2It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin.
“The word ‘offend’ as a translation of the Greek skandalizó seems to cause all sorts of trouble for translators. The difficulty is that the meaning of this word covers such a wide area. The basic meaning of the Greek is ‘to cause to stumble by putting some impediment in the way.’ The present central meaning of English ‘offend’ is often quite different. In some languages there is no metaphorical value in a translation ‘to cause someone to stumble.’ If the language permits no such metaphor, the translator should not attempt to force it. In Highland Totonac, the metaphor ‘to show the wrong road to’ is used in a manner almost exactly parallel to the Greek idiom.” (Source: Nida 1947)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “millstone” in English is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:
Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
In the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) is it translated as “donkey millstone” (Eselsmühlstein).
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 17:2:
Noongar: “Better for him, if people tied one big stone to his neck and they threw him into the sea! Much worse for him if he makes one of these children do wrong!” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “It would be better if a sharpening stone were tied to their necks and they were thrown into the sea, than that they cause-to-fall even one person whose faith is small, until he does sins.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “It would be better for him if a big stone would first be hung around his neck and he would be dropped into the sea so that he could not tempt to sin one of these who have a lowly/humble liver and trust in me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If a large grindstone is tied to his neck and he’s thrown into the depths of the sea, that would be better than his punishment if by means of him, even one of these children sins.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “It would be better if his neck were-hung-with a heavy rock and-then he were thrown into the ocean than his tempting-to-sin even one of these who are the lowest (i.e., least important) people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It would be better for a person to be weighted with a big milling stone and just thrown in the middle of the deep water. Better than that he cause-to-fall-into-sin a humble-person who believes-in/obeys me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
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®).
lusitelei autō ei … ē hina ‘it would be better for him if … than that.’ The clause introduced by ei refers to an event, which, had it happened, would have prevented the event denoted by the clause introduced by hina.
lusitelei, impersonal, ‘it is good,’ ‘it is useful.’ Here it is used comparatively (as indicated by ē ‘than’), and the present tense denotes a supposition, hence, ‘it would be better.’
ei lithos mulikos perikeitai peri ton trachēlon autou ‘if a millstone had been placed around his neck.’
mulikos ‘belonging to a mill,’ here with lithos means ‘a millstone,’ a more general term than mulos onikos.
kai erriptai eis tēn thalassan ‘and (if) he had been thrown into the sea,’ with change of subject. A violent and gruesome death is better than causing someone to yield to temptation. riptō also 4.35.
ē hina skandalisē tōn mikrōn toutōn hena ‘than that he causes one of these little ones to stumble.’ hina is used in a weakened sense and refers to a fact. In tōn mikrōn toutōn hena the last word is emphatic by position, ‘even one.’ tōn mikrōn toutōn is best understood as referring to the disciples in the broad sense.
skandalizō (also 7.23) ‘to cause to stumble,’ ‘to entice to sin.’
Translation:
It may be necessary to change the sentence structure, e.g. ‘suppose (or, if) a millstone were to be hung round the neck of such a man, that would be good for him, for then he would not be able to cause….’
If a millstone were hung round his neck, or, ‘if his neck had-been-weighed-with a millstone’ (Balinese, specifying the aim). New English Bible and The Four Gospels – a New Translation subordinate this clause to the next one, cf. “thrown into the sea with a millstone (tied) round his neck”. The implied agent is ‘people.’ Millstone stands here for something large and heavy; some cultural equivalents are, ‘blacksmith’s stone’ (Dan), ‘supporting-stone,’ i.e. a big stone under the main pole of a house (Toraja-Sa’dan); a more generic rendering used is ‘large(-sized) stone’ (Kele, Trukese).
Cast into, or, indicating the result, ‘immersed’ (Batak Toba).
Sea, i.e. ‘ocean.’
Cause … to sin. The rendering should preferably be built on the same terms as used to render “temptation to sin” in v. 1.
Little ones is used here metaphorically in the sense of ‘weak/feeble ones,’ ‘people of humble rank.’
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.
This verse emphasizes how terrible it is for someone to cause a little one to sin. Even an awful death like drowning is better than the punishment that such a person will receive.
17:2a
It would be better for him: The clause It would be better introduces a comparison. The comparison is between two terrible punishments:
(a) drowning in the sea with a millstone tied around the neck (17:2b);
(b) ⌊the punishment for⌋ causing a little one to sin (17:1b).
Jesus was saying that the punishment for causing a little one to sin is worse than drowning. A person should prefer to drown rather than to cause a little one to sin. Languages compare such situations in various ways. For example:
2bIf people tied a big stone around the neck of a person who did that and threw him in the ocean ⌊so that he drowned⌋, 2athat would be a little punishment. 2cBut if he causes one of these little ones to sin, ⌊God⌋ will give him a really big punishment. -or-
2cThe person who causes a little one to sin ⌊will be punished⌋ 2ain a way that will be worse than 2bif a millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
Use a natural way to express the comparison in your language.
17:2b
to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea: This part of the verse describes how a person might be punished. People might tie a millstone around the person’s neck and then throw the person into the sea. Some English versions mention the sea first. For example:
to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck (New International Version)
But in some languages it may be more natural to mention these actions in the order they happen. For example:
if a large millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea (Good News Translation)
You should use a natural order in your language.
millstone hung…thrown: The verbs hung and thrown are passive. In some languages it may be more natural to use active verbs and supply a general subject like “people” or “someone.” For example:
if ⌊people⌋ tied a large stone around his neck and threw him into the sea
to be thrown into the sea: If someone is thrown into deep water with a millstone tied around his neck, he will sink and die by drowning. In some languages it may be necessary to make this implied information explicit. For example:
thrown into the sea ⌊to drown/die⌋
the sea: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sea refers to a large, wide body of water. The water can be either salty or fresh. This word can also be used in contrast to land. The phrase the sea does not refer here to any particular sea.
In some areas people may not be familiar with large seas. If that is true in your language, you can translate it with a more familiar term. For example:
into a lake/river
a millstone: A millstone is a large, heavy stone. People used stones like this to grind grain to make flour.
Sometimes a person rotated the stone. At other times an animal turned the stone.
Some other ways to translate the word millstone are:
large stone -or-
very heavy stone
17:2c
than to cause one of these little ones to stumble: This verse implies that God will severely punish a person who causes little ones to sin. The punishment will be far worse than if someone had killed him by drowning him. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:
than to endure the way that ⌊God⌋ would punish him for causing one of these little ones to sin
cause…to stumble: Translate cause…to stumble in a similar way as you translated “stumbling blocks” in 17:1a.
these little ones: The phrase little ones often refers to children. In this context Jesus used the phrase figuratively to refer to people who are innocent or weak in some way. They need protection and help. The word these refers to people who were listening to Jesus and probably to others like them. Some ways to translate this are:
one of these childlike people -or-
an innocent/vulnerable person ⌊like⌋ these
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