Verse: Luke 2:1

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐξῆλθεν δόγμα παρὰ Καίσαρος Αὐγούστου ἀπογράφεσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην.

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

Retrieving the verse

« Luke 1:80 Luke 2:2 »

The Visit of the Shepherds

Painting by Chen Yuandu 陳緣督 (1902-1967)

Housed in the Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here . For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

Everyone then went to register himself (image)

For permissions, please visit American Bible Society . You can also purchase framed art by Annie Vallotton .

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The Greek in Luke 2:1 that is typically translated in English as “in those days” or “at that time” is translated by the Italian La Sua Parola è Vita translation as Qualche tempo dopo la nascita di Giovanni or “Some time after the birth of John.” Cotrozzi (2019) explains: “After a short summary of John’s youth (1:80) the story goes back in time. The shift, however, is not marked clearly in the original, and formal translations suggest that the events introduced in 2:1 followed those narrated in 1:80. The Greek phrase ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις (2:1) is best understood as referring back to the time of Herod the Great and more specifically the time after the birth of John the Baptist.”

Augustus (Caesar)

The name that is transliterated as “Augustus” in English means “venerable,” “sacred,” “kingly.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )

In Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign that combines “C” (for Caesar, the title of the powerful ruler of Rome) and “adopted” since he was adopted by Julius Caesar (Source: Missão Kophós )

“Augustus” in Libras (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

complete verse (Luke 2:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:1:

Noongar: “Now King Augustus wanted to see how many people were living in his country.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “At that time, a command came from Kaisar Agustus, commanding that people in all the kingdom of Roma have their names written so that they know their manyness/number.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “At that time Agustus was the leader-king of the tribe of Roma. So-then he gave an order that all the people in all places under his rule should register.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “While Augustus was still king in the village of Rome, he made a law that all the people in the kingdoms which were subject to him should register themselves in a census.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “At that time, Emperor (loan Emperador) Augustus in Rome commanded that all the people in his jurisdiction go to register (lit. get-themselves-listed).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “At that time, the Romano Impiradur who was Agusto ordered that all the people under the rule of Roma should be censused.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Peace to Mankind (Luke 2)

Illustration by Horst Lemke (1922-1985) for the German Gute Nachricht für Sie – NT68, one of the first editions of the Good News Bible in German of 1968. Lemke was a well-known illustrator who illustrated books by Erich Kästner , Astrid Lindgren and many others.

Sung version of Luke 2

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®).

For more information, see here .

Sung version of Luke 3 >>

Translation commentary on Luke 2:1

Exegesis:

egeneto de … exēlthen ‘and it happened that … went out,’ cf. on 1.8.

en tais hēmerais ekeinais ‘in those days’ (cf. on 1.39) serves to bring out the temporal relationship between the narratives of ch. 1 and ch. 2 and is best understood as pointing back to en tais hēmerais Hērōdou in 1.5.

exēlthen dogma para Kaisaros Augoustou ‘a decree went out from Caesar Augustus,’ a general expression, not official language.

dogma ‘decree,’ usually of one issued by a person of unquestionable authority.

Kaisar, representing Latin Caesar, originally a name which the first Roman emperor acquired by adoption as the son of Julius Caesar, soon became a title. Since Kaisar Augoustos (here) and Tiberios Kaisar (3.1) are in accordance with the official Roman form of the names of both emperors Kaisar is best understood as a part of the name.

apographesthai pasan tēn oikoumenēn ‘that the whole world should have itself registered,’ indicating the content of the imperial decree in the form of an accusative and infinitive.

apographō ‘to register,’ here either in the middle ‘to have oneself registered,’ or, in the passive ‘to be enrolled,’ preferably the former. Here apographesthai refers to registration for tax purposes (cf. on v. 2, apographē).

oikoumenē scil. gē lit. ‘the inhabited earth,’ hence ‘mankind’; it refers here to the inhabitants of the Roman empire as in Acts 17.6; the equation of oikoumenē to the Roman empire or its inhabitants was not uncommon.

Translation:

In those days, or, ‘in that time/period also’; care should be taken not to suggest a connexion with the day of John’s manifestation to Israel (1.80).

A decree went out from Caesar Augustus, or, ‘came down from C. A.’ (Tagalog), ‘was given by C. A.,’ cf. “a proclamation was made by C. A.” (Phillips); or, ‘C. A. posted a placard (Sranan Tongo), put-out strong word (i.e. order)’ (Ekari); or again, shifting to a possessive, ‘there-was a proclamation of C. A.’ (cf. Javanese, and Bible de Jérusalem). A decree. Where no specific term exists one may use ‘order,’ ‘command.’ Tboli uses a term that points to civil law in contrast to customary law. Caesar Augustus. If taken as part of the proper name (see Exegesis) “Caesar” will have to be transliterated. In some languages the use of a name qualifier or title is required with the proper name; hence e.g. ‘big chief Kaisali Angustu’ (Kituba), ‘King-of-kings Kaisar Augustus’ (cf. Balinese).

That, introducing the contents of the decree, may have to be rendered, ‘saying/commanding/ordering,’ or, ‘(in it) he said/commanded/ordered,’ followed by direct or indirect discourse.

All the world, preferably, ‘the whole kingdom’ (Kannada, Ekari), ‘all his subjects’ (Tae,’ the same in Tboli, lit. ‘all persons holding to-him’), ‘all people in all countries of his empire’ (Kituba), ‘all the people included in the Roman empire’ (Cuyono).

Should be enrolled, preferably, ‘should have itself/themselves enrolled.’ The middle voice is sometimes expressed by a causative, e.g. ‘that all his subjects should cause-to-have-written (i.e. cause someone to write down) their name’ (Tboli), or it may have to be circumscribed, e.g. ‘that in the whole kingdom people should come to those who would register them.’ To enroll, or, ‘to hold a census (lit. listing of souls)’ (Bahasa Indonesia KB), ‘to write names’ (East and Toraja-Sa’dan, Kituba, Tboli), ‘to write names in a book’ (Dan), ‘to make a list of’ (Huanuco Quechua), ‘to record the number of’ (Telugu), ‘to count’ (Ekari).

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.

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