trukese, Pohnpeian), or by a reciprocal form of ‘to close-in-on’ (Shona), or an adjective derived from ‘to squeeze through’ (West Nyanja).

For seek see 5.18.

Enter, or, ‘enter it,’ ‘get in there.’

And will not be able, or, filling out the ellipsis, ‘will not be able to enter (it), or, to do so.’

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 13:24

13:24a

Jesus did not answer the question directly. Instead, he spoke figuratively of the effort that is necessary to enter God’s kingdom.

Make every effort: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Make every effort is literally “struggle.” It refers to trying hard to do something. Other ways to translate it are:

Work hard (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Do all you can (Contemporary English Version)

to enter through the narrow door: This phrase is a metaphor that compares the kingdom of God to a house with a narrow door. The point of similarity is the difficulty of entering. Some ways to translate this metaphor are:

• Make the topic explicit. For example:

Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s kingdom (New Living Translation (2004))

• Make the topic and point of similarity explicit. For example:

It is difficult to enter the narrow doorway to God’s kingdom. Make every effort to do so

• Change the metaphor to a simile and make the topic and illustration explicit. For example:

God’s kingdom/rule is like a house that has a narrow door. You must try very hard to enter that door

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

13:24b

For: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For here introduces the reason why people need to make every effort to enter the kingdom of God.

many, I tell you, will try to enter: The clause many…will try to enter means “many people will attempt to enter the house.” This is a figurative way of saying that many people will want to be part of the kingdom of God.

I tell you: The clause I tell you emphasizes what Jesus was saying. See the note in 13:3a for translation suggestions. In some languages it will be necessary to order this clause before the word “many.” For example:

I can guarantee that (God’s Word)

and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and introduces the fact that many people will not be able to do what they try to do. In some languages it may be more natural to translate this as “but,” as in the Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004), and several other English versions.

will not be able: The phrase will not be able means “will not be able to enter the house.” The reason why the people will not be able to enter is made clear in the following verse. 13:25 indicates that the door will be shut, and no one can enter unless the owner of the house opens the door and permits him to enter.

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