37For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless,’ and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.”
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 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.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 22:37:
Noongar: “Because I tell you, the Scriptures say, ‘He will be punished like a criminal’, This must happen to me because everything which was written of me, now must all happen.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Because there is a word of the Holy Book that says: ‘The Redeemer King will be considered-like an evil person.’ And what is written must happen to Me. Because what is written in the Holy Book that foretells me, is almost happening/ready to happen now.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “For I tell you, what is written in the holy book about me has to be fulfilled. It is said hep there about me, ‘He was mixed in with the people who break the law.’ The fulfillment of this is soon reached.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because it’s necessary that the written word of God about me is fulfilled, which say, ‘He was included with the criminal people.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because it is emphatically necessary that the written word of God concerning me be fulfilled which says, ‘He was considered as a criminal.’ And here it is close to being fulfilled.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because I tell you that what is said in the writing will be fulfilled in me, which says, ‘He was regarded/classified as belonging with robbers.’ Because those things which are written concerning me are now being fulfilled.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 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).
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 22:31-38:
Jesus said, “Peter, listen carefully!
Satan has demanded the right
to severely test each of you.
But I’ve prayed for your faith to be strong,
and when you’ve endured the testing,
then turn and help the others endure.”
Peter replied, “Lord, I’m willing to face prison
;or even death with you!”
“Before a rooster crows tomorrow morning,” said Jesus,
“you’ll say three times you don’t even know me.”
Then Jesus spoke to all his followers,
“When I sent you out on your first mission,
I told you not to take along a traveling bag
or extra clothes and sandals.
But now I tell you to take all these
and possibly even a sword,
because I’ll be treated like a criminal,
just as the Bible says.”
“We have two swords!” shouted his followers.
“Enough of this!” replied Jesus.
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
legō gar humin ‘for I tell you’ (cf. on 3.8), introduces the explanation of v. 36. The situation has changed and become more dangerous because people will deal with Jesus in the way implied in the subsequent scripture quotation.
touto to gegrammenon lit. ‘this, which is written,’ hence ‘this scripture saying.’
dei telesthēnai en emoi ‘must be fulfilled in me,’ ‘must find its fulfilment in me.’ dei suggests a divine compulsion. For teleō cf. on 2.39. en emoi ‘in me,’ i.e. ‘in my fate,’ ‘in what happens to me.’
to Kai meta anomōn elogisthē ‘the (saying), and he was counted among the law-breakers.’ The article to serves to introduce a direct quotation.
anomos ‘lawless,’ here referring to people who break the law of God, hence ‘godless,’ ‘wicked.’
logizomai ‘to consider,’ ‘to reckon,’ here with meta and genitive, ‘to count among.’
kai gar to peri emou telos echei ‘for that which concerns me has an end.’ to peri emou may mean ‘that which concerns me’ (cf. 24.19; Acts 1.3), or, with gegrammenon understood (cf. 24.44), ‘that which is written about me,’ preferably the former; hence the clause is best understood as meaning, ‘my life is drawing to an end’ (cf. Klostermann and The Four Gospels – a New Translation). telos is used here in the sense of ‘end.’
Translation:
The clause order in this verse may be better changed, e.g. ‘it has been written, “…”; this, I tell you, must be fulfilled in me….’
This scripture must be fulfilled, cf. on 4.21; for must also cf. on 2.49 and for fulfilled on “accomplished” in 18.31.
And can usually better be omitted.
He was reckoned with transgressors, or, “they numbered him among the criminals” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘they numbered him one way with the sinners’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘people said that he was just (or, no other than) a wicked/godless man.’
What is written about me has its fulfilment, preferably, ‘what concerns me reaches/has its end’ (Bible de Jérusalem, Balinese), “for me the course is run” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘my end is drawing near’ (cf. Leyden), ‘my life is nearly ended.’
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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