interest

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “interest” (as in payments for a loan) in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) as chiwongoladzanja which literary means something that stretches the hand. The understanding is that an interest is paid to thank the hand that was stretched out in the process of giving a loan. Since a person gets a loan to be helped from their problems, thanking the hand that has given (stretched out in giving) is considered to be an important way of expressing one’s gratitude. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

bank

The Greek in Luke 19:23 that is translated as “bank” in English is translated in Noongar as maya-maya boyang or “house of money.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)

self-referencing pronoun for king or queen

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.)

complete verse (Luke 19:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:23:

  • Noongar: “So then, why didn’t you put my gold coin into the bank? Then I would get more money when I came back home.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I came, I could take it with its children.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, why did you not put my money into a bank so that it would earn interest (lit. give birth)? Then when I returned I would get it including the interest.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “So why didn’t you lend out my money so that there might be an increase in what I was able to get when I returned.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “why then didn’t you (sing.) bank my money so that then when I came-home there would have been even a little interest (its child) that I would have been able to get?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, why didn’t you deposit it with the money-lenders? If you had deposited it, isn’t it so that today there would be interest on it which I would have got?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 19:23

Exegesis:

kai dia ti ‘why then?’ kai expresses astonishment.

epi trapezan lit. ‘on a table,’ here ‘in the bank.’ didonai epi trapezan means ‘to put in the bank.’

kagō elthōn sun tokō an auto epraxa ‘and on my return I should have reclaimed it with interest.’ The clause describes an event which did not happen because the act which should have preceded it did not happen. This is expressed by an.

tokos ‘interest.’

prassō here ‘to reclaim,’ ‘to collect.’

Translation:

Put my money into the bank. The verb can also be rendered more specifically, ‘to deposit with,’ ‘to lend to.’ Bank may be described ‘place where people trade-with money’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘house of lenders’ (Fulah); or shifting to the persons that do the job, ‘money changers’ (Zarma, Tae’), ‘money traders’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘those who put-on-interest money’ (e.g. Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘those who make gain with money’ (a Tzotzil dialect).

The interrogative sentence can best be taken to end after ‘bank.’ The next sentence may be opened by a transitional, e.g. ‘then’; its unreal character is sometimes expressed by specific verbal forms (cf. English, Javanese), or by a model particle (cf. Greek), or by an introductory phrase such as, ‘if may-be thus, then certainly I …’ (e.g. in Balinese).

I should have collected it with interest, or, ‘I should have received it back (or, claimed the repayment of it, or, caused them to repay it) together with its interest.’ The term used in some Malaio-Polynesian languages is, ‘flower (of money)’ (e.g. in Uab Meto, Bahasa Indonesia), or, ‘child (of money)’ (e.g. in Tboli, or in Balinese, where ‘mother’ is used for ‘principal sum’); Sranan Tongo describes the concept by ‘money that is gained (lit. worked) upon it.’

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 19:23

19:23a–b

Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses a rebuke. The king was telling his servant what he should have done but did not do. Some ways to translate this rebuke are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

…why didn’t you put my money in the bank? (God’s Word)

• As a statement or exclamation. For example:

You certainly should have put my money in the bank!
-or-
You should have deposited my money in the bank.

Translate this rebuke in a way that is natural in your language.

then: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as then introduces a logical conclusion. If the servant really believed what he said about the master, then he should have put his master’s money on deposit. Some other ways to express this logical connection in English are:

So
-or-
If you really believed that
-or-
Well, then (Good News Translation)

Express the connection in a natural way in your language.

deposit my money in the bank: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in the bank is literally “on the table.” It refers to a table where a man who loaned money worked. A person could come and put money on the lender’s table. The lender would promise to pay him interest. This interest was based on the amount of money that the lender received and how long he kept the money. After a lender received money, he loaned it to another person and demanded a higher interest fee.

Some other ways to translate this action are:

• Use a specific term that describes the action. For example:

deposit my money with the moneylenders

• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:

invest my money with someone whose work/business is lending money
-or-
loan my money to a person/business who will pay a fee to borrow it

• Use a general term. For example:

put my money in the bank (Good News Translation)

If you use a general term, it should imply that the king would get interest from the money.

19:23b

and upon my return: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and upon my return is literally “and I having come.” It refers to when the king returned to his servants.

The Berean Standard Bible begins 19:23b with and because in 19:23c the king describes the result of putting his money on deposit. The New International Version and NET Bible say “so that” because this was also the purpose of putting his money on deposit. In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of phrases in this verse. See the General Comment on 19:23a–c for a suggestion.

Other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

and at my coming (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Then when I came back (New Century Version)

19:23c

I could have collected it with interest: The clause in this verse expresses a result of depositing the king’s money. But this result did not happen. The servant did not deposit the king’s money, so the king could not collect interest from the money. In some languages there are special ways to express the results of actions that did not happen. In English special verb forms are used such as “might” or could, as in the Berean Standard Bible.

English versions differ about where they end the rhetorical question that began in 19:23a. Many English versions express the result in this verse as a separate statement. For example:

Then when I came back, my money would have earned some interest. (New Century Version)

In some languages it may be helpful to begin this statement with an introductory clause. For example:

If you had done that, I could have collected the money with interest when I returned.

collected it with interest: The word interest refers to the extra money (“profits”) that a lender would have given the king for letting him use the money. It would have been good for the servant to put the money with a lender, who would have returned it with interest.

Other ways to translate collected it with interest are:

received it back with a profit/gain/increase
-or-
gotten it back again and also received some interest
-or-
received even more money back

General Comment on 19:23a–c

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of clauses in this verse. For example:

23aThen why did you not put my money on deposit, 23cand I could have claimed it with interest 23bwhen I came back? (Revised English Bible)

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