complete verse (Luke 21:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 21:6:

  • Noongar: “‘You see all these things. The day will come when not one of these stones will stand in its place; all the stones will be knocked down.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘The time will come when all that you see there will be destroyed, there will no longer be one stone on top of the other.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘All that you see here, will be destroyed in the future. There is a day when there will be none of those stones here left on top of the other but all will be scattered.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘The day is coming when all of these things which you see will be destroyed. There isn’t even one of these stones that will be left in its place because everything there is going to be knocked down.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘In-the-future indeed (prophetic formula) the day will arrive when all these-things that you see will be scattered, because not even a single stone will remain in its place.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But Jesus said, ‘What you are looking at there, which are its buildings, they will all be destroyed. For the day will come when no stone will be left on top of the stone it is stacked on. All will be caused to collapse.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or 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 Translator 2002, 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.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on Luke 21:6

Exegesis:

tauta ha theōreite lit. ‘these things which you see,’ aposiopesis, since it is not taken up by a clause of which tauta is a part. It is best rendered independently, ‘as to these things which you see.’

eleusontai hēmerai en hais ‘days will come in which…,’ cf. on 5.35.

en hais ouk aphethēsetai lithos epi lithō ‘in which, i.e., when no stone will be left upon another.’ For aphiēmi cf. on 19.44.

hos ou kataluthēsetai ‘that shall not be thrown down,’ as if preceded by ouk estin lithos ‘there is no stone….’ As the clause stands it has the semantic function of stating positively what was expressed negatively by ouk aphethēsetai lithos epi lithō.

kataluō here ‘to throw down,’ ‘to detach from its place.’

Translation:

As for these things which you see. The subsequent break in the sentence structure is best marked by a dash or dots. Where such a break would be unacceptable one may connect the phrase with what follows, cf. e.g. ‘what you see there, the days will come that no stone of it…’ (Leyden), ‘such days will come, that what you are looking at, of it no stone…’ (cf. Marathi).

There shall not be left here one stone upon another, or in active construction, ‘they (or, the enemies) will not leave…,’ cf. on 19.44.

That will not be thrown down is often better translated as a new sentence, e.g. ‘everything (or, every stone) will be cast down.’

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.

formal second person plural pronoun

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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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