complete verse (Luke 14:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 14:2:

  • Noongar: “One man came there. His arms and legs were very diseased.. He came to Jesus.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “Suddenly a person arrived who was had ngkumowu disease, his feet and hands were swollen.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There was a sick person there, his arms and legs were swollen.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was there a man who was sick because his feet and his arms had swelled up, and he came to Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “because there was also there in front of him a man whose body had-become-swollen.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There was a diseased person who came to Jesus, the effect/bi-product of his disease being that his legs and arms were very swollen (i.e. dropsy).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 14:2

Exegesis:

kai idou ‘and behold’ cf. 1.20.

anthrōpos tis ēn … emprosthen autou ‘there was a man in front of him.’ tis has the force of an indefinite article.

hudrōpikos ‘suffering from dropsy’ (apposition to anthrōpos), i.e. from effusion of watery fluid into the tissues or cavities of the body, cf. IDB I, 872.

Translation:

Who had dropsy. The name of some kind of oedema, such as beri-beri, can often be used (as in some Indonesian languages, Ekari), or of a rheumatic ailment causing swellings (Zarma); or a descriptive phrase, e.g. ‘swollen all over’ (Tzeltal), ‘whose whole body was swollen’ (Tae’), “whose legs and arms were swollen” (Good News Translation, similarly in Kituba).

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 14:2

14:2

Right there before Him: In the Greek text this verse begins literally with the phrase “And behold.” Versions such as the Revised Standard Version translate it that way. Here it introduces something new that the author wants people to pay attention to. It introduces a person who was sick with dropsy. This man did not say or do anything in this context, but his presence indirectly caused everything that happened.

In some languages you may have a special way to introduce a person like this into a story and to focus attention on him. Another way to translate this is:

There right in front of him was a man (NET Bible)

See the note on 10:25a, where the phrase “And behold” has a similar function.

a man with dropsy: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a man with dropsy means that the man was sick with an illness called dropsy. In this illness water (lymph fluid) gathers in a person’s body and causes swelling, especially in the arms and legs. Use an expression for this sickness that is natural in your language. Some examples of descriptive phrases in English are:

A man whose legs and arms were swollen (Good News Translation)
-or-
A man whose body was swollen with fluid (God’s Word)

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