34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
The Greek that is translated as “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” or similar in English is translated in Ankave as “As a chicken extracts its young and gathers them under her breast, although all the time I tried to do the same to you, why did it not please you (to allow me to do so)?” (Source: Richard Speece in Notes on Translation 1988. p. 47ff.)
This is also depicted as a mosaic in Dominus Flevit, a Roman Catholic church on the Mount of Olives:
There is considerable doubt about the meaning of the word sekwi. However, the rendering “cock” or “rooster” has support from the Vulgate and one of the Targums, as well as the majority of commentaries. In the context of Job 38:36 the reference seems to be to the way in which the ibis is able to announce the flooding of the Nile, and the rooster is able to announce the coming of the dawn. Both of these abilities are mentioned quite often in Egyptian literature.
The word zarzir is probably related to a word meaning “narrow waisted,” but most commentaries and translations interpret this as a reference to the rooster.
The Greek word ornis and the Latin word gallina mean “hen,” and the Greek words nossia and nossion mean “chick,” that is, a baby fowl.
All modern domestic fowls are descended from the jungle fowl of India, Southeast Asia, and China. These were domesticated very early in the history of that region, almost as soon as the farming of rice and other grains began. According to the Talmud, it was forbidden to keep domestic poultry in Jerusalem, but there is evidence from ancient Hebrew seals that chickens were known in the land as early as 600 B.C. The reference to the cock crowing on the night of the crucifixion would indicate that chickens were kept near, if not in, Jerusalem.
Ancient domestic fowls would still have looked very much like the Jungle Fowl Gallus gallus from which they were descended. Jungle fowl roosters are dark, brownish red, with orange-red neck hackles, a smallish red comb on the top of their heads, and red lappets on each side under the beak. They have a white spot on their backs near the base of their long glossy black and green tails. The hens are a lighter brownish red, have no white spot or long tail, and have a smaller comb on their heads.
Domestic fowl had connotations of fertility to the Egyptians and Persians. This seems to have been adopted later in Judaism, since it became the practice to carry a cock and a hen in front of the bride and groom at a wedding. However, their significance in the Bible seems related to the fact that cocks crow very early in the morning, thus announcing the coming dawn before humans are aware of it.
Domestic fowl have now spread around the world and are well-known, apart from some areas of the tundra region.
The words sekwi, zarzir, alektruōn, and alektōr are probably best translated as “rooster,” ornis as “hen,” and nossion and nossia as “chickens.” In some languages where roosters and hens are not normally differentiated, it may not be necessary to do so in the gospel passages, since the verb “crow” will usually be sufficient context to make the meaning clear. However, in the Job and Proverbs passages it may still be necessary in some languages to say something like “male chicken.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 13:34:
Noongar: “‘Jerusalem! Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and you stone the people whom God sends to speak to you. Always, I have wanted to embrace your people, like a mother bird gathering her chicks beneath her wing, but you will not let me do it.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘Ee Yerusalem people! Yerusalem people! You killed (emphatic) the prophets and you threw stones at (emphatic) people sent to you by God. Many times I have spread-out-my-arms to hug you, like a hen sheltering her children under her wings, but you do not want [it].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then Isa was grieved about the doings of the people of Awrusalam and he said, ‘Oy, people of Awrusalam, I am sad about you. You always kill the prophets and throw stones at the ones God sends to you. How often have I wanted to gather you and care for you like figuratively a mother-hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you do not want to.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus remembered the custom of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and he said, ‘I’m sorrowful because of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, because they kill the prophets of God, and the servants that God has sent there, they kill by stoning. I really wanted to take care of them; I am like a hen who wants to shelter her chicks but they would not be sheltered.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus said, ‘Oh (expression of dismay) you people-from-Jerusalem who have stoned and killed the prophets and others whom God has sent! How many times I have wanted to gather you and take-care of you like the way a mother-hen shelters-under-her-wings her children, but you didn’t want it!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then Jesus said, ‘They who are the taga Jerusalem really are to be pitied! They who keep on killing by throwing rocks the prophets whom God sends to them! How many times now I have persevered to take care of the people from there like a hen takes care of her chicks covering-them-with-her-wing, but they don’t want it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
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 Translator2002, 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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
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 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.
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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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