He was betrayed by a close friend who loved money more than the way of the truth (image)

“This picture indicates that corruption takes place even in temples and even among the religious.”

Drawing by Sawai Chinnawong who employs northern and central Thailand’s popular distinctive artistic style originally used to depict Buddhist moral principles and other religious themes; explanation by Paul DeNeui. From That Man Who Came to Save Us by Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. DeNeui, William Carey Library, 2010.

For more images by Sawai Chinnawong in TIPs see here.

betray

The Greek that is translated as “betray” in English does not have an immediately corresponding term in Tado. The term that was chosen there was “sell.” (Source: Budy Karmoy in this blog post )

complete verse (Luke 22:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 22:4:

  • Noongar: “So Judas went to the Chief Priests and the Temple police, and he told them the way he could betray Jesus.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “That’s why he went to speak to the leading priests with the head(s) of the police of the House of God, how he might sell Yesus to them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He left and went to the chief priests and to the captains of the guards in the temple to speak to them and plan as to how he could betray Isa so that he could hand him over to them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for Judas, he went to the chief priests and the captains of those who guard in the big church, and he told them that it was possible that he turn Jesus over to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “and he went to the leaders of the priests and the leaders of the Temple guards to arrange-with them how he would hand-over Jesus to them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That’s why Judas went and arranged with the chiefs of the priests and the chiefs of the guards of the Templo as to how he could trade Jesus to them.” (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 22:4

Exegesis:

apelthōn lit. ‘after going off,’ i.e. after leaving Jesus and his fellow-disciples.

sunelalēsen tois archiereusin kai stratēgois ‘he discussed with the chief priests and the captains.’

stratēgos (also v. 52) ‘captain,’ ‘officer,’ here referring to the captain of the temple police, cf. stratēgous tou hierou in v. 52.

to pōs autois paradō auton ‘(the question) as to how he might hand him over to them,’ same construction as in v. 2, see there. For paradidōmi cf. on 9.44.

Translation:

Conferred with, cf. on “said to one another” in 4.36.

Captains. It is usually preferable to employ the fuller designation of v. 52, which see.

For betray see on “traitor” in 6.16; but a less pejorative term like ‘deliver up,’ ‘hand over’ (see on 20.20) is preferable.

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 22:4

22:4a–c

And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests…how he might betray Jesus to them: This verse tells what Judas did when Satan entered him. Judas went to the chief priests to talk with them about betraying Jesus to them. Express the connection with 22:3 in a natural way in your language. In some languages a conjunction is not needed.

Some other ways to translate the clause are:

So Judas went off and spoke with the chief priests…about how he could betray Jesus to them. (Good News Translation)
-or-
Judas went to the chief priests…and discussed with them how he could betray Jesus. (God’s Word)
-or-
And he went to the leading priests…to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. (New Living Translation (2004))

chief priests: The term chief priests occurred in 22:2a and 19:47b–d. See the note there for more information.

22:4b

temple officers: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple officers is more literally “captains” or “officers.” It refers here to officers who were responsible for keeping order in the temple area. These officers were Jews from the tribe of Levi. They supervised the other Levites who guarded the temple and the area around it. Here is another way to translate this:

captains of the Temple guard (New Living Translation (1996))

22:4c

how he might betray Jesus to them: Judas talked with the chief priests and the officers about how and when he could betray Jesus so that they could arrest him secretly. Some other ways to translate this are:

to arrange-with them how he would hand-over Jesus to them
-or-
to tell them that he was willing to betray Jesus to them and discuss how to do that

betray: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as betray refers to putting someone into the power of his enemies. In this account, Judas planned to betray Jesus by showing the Jewish leaders where to find him and pointing him out to them. The account of the betrayal is in 22:47–48. The word betray does not imply that Jesus had done something bad that the betrayer would expose. Jesus was an innocent person.

Use a natural way in your language to refer to betrayal. Do not imply that Judas would use spiritual power to cause Jesus’ enemies to gain control of him.

Another form of this word is translated as “delivered over” in 18:32a. See the note there for more information.

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