Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Luke 18:22

Exegesis:

eti hen soi leipei ‘there is still one thing lacking for you,’ or ‘you lack only one thing,’ i.e. either ‘there is one thing which you do not yet have,’ or ‘there is one thing which you must do yet,’ hence “you still need to do one thing” (Good News Translation), preferably the latter, as the subsequent imperatives suggest. leipō.

panta hosa echeis pōlēson ‘sell everything that you have.’

diados ptōchois ‘distribute (the proceeds) to the poor.’ For diadidōmi cf. on 11.22; for ptōchos (here without specific religious connotation) cf. on 4.18.

kai hexeis thēsauron en [tois] ouranois ‘and (as a result) you will have treasure in heaven.’

deuro akolouthei moi ‘come, follow me,’ present tense of akolouthei ‘follow’ suggests duration as compared with the aorist tense of pōlēson and diados.

deuro lit. ‘hither,’ when followed by an imperative, ‘come (here).’

Translation:

Distribute to, or, “divide … among” (An American Translation). Where an object is required one may use ‘the proceeds (of the sale),’ ‘the money,’ or, illogically, ‘it’ (Nieuwe Vertaling, Bible de Jérusalem, Zürcher Bibel, some Indonesian languages).

Treasure in heaven, cf. on 12.33.

And come, or, ‘after that (or, then) come.’ The verb may require some specification, ‘come here’ (Nieuwe Vertaling, similarly Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese), “come back” (An American Translation).

Follow, see on 5.11.

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 18:22

18:22a

On hearing this, Jesus told him: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as On hearing this, Jesus told him is literally “Having-heard, Jesus said to him.” In Greek the verb “Having-heard” connects what the leader said with what Jesus was about to say to him.

In some languages it may not be natural to say here that Jesus heard the ruler’s words, because this fact is obvious from the context. If that is true in your language, you may want to connect these statements in a different way. For example:

In reply Jesus said
-or-
Then Jesus replied

18:22b

You still lack one thing: This clause is literally, “Still/yet one (thing) to you is lacking.” It answers the question that the ruler asked Jesus in 18:18b about what he must do to receive eternal life. Here Jesus was saying, “There is one more deed/thing that you need to do ⌊in order to live forever with God⌋.” Here is another way to translate this:

There is still one more thing you need to do. (Good News Translation)

This one thing is explained in Jesus’ next statement in 18:22c–d.

18:22c

Sell everything you own and give to the poor: These words imply that the man should sell everything that he owned. Then he should take the money that he received from selling his possessions and give that money to poor people. In some languages it may be necessary to make that explicit. For example:

sell everything you own and give ⌊the money/proceeds⌋ to poor people

18:22d

and you will have: The clause in 18:22d is the result of 18:22c. If the man did as Jesus told him in 18:22c, he would have treasure in heaven. Some other ways to translate this connection are:

Then you will have…
-or-

⌊If you do⌋ that, you will have…
-or-
As a result, you will have…

you will have treasure in heaven: The clause you will have treasure in heaven implies that God would reward the ruler for giving his earthly wealth to poor people. That reward would be a treasure in heaven.

Your translation should not imply that God would simply take the same money that was given to poor people and put it in heaven. One way to avoid that wrong meaning is to indicate that the treasure in heaven is a reward. For example:

⌊As a result, God will reward⌋ you with treasure in heaven.

treasure in heaven: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as treasure refers to something that has great value. This word is often used to refer to wealth or riches. Jesus did not say what the treasure in heaven would be. This phrase implies blessings that are greater than literal money.

The phrase treasure in heaven also occurred in 12:33.

heaven: Here the word heaven refers to the place where God lives. It is also the place where believers will live with God after they die. See heaven, Meaning 2, in the Glossary.

18:22e

Then come, follow Me: The commands Then come, follow Me indicate that after the ruler had given away his possessions, he should return to Jesus and become his disciple. Another way to translate this is:

Then return to me, and be/become my disciple.

The word follow also occurred in 5:27.

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