The Greek that is transliterated as “Herod (Antipas)” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for king and and a sign depicting cutting off the head (of John the Baptist), referring to Matthew 14:10 et al. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:15:
Noongar: “Herod also did not find him guilty, so he sent him back to us.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Thus also the opinion of Herodes, for he has returned him to me. This person has not done anything for which it is appropriate to condemn him to death.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And even Herod, the same also, for he has sent him back to us (incl.). It is clear that this person has done nothing bad fitting that he should be killed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Herod also, he could not find any sin in this person because he has sent him back to me. There really isn’t anything that this man has done worthy of being killed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Even Herod also, he found out no crime of his, because here he has returned him to us, so therefore he has no sin that would suffice for his-being-killed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It was like that too with Herodes, that being why he returned this person here to me. There’s nothing he has done for which he should be sentenced to death.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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. ).
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 23:13-25:
Pilate called together the chief priests,
the religious authorities, and all their cohorts.
Then he said:
“You brought Jesus into my court,
accusing him of being a troublemaker.
But you’re witnesses that I’ve found him innocent,
and so has Herod, who sent him back to me.
This man doesn’t deserve the death penalty.
I’ll have him beaten, then released.”
“Kill him! Set Barabbas free!” shouted the angry mob.
Now Barabbas had been in prison,
charged with terrorism and murder.
Pilate wanted to set Jesus free,
so he repeated himself to the mob.
But they shouted even louder,
“Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!”
“What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate once again.
“I’ve found him guilty of nothing deserving death.
I’ll have him beaten and released.”
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”
came the incessant cry of the crowd.
Finally, Pilate gave in to the demands of the frenzied mob.
He freed Barabbas, the terrorist and murderer,
then handed Jesus over to face certain death.
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®).
all’ oude Hērōdēs ‘but (not only I), neither (did) Herod,’ i.e. find any guilt in him.
anepempsen gar auton pros hēmas ‘for he has sent him back to us,’ takes up the end of v. 11.
kai idou ‘and behold,’ cf. on 1.20. Here it serves to introduce the concluding statement, cf. “obviously” (Phillips).
ouden axion thanatou lit. ‘nothing worth death,’ i.e. ‘nothing deserving capital punishment.’
estin pepragmenon autō ‘has been done by him.’ The use of the perfect tense suggests that the statement is final.
Translation:
Neither did Herod. Even if the ellipsis has to be filled out, the rendering should preserve something of the forceful terseness of the original.
To us. The plural does not refer to Pilate only, as a plural of majesty, but to Pilate, the Jewish leaders and the people together; hence the pronoun has inclusive force; cf. also, ‘me and you’ (Javanese).
Nothing deserving death. Idiom may require some adjustments, cf. e.g. ‘nothing fit to suffer death-penalty’ (Marathi), ‘nothing in-keeping-with a sentence of death’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘nothing worthy (lit. to reach) death’ (Zarma), ‘no affair for making-him-die’ (Ekari), ‘nothing that causes him to have-as-debt life’ (Batak Toba), ‘not anything which could ever kill him’ (Fulah), ‘nothing … which could be said: let him die’ (Shona 1966).
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.
Neither has Herod: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Neither has Herod is more literally “but neither/even Herod.” This phrase is emphatic. It provides further support for Pilate’s statement in 23:14 that he did not discover any basis for the charges against Jesus. It indicates that like Pilate, Herod did not find any basis for the charges. Some other ways to translate it are:
Herod also ⌊found⌋ nothing -or-
Herod came to the same conclusion (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
And even Herod, the same also
In some languages it may be necessary to make the statement more explicit. For example:
And Herod also could not find any wrong/crime that he had done -or-
Herod didn’t find him guilty either (Contemporary English Version)
23:15b
for he sent Him back to us:
This statement explains how Pilate knew that Herod also had not found Jesus guilty of any crime. When Herod returned Jesus to Pilate, he probably implied that Jesus was innocent. Otherwise, Herod would have caused him to be punished. Some other ways to translate this explanation are:
So he sent this man back to us. (God’s Word) -or-
That is why he returned him to us.
us: The word us refers here to Pilate and the Jewish leaders who were accusing Jesus.
23:15c
As you can see: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as As you can see is more literally “and look.” This same phrase occurred in 23:14c. It emphasizes the following statement. Here it emphasizes that Pilate’s next statement is obviously true: Jesus obviously did not deserve to be punished by death. Some other ways to emphasize the statement are:
Clearly (Revised English Bible) -or-
Look (NET Bible) -or-
It is obvious/evident that…
Translate this emphasis in a natural way in your language.
He has done nothing deserving of death: Pilate indicated here that Jesus did not deserve to be executed. He did not do any crime that Roman law would punish with death. Pilate had no reason to execute Jesus. Some other ways to translate this are:
…he has done nothing to deserve the death penalty. (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English) -or-
This man doesn’t deserve to be put to death! (Contemporary English Version) -or-
This person has not done anything for which it is appropriate to condemn him to death.
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