unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “non-puffed-up bread”
  • Chitonga: “bread without fermented grain” (source for this and above: de Regt / Wendland 2016)
  • Hiligaynon: “bread that has-none of that-which-causes-to-expand” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

complete verse (Luke 22:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 22:1:

  • Noongar: “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread was happening soon. People also called it this feast the Passover.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “It was already close to the big day of the Yahudi people called the Feast of Bread that is not Yeasted, that is also called Paskah Day.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The celebration/feast of the Yahudi was already near when they eat bread not mixed with leaven (lit. for-rising). That feast was called the Feast of Remembrance.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now at that time it was just a little time before the feast of eating bread without yeast, which is called the Feast of passover (feast of passing (someone by)).” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The fiesta of the Jews called Passed-By had almost arrived at which they ate bread that had no yeast/baking-powder.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The Fiesta of Bread Without Raising-agent was getting-closer-and-closer, which is called Passed-by.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 22:1-6)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 22:1-6:

Passover was near, and the religious authorities
were looking for a way to get rid of Jesus,
       but they were afraid of what the people might do.

About this time, Satan influenced Judas
to approach the religious authorities
       with an offer to betray Jesus.
They were very glad and agreed
       to pay Judas some money.
Right away he began looking
for a chance to betray Jesus
       when the crowds were not around, of course.

Translation commentary on Luke 22:1

Exegesis:

ēggizen … hē heortē tōn azumōn ‘the feast of the unleavened bread was drawing near,’ durative imperfect. For ta azuma see below.

hē legomenē pascha ‘which is called Passover’

Translation:

Feast of Unleavened Bread; Sranan Tongo has ‘feast of the matzos,’ making use of the Yiddish term for ‘pieces of unleavened bread.’ For unleavened cf. also on “leaven” in 12.1; for bread cf. references on 4.3.

Drew near, or, ‘was to happen soon.’

Passover, see on 2.41, and references.

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.