become strong in spirit

The Greek that is often translated as “become (or: became) strong in spirit” in English is translated as “was-made-strong as to his soul” in Sundanese. In the English Gospel translation of E.V. Rieu (1952) it is translated as “gathered spiritual strength.”

In Mairasi, it is translated as “increasing in strength of throat (= spirit; will; mind)” (source , Enggavoter 2004).

desert, wilderness

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The Greek that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
  • Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

complete verse (Luke 1:80)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 1:80:

  • Noongar: “The child grew very well, strong in body and spirit. John remained in the desert until the day he came publicly to the people of Israel.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “That child of Zakharia, the older he got, the clearer his heart got. He lived in the desert, until the time came for him to begin carrying the Word of the Lord to the descendants of Israel.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the child of Jakariya continued to grow and his thinking increased. And he lived there in the lonely place as long as he did not come out to face the people of Isra’il.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for this child of Zechariah, his body grew and his ability to think increased also, and when he became mature he went to a land where no people lived, and there he stayed until the time arrived for him to teach his fellow descendants of Israel about the Word of God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Now as for his son, he grew-up and became-wiser while simultaneously his faith became-stronger. He went to stay in a place where there were no inhabitants until the time-arrived -for-him-to-appear to teach the descendants of Israel.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, that child grew-big and his nature/ways were really good. When he was old enough, where he lived/spent-all-his-time was then the wilderness, until the day when he would begin to go teaching his fellow-countrymen who were the descendants of Israel.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 1:80

Exegesis:

to de paidion ēuxanen kai ekrataiouto pneumati ‘the child grew up and became strong in spirit’; the imperfect tense of the verbs expresses the process of growing and becoming strong.

auxanō ‘to grow,’ both transitive and intransitive.

krataioō (also 2.40) ‘to strengthen,’ in the passive ‘to become strong.’

pneumati either ‘in (his own) spirit’ (most commentators and translators) or ‘in the (Holy) Spirit’ (Plummer, cf. Williams, An American Translation, Moffatt); the former interpretation is to be preferred. The dative is metaphorically local, cf. Moule 44, 46.

kai ēn en tais erēmois ‘and he was in the desert.’

hai erēmoi, scil. chōrai ‘the desert regions.’

heōs hēmeras anadeixeōs autou pros ton Israēl ‘till the day of his appearing before Israel.’

anadeixis ‘commissioning,’ ‘installation’ or ‘public appearance,’ preferably the latter.

Translation:

Grew. The verb is often rendered analytically, e.g. ‘to become big’ (Apache), ‘his-bigness rose/increased’ (Javanese), or a term built on the word ‘big,’ and expressing the concept of increase by reduplicating that word (Toraja-Sa’dan).

Became strong in spirit. The two last words qualify “strong”: ‘was-made-strong as to his soul’ (Sundanese), ‘became spiritually strong,’ “gathered spiritual strength” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). In Ekari a literal rendering would result in ‘became hard-hearted,’ i.e. ‘stubborn’; therefore the phrase had to be rendered ‘became wise in his consciousness.’ For similar reasons Tboli uses an adjective meaning ‘sturdy/steady/reliable,’ lit. ‘nailed.’ Spirit, or, ‘character’ (Tboli, using a derivation of ‘breath-of-life’), ‘heart’ (Vai, where a literal rendering of ‘spirit’ would suggest that John had so strong a ghost as to be able to live on some time after his death), ‘consciousness’ (Ekari, a compound of ‘thought’ and ‘speech’); and cf. above on v. 47.

Till the day of his manifestation, or as a verbal clause, ‘until (the day) he showed/made-publicly-known himself’ (Navajo, Apache, Batak Toba), ‘up to the time that he appeared in public.’

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 1:80

Paragraph 1:80

1:80

In this verse Luke gave a summary statement about John’s childhood and youth. Your translation should indicate clearly that 1:80 returns to Luke’s account of events. It is not something that Zechariah said.

1:80a

And the child grew: The word child refers to John. He grew up and became a man.

became strong in spirit: The phrase became strong in spirit is literally “was being strengthened in spirit.” It means that as John grew, he became confident, courageous, and mature in his thinking and character.

1:80b

he lived in the wilderness until the time of his public appearance to Israel: John lived in the wilderness until the time when he began to preach publicly to the Israelites. He also continued to live in the wilderness while he was preaching to them. Translate in a way that will not imply that John stopped living in the wilderness after he began to preach publicly.

Another way to translate this is:

He lived in uninhabited areas when he grew up. Then he began to preach publicly to the people of Israel.

he lived in the wilderness: The word wilderness refers to a wild, desolate area where few people lived. It was often dry in this area, and so many English versions translate this word as “desert.” However, the focus of the word is that few people lived there, not that it was dry.

Other ways to translate this are:

he lived in an uninhabited area
-or-
he lived in a desolate area
-or-
he lived in an area where few people lived

the time of his public appearance to Israel: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as his public appearance refers to the time when John began to preach to the people of Israel. Great crowds of people then saw him and listened to him.

Some other ways to translate this are:

he began his public ministry to Israel (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
he began to preach publicly to the people of Israel

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