formal pronoun: Jesus addressing religious leaders

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 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.

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 15:11-32)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 15:11-32:

Finally, Jesus told them this story:

       A man’s younger son once said,
              “Dad, give me my share of the family fortune!”
       So his father divided everything
              between him and his older brother.

       Soon the younger son packed up everything
       and left for a foreign country,
              where he wasted every cent of his inheritance.

       Then a terrible famine struck the land,
              leaving him famished and without food.

       So hungry was the young man that he took a job
              feeding bean pods to nasty pigs,
       and he would have eaten some of the pods himself,
              if only the owner had turned his back.

       At last, in desperation, he said to himself,
       “My dad’s workers have more than enough to eat,
              while I sit here with these pigs, starving to death.
       Best thing I can do is to go home and make up with my dad.
       I’ll say, “Dad, I’ve been a really lousy son,
              worthless and useless to both you and God.
       Fact is, I don’t deserve to be called your son —
              just treat me like one of your servants.”

       Before he even reached the road to the farmhouse,
       his father saw him and felt so sorry that he ran over
              and greeted the young man with hugs and kisses.

       “Dad, I’ve been a really lousy son,” said the boy.
       “I’m worthless and useless to both you and God.
              Fact is, I don’t deserve to be called your son.”

       But his father instructed the servants,
              “Hurry! Bring him the best clothes.
              Put a gold ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
              And prepare our choice beef, so we can celebrate!
       My son was dead, and now he’s alive!
              My son was lost, and now he’s found.”

       Then the festivities began.
       Meanwhile, the older brother was coming in from the fields,
       when he heard the sound of music and dancing.
              “What’s going on?” he asked one of the servants.

       “Your younger brother has come home,” answered the servant,
       “and your father ordered us
              to prepare the choice beef for a feast.”
       This made the older brother so angry
              that he refused to go anywhere near the house.

       His father went out and begged him to join the celebration,
       but his son answered, “All my life I’ve obeyed you,
              and I’ve worked like a slave.
       Yet you’ve never even given me a small goat,
              so I could throw a party for my friends.
       This other son of yours blew all his money on hookers,
              and now that he’s back home,
       you’ve ordered our choice beef
              to be killed for a feast in his honor.”

       “My dear son,” replied his father, “You’re always here,
              and everything I have is yours as well.
       But don’t you think we should celebrate?
       Your brother was dead, and now he’s alive.
              He was lost, and now he’s found.”

Translation commentary on Luke 15:21

Exegesis:

eipen de ho huios autō ‘but his son said to him,’ i.e. notwithstanding this unexpected welcome.

Translation:

In languages such as Javanese the son uses honorifics in addressing his father, thus showing that he knows to have forfeited the right to employ the non-honorific terms which are appropriate to intimate family relationships.

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.

Translation commentary on Luke 16:20 – 15:21

Exegesis:

ptōchos de tis onomati Lazaros ‘a beggar named Lazarus.’ For ptōchos cf. on 4.18. The religious connotation is also present here. No special meaning is to be attached to the name Lazarus even though this is the only time that a personal name occurs in a parable.

ebeblēto pros ton pulōna autou lit. ‘had been laid at his gate.’ The pluperfect tense of ebeblēto denotes the result of laying down, rather that the act, “(had been prostrated and) lay”.

pulōn ‘gate,’ ‘entrance,’ of the gate of a large house or palace.

heilkōmenos ‘covered with sores,’ past participle of helkoō ‘to cause sores.’

(V. 21) epithumōn chortasthēnai apo tōn piptontōn apo tēs trapezēs tou plousiou ‘longing to satisfy himself with that which fell from the rich man’s table.’ epithumōn is syntactically co-ordinate with heilkōmenos. ta piptonta lit. ‘that which falls’ refers to that which was thrown away after the meals, or to that which fell from the table during the meals, preferably the former.

alla kai hoi kunes erchomenoi epeleichon ta helkē autou ‘but (not only) that,’ ‘even the dogs used to come and lick his sores,’ adding another touch of sorrow to the picture of the poor man’s situation.

epileichō ‘to lick.’ The imperfect tense points to a habitual situation.

helkos ‘sore,’ ‘abscess.’

Translation:

At his gate lay a poor man…, who…, introducing a second character, which may require something like ‘there was (also) a poor man…, lying at his (or, the rich man’s) gate/door. He….’ At his gate, or, ‘at the entrance of his house,’ ‘in the front of his house (lit. at his opening)’ (West Nyanja). In other cultural situations one may have to say e.g. ‘at the lower-end of the rich man’s stairs,’ or, ‘at the place where-one-steps-inside (i.e. the upper end of the stairs)-of-him’ (East or Toraja-Sa’dan, where the houses are built on poles), ‘at the gate of the fence around his house’ (Thai 1967, similarly Shona 1966), ‘at the entrance of the other’s compound’ (Zarma).

Full of sores. For full of see 5.12; for sores, or, ‘ulcers.’

(V. 21) Desired to be fed with, or, ‘desired to be given (to eat),’ ‘longed to receive (for food),’ ‘wished to satisfy his hunger with.’

What fell from the rich man’s table, i.e. ‘scraps/bits (thrown away) from the … table/meal,’ ‘what the servants threw away from the … meal,’ ‘the leftovers from the rich man’s food’ (Batak Toba).

Moreover the dogs came …, the climax in this description of Lazarus’ misery, as brought out in ‘he was even forced to put up with the dogs who used to come…’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation).

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 15:21

15:21

In this verse the younger son began to tell his father what he had decided to tell him in 15:18–19. Here he repeated only the words from 15:18c and 15:19a. See how you translated the son’s words there. However, the son did not complete his speech. His father apparently interrupted him before he could finish.

At the end of this verse some Greek manuscripts add, “Make me like one of your hired servants,” which occurred in 15:19. No English version on Translator’s Workplace includes those words here in 15:21. It is recommended that you also not include them. However, you may want to add a footnote, as many English versions do. For example:

Other ancient authorities add Treat me like one of your hired servants (New Revised Standard Version)

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