The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is typically translated as “footstool” in English is translated as “(put your enemies) underneath your feet like grass” in Enxet. (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Upper Guinea Crioulo it is “(put your enemies) under your feet so you can rest your feet on them.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Whitesands is is “door-cloth.” “This would be that rag at the door that you use to wipe your feet after walking in the dirt or mud. Similar to a doormat. The point of comparison would be that a door rag is so low in value/position compared to the one using it.” (Source: Greg Carlson)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 20:43:
Noongar: “to the day when I will put your enemies like a resting place under your feet.”” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “For it was Daud himself who called him his Lord. In the Book of Songs he said: The Lord God said to my Lord: ‘Sit on my right side until I cause all your (sing.) enemies to submit to You (sing.).’ So, if the Redeemer King is really the descendant of King Daud, why does Daud call him his Lord?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I will place your enemies under the sole of your feet.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “until I cause your enemies to kneel to you.”” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “until I defeat your (sing.) enemies.”” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “until as for these enemies of yours, I will cause-them-to-admit-defeat, that they will now be just a stepping-stool for your feet.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.
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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or modern 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 Translator2002, 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.
In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.
Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”
In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.
Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking.” (Source Philip Noss)
In the most recent Manchu translation of 1835 (a revision of an earlier edition from 1822), God is never addressed with a pronoun but with “father” (ama /ᠠᠮᠠ) instead. Chengcheng Liu (in this post on the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology blog ) explains: “In Manchu tradition, as in Chinese etiquette, second-person pronouns could be considered disrespectful when speaking to superiors or spiritual beings. Manchu Shamanist prayers avoided si [‘you’] and sini [‘your’] for this very reason. To use them for God would be, in Lipovzoff’s [one of the two translators] words, ‘the most uncouth and indecent way to speak to the Almighty — as if He were a servant or slave.’ There was also a grammatical problem. In Manchu, si and sini could refer to both singular and plural subjects. For a faith that insisted on the singularity of God, this was potentially confusing. By contrast, repeating ama removed any ambiguity.”
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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®).
en biblō psalmōn ‘in the book of psalms.’ For biblos cf. on 3.4.
psalmos (also 24.44) ‘song of praise,’ ‘psalm,’ in Luke in the plural and referring to the Old Testament book of Psalms.
For a detailed treatment of the rest of vv. 42f, containing the quotation from Psalm 110.1. The text of Mark and Luke is identical with the one exception that Luke following the Septuagint reads hupopodion tōn podōn sou instead of hupokatō. For kurios and tō kuriō mou cf. on 1.6, sub (4) and (3) respectively.
hupopodion ‘footstool.’
Translation:
In the Book of Psalms, or, ‘in the part of the Scripture called the Psalms,’ or simply, ‘in the Psalms.’ For book see on 4.17. Psalms, often transliterated, may be translated as ‘chanting’ (Ekari), ‘songs’ (Shona 1966, Tae’), ‘Holy Songs’ (Trukese), ‘holy songs of old’ (Uab Meto), ‘songs of worship/praise.’ In some predominantly Muslim countries one of the Arabic terms for the Psalms, i.e. zabur, or mazmur (etymologically related to Hebr. mizmor), has been transliterated.
For the Lord and my Lord see on 1.6, sub (c) and (b). If the term for “Lord” is obligatorily possessed, the first phrase may have to become ‘our Lord’ (Dan).
Sit, the aspect is ingressive and continuative: sit down (or, take a seat) and remain seated.
My right hand, cf. also on 1.11, ad (1) and references.
(V. 43) Till here has the meaning of ‘during the time that,’ ‘and in the meanwhile.’
Enemies, see on 1.71.
A stool for thy feet. In this metaphor, which sometimes is better rendered as a simile, any term will do that refers to something that is put under the feet of a person sitting in state, such as, ‘cushion,’ ‘carpet,’ ‘small-bank’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘footstick’ (Highland Totonac). It may be preferable, however, to use a culturally equivalent figure of speech for subjection of enemies; or to shift to a non-figurative rendering, e.g. ‘I subject your enemies to you,’ ‘I defeat your enemies for you’; or to combine a figurative and a non-figurative rendering, e.g. ‘I beat down to the ground your enemies and put them underneath your feet like grass’ (Enxet).
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.
until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet: God spoke in a figurative way here. This clause is a promise that God will conquer the Messiah’s enemies and put them completely under the Messiah’s control. He compared the Messiah to a king who sits on his throne and rests his feet on the back or neck of an enemy king. That action shows that he has conquered the enemy king and completely controls him and his people. Some other ways to translate this are:
while I put your enemies completely under your control -or-
while I humble your enemies and
make them like a stool for your feet
until: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as until here means “during the time that” or “while.” The text does not say what the Messiah would do after God had defeated his enemies. But it does not mean that the Messiah would no longer sit at God’s right side after God had defeated the Messiah’s enemies.
a footstool for Your feet: A footstool was a small table or cushion that a person could rest his feet on while he was sitting. The Lord would make the Messiah’s enemies like a footstool for his feet.
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