Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:19:
Noongar: “The king said, ‘I will make you boss of five cities’.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘The king also said to that second one: ‘You (sing.) also I lift becoming a commander of five towns.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The king said to him, ‘Good. You also shall rule over five towns.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And that king answered, ‘You’re the one that I will put in charge of five towns.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The king also said, ‘If that is so, I will also appoint you (sing.) to rule over five cities.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “‘Well, if it’s like that,’ said his master, ‘I will put you in charge of five towns.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
In Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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®).
hē mna sou … epoiēsen pente mnas ‘your mina has made five minas.’ epoiēsen is equivalent to prosērgasato in v. 16.
(V. 19) kai su epanō ginou pente poleōn ‘you too, be over five towns.’ kai ‘too’ is used because the second slave is also rewarded in proportion to what he gained. epanō ginou is equivalent to isthi exousian echōn epanō in v. 17.
Translation:
(V. 19) And you, preferably, ‘you too,’ ‘you similarly.’
You are to be over, or, ‘rule over,’ ‘you (shall) rule over,’ cf. on v. 17.
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.
And to this one he said, ‘You shall have authority over five cities’: The statement that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And to this one he said, ‘You shall have authority over five cities’ is literally “And he said also to this one, ‘And you, be over five cities.” This statement implies that the master spoke similarly to the second servant as he spoke to the first servant. It implies that the master approved of him also and rewarded him. Some ways to make this clear are:
And he ⌊rewarded⌋ him also, saying, “As for you, you will rule over five cities.” -or-
“Well done!” the king said. “You will be governor over five cities.” (New Living Translation (2004))
In some languages it may be more natural to translate the meaning without a direct quote. For example:
⌊His master rewarded him by⌋ making him the ruler over five cities.
Refer back to the notes on 19:17 for more translation suggestions.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.