Translation commentary on Luke 13:34

Exegesis:

Ierousalēm Ierousalēm ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem,’ vocative; the repetition lends emphasis, cf. 10.41.

hē apokteinousa tous prophētas ‘you that kill the prophets,’ continuation of the vocative. The present tense denotes a habitual situation, cf. Plummer.

kai lithobolousa tous apestalmenous pros autēn ‘and stone those that have been sent to her,’ also dependent on the article hē before apokteinousa and continuation of the vocative. tous apestalmenous is best understood as referring to the same people as tous prophētas. pros autēn ‘to her,’ refers to Jerusalem in the third person though the clause addresses it in the second person; this is a Semitism. For apostellō cf. on 1.19.

lithoboleō lit. ‘to throw stones,’ hence ‘to kill by throwing stones,’ ‘to pelt to death with stones.’

posakis ēthelēsa episunaxai ta tekna sou ‘how often have I longed to gather your children.’ ta tekna sou does not refer to the inhabitants of Jerusalem only but implicitly to all that belong to the people of God.

posakis ‘how often,’ ‘how many times.’

episunagō (also 17.37) ‘to gather,’ synonymous with sunagō, cf. on 3.17.

hon tropon ornis tēn heautēs nossian hupo tas pterugas ‘just as a hen (gathers) her brood under her wings,’ with episunagei understood (cf. the parallel Mt. 23.37). hon tropon lit. ‘in the (same) way as,’ hence ‘just as.’

ornis, generally, ‘bird,’ here ‘hen,’ ‘cock,’ as a symbol of protecting care.

nossia ‘brood’ (cf. nossous in 2.24), here ‘chickens.’

kai ouk ēthelēsate ‘and you were not willing,’ ‘you would not have it.’

Translation:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city standing for its inhabitants, which may lead to, ‘O you, people of Jerusalem.’ The subsequent phrase (killing … sent to you), usually rendered as a relative clause, ‘you that (use to) kill…,’ may also be rendered as a sentence, e.g. ‘when(ever) prophets are sent (or, God sends prophets) to you, you kill and stone them.’

I would have gathered, or, ‘I have wanted/longed to gather.’ To gather … together, preferably, “to gather … around (or, to) me” (An American Translation, The Four Gospels – a New Translation).

Your children, or, ‘your people,’ ‘your inhabitants’; or simply ‘you,’ if the city’s people have been mentioned already.

Gathers … under her wings, or, ‘shelters … under her wings,’ ‘habitually covers its nest with its wings’ (one West Nyanja version). Some languages can render the phrase by a specific verb, e.g. Thai (lit. ‘to cover,’ said also of a hen that sits on its eggs), similarly Balinese.

You would not, or filling out the ellipsis, ‘you would not let me do so,’ ‘you did not want to be gathered (thus).’

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 13:34

Paragraph 13:34–35

In this paragraph Jesus spoke of his great sorrow for the people of Jerusalem. He knew that God would soon forsake them and would no longer protect them. The parallel passage in Matthew is almost identical, but the setting may be different. According to Matthew 21:23 and Matthew 24:1, Jesus may have been in the Temple area when he spoke these words. Here in Luke, he seems to be in Galilee (Herod’s territory) on his way to Jerusalem. Some scholars feel that Jesus may have spoken these words on more than one occasion. You should translate in a way that allows for either possibility.

13:34a

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem: Jesus was using a figure of speech here. He was speaking to the city of Jerusalem as if it were a person who was present and could hear him. This may seem strange or be hard to understand in some languages. It may be necessary to make it clear that the name of the city represents its inhabitants. For example:

O ⌊people of⌋ Jerusalem! O ⌊people of⌋ Jerusalem!

The word Jerusalem is repeated here because that was a normal style for addressing someone in a sad or reproachful way. Some languages may have a different way to indicate this feeling. For example:

Oh ⌊how I grieve for you⌋, ⌊you people in/from⌋ Jerusalem!
-or-
Oh! ⌊You residents of⌋ Jerusalem! ⌊I am so sad about you!⌋

In some languages it may also be unnatural to address someone who is not there. If that is true in your language, you may need to adjust this figure of speech so that Jesus is talking about the people in Jerusalem, not talking directly to them. For example:

⌊I feel great sorrow because of the inhabitants of⌋ Jerusalem. They kill the prophets…

If you change “you” to “they” in this phrase, you will need to make similar changes to the other pronouns in the rest of this verse and in 13:35.

13:34b

who kills the prophets: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as who kills the prophets is more literally “the one killing the prophets.” Even though this is in the third person, Jesus was continuing to address the city of Jerusalem directly, as he began to do in 13:34a. If you used a phrase like “you inhabitants of Jerusalem” there, here you may say something like:

you who kill the prophets (New International Version)

You would need to use a plural form of “you.”

kills: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as kills indicates habitual action. The people living in Jerusalem had murdered God’s prophets over the past centuries and were ready to do so again.

and stones those sent to her: The clause stones those sent to her and the previous clause “who kills the prophets” are parallel, but the verb stones is more specific than “kills.” In some languages, it may be necessary to adjust the parallel statements to show that “kill” and “stone” refer to the same action, and that prophets and those sent refer to the same people. For example:

You have repeatedly killed the prophets! Yes, you have repeatedly stoned those sent to you!
-or-
You habitually kill the prophets whom God sends to you by stoning them to death!

stones: The verb stones means to kill someone by throwing stones at them. This was the way in which Jewish leaders usually put criminals to death. In some languages, stones is not used as a verb and stoning is not recognized as a means of execution. If that is true in your language, it may be necessary to use a descriptive phrase. For example:

throw stones at those whom God has sent to you until they die
-or-

kill them by throwing stones at them

those sent to her: The verb sent is passive. In some languages it may be necessary to use an active verb and supply the implied subject, God. Although Jesus is speaking in the third person, he is addressing the people of Jerusalem directly, so it may be appropriate in your language to say “you” (plural). For example:

whom ⌊God⌋ has sent to you

13:34c–d

how often: The phrase how often introduces an exclamation. It means “many times.”

I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings: This is a simile. Jesus was saying that he had wanted to protect the people from danger and from judgment in the way that a mother chicken protects her babies.

your children: The phrase your children is a figurative way to refer to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It does not refer to literal children. For example:

your people (New Century Version)

Some scholars feel that Jerusalem represented the whole nation of Israel here. In some translations you may want to put this information in a footnote. For example:

When Jesus spoke about the inhabitants of Jerusalem, he was also including their fellow countrymen.

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings: Hens gather their chicks under their wings in order to protect them from danger. For example:

as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings (New Living Translation (2004))

Some languages have a single word or expression that refers to the way mother chickens or other birds protect their babies. If so, you may use it here.

13:34e

but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but introduces the fact that the people refused to let Jesus protect them as he wished. Other versions, such as the Revised Standard Version, translate this conjunction as “and.” Use a natural way in your language to connect this part of the verse with the statement in 13:34c–d.

you were unwilling: The clause you were unwilling is an ellipsis. It contains implied information. The full clause means “you were unwilling for me to gather and protect you.” The people of Jerusalem refused to trust Jesus as their Messiah, so they could not receive his protection from God’s future judgment.

you: In Greek, the pronoun “your” in the phrase “your children” (13:34c) is singular because it refers to the city. Here the pronoun you is plural because it refers to the people of the city. The pronoun that you decide to use here will depend on how you translated “Jerusalem” and “your children” in the preceding context. See the Display for 13:34e for an example of each option.

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