tower

The Greek that is translated as “tower” in English is translated in Elhomwe as enyumba yootthinddaanyerana or “house, one on top of the other.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

For other translations, see also Translation commentary on Luke 13:4.

complete verse (Luke 14:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 14:28:

  • Noongar: “If one of you plans to build a very big, tall house, first he will sit and think how much money he will need, and see if he has enough money for building the house.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘If someone wants to build a big house, he sits down first to count-up the cost of building, whether his money will be sufficient or not.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If any of you (pl.) want to erect a big house, you (pl.) first sit down figuring/calculating as to how much your (pl.) expenses will be so that you (pl.) will know if you (pl.) will be able to meet the expenses until it is finished or not.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For example, if there’s one of you who’s building a very high house, there at the time before he begins, he calculates the money that he will have to spend so that he might know whether he can afford to set up that house or not.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘It is necessary then that you think first about the difficulty of becoming my disciple. For-example, if one of you builds a large house, he first calculates its value whether his money will suffice for what he will spend until it is completed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For supposing there is one of you who is planning to build a big house, isn’t it so that he will first count what it will cost him, whether the money he has put away is just right to be able to complete it?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Noongar: “‘This I will do’, he said to himself, ‘I will break down my grain houses and make bigger houses for keeping everything, my grain and all my other things.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)

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. )

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.

Translation commentary on Luke 14:28

Exegesis:

tis gar ex humōn ‘for who of you…?’ gar connects what follows with the preceding statements. This connexion is that the very requirements for discipleship make a conscious decision necessary. tis introduces a rhetoric question, the obvious answer being: no one.

thelōn purgon oikodomēsai ‘planning to build a tower.’ thelō implies here purpose. purgos may refer to a tower of a vineyard (cf. Grundmann).

ouchi prōton kathisas psēphizei tēn dapanēn ‘does not first sit down and calculate the cost.’ For ouchi cf. on 4.22; for prōton cf. on 6.42. kathisas goes with psēphizei and suggests serious and prolonged consideration.

psēphizō ‘to count,’ ‘to calculate.’

dapanē ‘cost,’ ‘expenses.’

ei echei eis apartismon ‘(to see) if he has (enough) for completion (of the building).’

apartismos ‘completion.’ eis apartismon is virtually equivalent to final apartizein ‘to complete.’

Translation:

For shifts to a suppositional or conditional clause, or to second person forms, cf. on 11.5.

Tower. The reference is to something relatively big; other semantic components of the term e.g. that a tower is high, or serves as a look-out, are not specially relevant in this context. Therefore a generic rendering, such as ‘big building,’ may be preferable in cases where the rendering used in 13.4 does not fit.

Count the cost (i.e. the building cost), or, ‘calculate what it will cost,’ ‘considers what he must pay’ (Sranan Tongo).

To connect the clause whether he … complete it with what precedes one may have to insert, ‘asking himself,’ ‘in order to know’ (Kituba), ‘to see’ (Thai 1967, similarly Lomwe, one West Nyanja version). Whether may have to be rendered by a positive-negative expression, ‘whether or not’ (Shona, similarly Pohnpeian). In some cases a shift to a direct question will be preferable.

He has enough to complete it, or, ‘he has what is needed to finish it,’ ‘he has that which will finish building it’ (Zarma), ‘he is with all the money that-will-be-required’ (one West Nyanja version).

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 14:28

Paragraph 14:28–30

In Greek, this paragraph (14:28–30) begins with a conjunction that many versions, such as the Revised Standard Version, translate as “For.” It introduces an example that illustrates what Jesus said in the previous paragraph. Jesus taught that becoming his disciple was a serious commitment. The illustration shows that a person should think carefully about the difficulties and cost before making such a serious commitment.

The Berean Standard Bible does not translate this connection explicitly. In some languages you may need to make the connection more explicit. This may be done in different ways. For example:

But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building…? (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-

⌊You must think first about this before you become my disciple. Just as…⌋

14:28

Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it?: In Greek, verse 14:28 is a single rhetorical question, as in the Berean Standard Bible. Another way to translate this is:

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (Revised Standard Version)

The function of the rhetorical question is to emphasize that of course someone would estimate the cost before starting to build a tower. He would never start building a tower without knowing if he had enough money to finish it.

The New International Version and New Living Translation (2004) translate this question in two parts: an introductory statement and a shorter rhetorical question. Other ways to translate this verse are:

• With a combination of statements and rhetorical questions. For example:

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. What is the first thing you will do? Won’t you sit down and figure out how much it will cost and if you have enough money to pay for it? (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
For example, if one of you wants to build a tower, what will you do? You will surely sit down first to figure out how much that would cost. You need to know if you have enough money to complete it.

• As one or more statements. For example:

If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. (Good News Translation)
-or-
Suppose you want to build a tower. You would first sit down and figure out what it costs. Then you would see if you have enough money to finish it. (God’s Word)

14:28a

tower: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tower may refer here to a tall observation tower from which men guarded a vineyard. But the parable implies a large, expensive building, so it may be better to translate in a general way. In languages that do not have a word for tower, here is another way to translate this term:

high building/house

See how you translated this word in 13:4a.

14:28b

sit down: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as sit down implies here that the person will take the time to make a careful estimate. In some languages it may not be necessary to make the sitting posture explicit. For example:

he will first carefully estimate
-or-
he will take the time to estimate

count the cost: The phrase count the cost means to calculate or compute how much money something will cost. The man would add up the cost of the different building materials he would use and the wages of the men who would work for him.

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