The name of the father of John the Baptist that is transliterated as “Zechariah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “beard (the sign for a patriarch)” + “mute.” (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )
The following is a stained glass window depicting Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth. It was created by Ateliers Maréchal de Metz between 1848 and 1860 for the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Luxembourg. Zechariah is shown on the right:
Photo by Marcin Szala, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
The Greek in Luke 1:59 that is often translated in English as “on the eighth day” is translated in Saint Lucian Creole French as “after seven days,” taking into account the traditional way of including the day when counting starts as a full day. (Source: David Frank)
The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:
Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:59:
Noongar: “After seven days, people came for the cutting of the baby, as the Law says. They wanted to name him ‘Zechariah’ like his father.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Following the custom of the Yahudi people, when that child was eight days of age, their neighbors and their relatives came to circumcise him according to the custom of the Yahudi people. Their intention they wanted to name him Zakharia, named after his own father, according to their custom.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When the eighth day had been reached that the child was on the floor (idiom for ‘after birth’) they gathered to circumcise the child and they almost named the child Jakariya, like the name of his father.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when it was already eight days that the child had been born, they celebrated their Jewish custom because when a male child is born, on the eighth day afterward they circumcize it. And the people there, they wanted to name the child Zechariah because that was the name of his father.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “On the baby’s eighth day, the neighbors and relatives of plural Zekarias gathered to circumcise and name him, because that was the custom of the Jews. They would have named him with the name of his father Zekarias,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When is was eight days now, which is the day for circumcizing and naming the child, they all gathered. They thought-mistakenly that Zacarias is what he would be named, to be named the same as his father.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, yorokonde (喜んで) or “rejoice” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
kai egeneto ēlthon… ‘and it happened … that they came’; cf. on v. 8.
en tē hēmera tē ogdoē ēlthon peritemein to paidion ‘on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child,’ as prescribed in Gen. 17.9-14. The infinitive is final; the subject of ēlthon must be understood from those mentioned in v. 58.
en tē hēmera tē ogdoē ‘on the eighth day,’ or, since according to Jewish time reckoning the day of birth is counted as a full day, ‘seven days after his birth.’
peritemnō (also 2.21) ‘to circumcise,’ technical term for the performing of the rite of circumcision, which consists of the cutting away of the prepuce or foreskin of the newly born males, cf. Gen. 17.9-14, Lev. 12.1-3; it was a distinctive sign of the covenant relationship between Israel and God.
paidion in ch. 1 and 2 ‘infant,’ elsewhere ‘child’ in a general sense, referring usually to children from about three to twelve years.
kai ekaloun auto … Zacharian ‘they wanted to call it Zechariah’; the imperfect tense is best understood as conative (Moule 8f, Translator’s New Testament, Bible de Jérusalem, Zürcher Bibel). Zacharian is an accusative used predicatively, i.e. to ‘predicate’ something of a noun (here auto) already in the accusative, cf. Moule 35.
epi tō onomati tou patros autou ‘after the name of his father’; this profane use of the expression epi tō onomati is to be distinguished from its religious meaning as in 9.48; 21.8; 24.47. To call a child after the name of his father was not uncommon, though not widespread.
(V. 60) kai apokritheisa … eipen ‘and, answering, (she) said.’ apokrinomai is often used without a preceding question or communication addressed to its subject. In such a context it introduces the subject’s reaction or comment upon (a) the situation (13.14; 17.17; 22.51), or (b) other peoples’ thoughts or plans (1.60; 3.16; 5.22; 14.3), or (c) something said in general (9.49), or (d) something said to other people (5.31; 7.40; 8.50; 11.45; 13.15; 20.39; 23.40). The usual construction is that of a participle going with a verb of saying (except 3.16 and 8.50).
ouchi as a negative particle ‘no,’ ‘by no means.’
alla ‘but,’ ‘rather.’
Translation:
On the eighth day, or, specifying the connexion with what precedes, ‘the eighth day after that (or, after his/the child’s birth),’ ‘seven nights later,’ ‘when the child was a week old,’ etc.
They came to circumcise the child. The neighbours and kinsfolk were not the agents of the circumcision; hence, ‘they came to join in the circumcision ceremony of the child’ (Balinese), ‘they came to join-in with their (referring to those directly responsible) circumcising the child’ (Tboli). Some renderings are based on the act as such, e.g. ‘to cut the flesh’ (Quechua of Ecuador), ‘to cut around’ (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, Navajo), ‘to clip-away’ (Javanese), ‘to pinch and cut,’ usually shortened to ‘to cut’ (Uab Meto); others are based on the rite’s function, e.g. ‘to put the mark’ (Barrow Eskimo, Western Highland Purepecha), or more explanatory, ‘to put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God (Tetelcingo Nahuatl), or, that they have a covenant with God’; ‘to cause to receive the ceremony for entering sunat’, recently proposed Thai rendering, making use of the Arabic term sunnah ‘(religious) way (of life).’ In several Indonesian languages the same Arabic borrowing is the current technical term for the Muslim rite of circumcision, and has been used for the corresponding rite mentioned in the Bible. Reactions to a bald reference to the actual operation vary from language to language; in Pampanga, for instance, such a term can be used in front of women and in church, but in Tboli teachers refuse to read publicly any portion containing the same term, although they insist in having it in the translation. Some versions have two renderings, one a rather overt term or phrase, used in only one or two occurrences, the other more veiled and used in all other occurrences, cf. Bahasa Indonesia (revision), which in Gen. 17.10f has ‘every male … should undergo-sunat; his foreskin (lit. skin of circumcision, partly another Arabic borrowing) should be cut,’ but in most other occurrences uses ‘(undergo-) sunat’; similarly Ekari, which in Gen. 17 uses, ‘to cut the end of the member for which one fears shame,’ but elsewhere refers to circumcision as ‘the cutting custom.’
They would have named him Zechariah after his father refers to an event that might have happened had it not been prevented by Elizabeth. To name him Z. after his father is rendered variously, cf. e.g. ‘to give him the name of his father Z.’ (Sranan Tongo, ‘Z.’ going with ‘father’), ‘to give him the name of his father, Z.’ (Kituba, ‘Z.’ going with ‘name’), ‘call him Z. same-name(-as) his father’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘name him (lit. place his name) Z. after (lit. from above, or, on) the name of his father’ (Marathi).
(V. 60) Not so, or, ‘No, no!’ (Sranan Tongo). Some languages resemble the Greek in requiring a transitional term after a prohibitive word, e.g. ‘No, but’ (Zürcher Bibel, similarly Bahasa Indonesia).
He shall be called, or, ‘his name is, or must be,’ ‘we (inclus.) shall call him.’
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.
On the eighth day: The phrase On the eighth day refers to “the eighth day, starting with the day of the baby’s birth.” This was the way the Jews counted days. For example, if a baby was born on a Friday, they would say that the Friday of the following week was the eighth day. Other ways to express this meaning are:
When the baby was a week old (Good News Translation) -or-
When the baby was eight days old
1:59b
they came to circumcise the child: The clause they came to circumcise the child indicates that many people came to be with Zechariah and Elizabeth when the baby was circumcised. The people did not actually help to circumcise the child. Only one person circumcised him. Some ways to make this clear are:
they came to attend the child’s circumcision -or-
they came to witness the circumcision of the child
they: The pronoun they here included the family and neighbors of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Some ways to translate this are:
people -or-
all the relatives and friends (New Living Translation (1996))
came: The text is not explicit about where the circumcision was held. If you need to specify where they came, they probably came to the house where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived.
circumcise: The word circumcise means to cut off the loose skin at the end of a boy’s penis. The father or a man who specialized in doing circumcision would perform this operation. Among the Jews circumcision was an important custom that had to be done for every male. When a baby was circumcised, it was usual for neighbors and relatives to come for the circumcision.
In some cultures, it may be acceptable to use an explicit expression that means “cut off the loose skin at the end of a boy’s penis.” In other cultures, it may be necessary to use a euphemism to describe this event. Some examples are:
cut the skin -or-
mark ⌊the body to show he belongs to God⌋ -or-
receive the mark
In some cultures people do not circumcise babies, and in some cultures they do not circumcise any males. In other cultures circumcision may be done for different reasons than Jewish circumcision. If that is true in your culture, you may want to include a footnote to explain the Jewish custom. For example:
Circumcision is the cutting off of the skin at the end of the penis. Every male Jew was required to be circumcised. Circumcision was the sign that he was a member of the community with whom God had made a covenant.
child: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as child is a general term that refers to someone who is below the age of puberty. The same Greek word is also used to refer to John as he grows (see 1:66, 1:76, 1:80). In some languages it may be more natural to use a specific word like “baby” or “infant” here. Use the word that is most natural in your language.
1:59c
they: The pronoun they refers in general to some of the people who came to Zechariah’s house for the circumcision. These people were probably members of Zechariah’s family. The word they does not include Zechariah and Elizabeth here. In some languages it may be helpful to refer to the people in a more specific way. For example:
The people who came to watch the ceremony -or-
The relatives and neighbors
were going to name him after his father Zechariah: The Greek verb phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as were going to name him is literally “were calling him.” It implies that the people assumed or wished that he would be given the name Zechariah. They may have actually called him by that name as they were talking about him during the celebration. Some ways to translate this are:
they wanted to name him Zechariah (NET Bible) -or-
they assumed/thought that his name would be Zechariah
name him after his father Zechariah: To name someone after his father means to give him the same name as his father. Jewish parents often gave a son the same name as his father or grandfather. Some other ways to translate this part of the verse are:
They assumed that he would be given the same name as his father -or-
They wanted to name him Zechariah because this was his father’s name (New Century Version)
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