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.

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. )

Translation commentary on Luke 17:6

Exegesis:

ei echete … elegete an ‘if you had … you would say,’ implying that they do not have faith even like a mustard-seed.Translation commentary on Luke

pistin hōs kokkon sinapeōs ‘faith like a mustard seed,’ i.e. a very small amount of faith. For kokkos sinapeōs cf. on 13.19.

tē sukaminō [tautē] ‘to this mulberry tree,’ presumably a tree close to the speaker.

sukaminos ‘mulberry tree’; exact meaning uncertain.

ekrizōthēti kai phuteuthēti en tē thalassē lit. ‘be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ here best understood as reflexive, ‘pull up yourself by the roots and plant yourself in the sea.’

ekrizoō ‘to uproot,’ ‘to pull out by the roots.’

kai hupēkousen an humin ‘and it would obey you at once.’ The shift from the imperfect (elegete an) to the aorist points to an immediate result. hupakouō, cf. on 8.25.

Translation:

As a grain of mustard seed, or making explicit the reference to (small) size, ‘the size of a mustard seed’ (Kekchi), ‘(even) as little as a (grain of) mustard seed.’ For mustard seed see 13.19.

Sycamine tree. Simply to say ‘tree’ (Leyden, Sranan Tongo, one West Nyanja version), ‘big tree’ (Tae’), is acceptable here because the kind of tree is not of special relevance in the context.

Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea, or, to avoid an imperative and/or a passive form, ‘you shall be uprooted and shall be planted,’ ‘you must pull yourself out by the roots and plant yourself in the sea.’ To uproot, or, ‘to pull out’ (Bahasa Indonesia, Balinese), ‘to pull loose from the ground’ (Sranan Tongo). Be planted may have to be rendered, ‘be set’ (Zarma), ‘go and stand,’ ‘grow’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).

For to obey see on “obedient” in 2.51.

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 17:6

17:6a–b

And the Lord answered: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Lord answered is literally “And the Lord said.” The phrase the Lord also occurs in 17:5. In some languages, it may not be natural to repeat it here. You should refer to him here in a way that is natural in your language.

If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say…and it will obey you: Jesus responded to the apostles’ request for more faith by indicating that even very small faith is enough to do great things. In some languages it is difficult to express this with an “if” clause, as English and Greek do. Some other ways to translate this are:

Even though your faith is as small as a mustard seed, you can say…and it will obey you.
-or-
With very little faith that is like a tiny seed, you can command…and it will obey.

you…you: The pronoun you refers to the apostles.

17:6a

If you have faith the size of a mustard seed: There are different opinions about what this clause implies about the apostles’ faith:

(1) It does not imply anything definite about the apostles’ faith. Jesus was making a general statement.

(2) It implies that the apostles did not have faith as small as a mustard seed.

(3) It implies that the apostles did already have faith as small as a mustard seed.

Most English versions are ambiguous. It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Jesus used this clause to introduce the statement in 17:6b about the power of very small faith. You should translate this clause in a way that supports this main point. See the next note for translation examples.

you: The pronoun you refers to the apostles.

faith the size of a mustard seed: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as faith the size of a mustard seed is literally “faith as/like a mustard seed.” This is a metaphor. For the Jews, this seed symbolized something that was very small. Many English versions make explicit that Jesus was comparing the size of the faith to a tiny mustard seed. For example:

faith even as small as a mustard seed (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
faith the size of a mustard seed (NET Bible)
-or-
faith no bigger than a tiny mustard seed (Contemporary English Version)

In some languages it may not be natural to talk about faith being small. In languages that use a verb such as “believe” to translate faith, it may also not be natural to compare this verb to a mustard seed. Some other ways to translate this comparison are:

• Use natural words in your language to describe the way people believe. For example:

If your believing is as little as a tiny mustard seed
-or-
Even if the way you trust ⌊God⌋ was weak like a mustard seed is small

• Translate only the meaning without the metaphor. For example:

If you believed a little bit, you could say to this mulberry tree
-or-
If you had even weak faith, you could say to this mulberry tree

faith: The word faith also occurs in 17:5. Translate it here in a similar way.

a mustard seed: A mustard seed is a very small seed that grows into a mustard plant. If mustard seeds and plants are not known in your area, some ways to translate this are:

• Use a loan word along with a general term if necessary. For example:

a seed of ⌊the plant/tree called⌋ mustard

• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:

a ⌊very⌋ tiny seed

• Transliterate the term mustard and indicate that it is tiny/small. For example:

a tiny mastat seed

• Use the name of a local seed that is known to be very small. If you use this option, you may want to indicate the literal name in a footnote. For example, you could say in the footnote:

The Greek text is literally “a mustard seed.”

17:6b–d

you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted…’: In 17:6b–d Jesus gave an example of something that is normally not possible for a person to do. A person cannot make a tree obey him. However, faith in God can make this possible.

You can translate 17:6b–d as either direct or indirect speech:

• Translate it as direct speech. For example:

…you could give this order to the mulberry tree: “Pull(sing) yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea.” And the tree would obey you.

• Translate it as indirect speech. For example:

…you could tell this mulberry tree to pull itself up, roots and all, and to plant itself in the ocean. And it would! (Contemporary English Version)

Consider the most natural way to describe this action in your language. Other ways to do it in English are:

…you could make this mulberry tree uproot itself and go and plant itself in the sea.
-or-
At your command this mulberry tree would uproot itself and begin to grow in the sea.
-or-
This mulberry tree would uproot itself and plant itself in the sea if you told it to.

17:6b

this mulberry tree: The phrase this mulberry tree indicates that as Jesus was teaching, he referred to a specific tree nearby that his apostles could see. It was a large tree with many roots. Many scholars think that this tree was the black mulberry tree, which grows 8–10 meters (25–30 feet) tall. It produces small berries that can be eaten.

In some languages there may be no term for this kind of tree. If that is true in your language, some ways to translate it are:

• Use a more general description. For example:

this ⌊large⌋ tree
-or-
this big-rooted tree

• Transliterate the term mulberry and indicate that it is large or has many roots. For example:

this mulberi tree ⌊that has so many roots⌋

Since Jesus was referring to a specific tree that was growing near him, it is best not to substitute a different tree. Notice also that Jesus was not referring to a mustard tree here.

17:6c

Be uprooted and planted: The verbs Be uprooted and planted are commands to the tree to do something to itself. In Greek the forms are passive, but the tree will do the action to itself. Describe this in a natural way in your language. Some other ways to translate it in English are:

dig yourself up and plant yourself in the sea
-or-
pull out your roots and ⌊go⌋ be planted in the sea
-or-
pull yourself out of the ground, and enter the sea and plant yourself

17:6d

obey you: The phrase obey you means that the tree would do what you told it to do. If it is impossible in your language to describe a tree as doing something or obeying someone, you could say:

and what you(plur) say will happen

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