τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλιπόντος, ἐσχίσθη δὲ τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ μέσον.
45while the sun’s light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
The Greek that is usually translated as “the sun’s light failed (or: darkened)” in English is translated by the predominant US Catholic English New American Bible (1970, 1986) as eclipse of the sun. (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated idiomatically with die Sonne versagte ihren Dienst or “the sun refused to be of service.”
The Greek that is translated as “curtain” in English is translated in Shuar as “divider” (aource: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.) and in Copainalá Zoque as “cloth closure” (source: Bratcher / Nida).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans don’t make that distinction include:
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bangandu: “the great house of God” vs. “house of prayer” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )
See also this devotion on YouVersion .
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:45:
Exegesis:
kai ēn ēdē hōsei hōra hektē ‘by now it was about the sixth hour,’ i.e. ‘noon.’
skotos egeneto eph’ hōlēn tēn gēn ‘darkness came over the whole land.’ gē may denote the earth, or the country of Palestine, preferably the latter.
heōs hōras enatēs ‘(lasting) till the ninth hour,’ i.e. three o’clock in the afternoon.
(V. 45) tou hēliou eklipontos ‘after the sun had failed,’ i.e. ‘grown dark.’ It is possible, though less probable to render, ‘after the sun had been eclipsed,’ cf. Plummer.
eschisthē de to katapetasma tou naou meson ‘and the veil of the temple was rent down the middle.’ No material or chronological connexion with what precedes is indicated. It may have taken place during, or after the three hour period of darkness, presumably after. For schizō cf. on 5.36; for naos cf. on 1.9. meson lit. ‘(in the) middle,’ goes with katapetasma and indicates where the rending took place.
Translation:
The sixth hour … the ninth hour. Where the Jewish way of indicating the hours of the day is unknown one may use a literal rendering and add the explanatory phrase ‘after sunrise,’ or shift to the equivalent receptor language idiom. In Bali the period of daylight was traditionally divided into eight parts (dauh); hence, ‘dauh four … dauh six’; nowadays, however, a rendering in accordance with modern Western terminology is probably preferable, ‘twelve (at noon) … three o’clock (in the afternoon).’
There was darkness over the whole land or, ‘the whole country became dark, or, was darkened.’
(V. 45) While the sun’s light failed (or, ‘was lost,’ Ekari). The phrase is sometimes better placed before the reference to ‘darkness over the whole land,’ cf. Good News Translation. Possible rewordings are, “the sun stopped shining” (Good News Translation), ‘the sun/day became-dark’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).
For the curtain of the temple (preferably “before the sanctuary”, An American Translation) was torn in two.
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.
23:45a
The sun was darkened: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as The sun was darkened is literally “the sun’s light having failed.” This clause gives the reason or cause for the darkness in 23:44. It became dark because the sun stopped shining. Some other ways to translate the clause are:
because the sun did not shine (New Century Version)
-or-
The light from the sun was gone. (New Living Translation (2004))
In some languages it may be more natural to put this reason clause before the result in 23:44. You may also decide to include this clause in 23:44, as some English versions do. See the General Comment on 23:44–45 below for examples.
This phrase not necessarily mean that the sun had no light at all during that time. God may have caused something to block the light of the sun so that it could not shine on part of the earth. Then the land became dark. However, this was not an eclipse. Bible scholars do not know what caused this darkness.
General Comment on 23:44–45
There is a close connection between 23:44b and 23:45a. The sun stopped shining (23:45a), and that caused the land to become dark (23:44b). Some languages may need to change the order of clauses so that the cause in 23:45 comes before the result in 23:44. For example:
44aIt was now about the sixth hour 45aand the sun’s light failed, 44bso that darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. (New Jerusalem Bible)
In some languages it may be helpful to combine 23:44–45. For example:
44–45It was about twelve o’clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o’clock…. (Good News Translation)
In some other languages it may be better to include 23:45a in 23:44 without changing the verse numbers. For example:
44When it was about twelve o’clock, the sun suddenly-stopped shining and the entire country became dark until three o’clock.
You should order 23:44b–45a in a way that is natural in your language.
23:45b
and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and connects the tearing of the veil/curtain of the temple into two parts with the darkness that came upon the land in 23:44–45a. At some time during this darkness the veil/curtain in the temple was torn in two. In some languages a conjunction is not necessary. Connect the events in a natural way in your language.
the veil of the temple: The phrase the veil of the temple refers to the large, thick curtain that hung in the temple. It divided a very holy place from the rest of the temple. It either hung at the entrance to the temple building or between two rooms in the temple building. (These two rooms are called “The Holy Place” and “The Holy of Holies.”) This curtain was possibly as much as twenty-five meters tall.
Some other ways to translate this are:
⌊heavy⌋ cloth door
-or-
cloth divider
-or-
the thick cloth that makes/acts-as a wall in the temple
temple: Here the word temple refers to the main building of the temple. See temple, Meaning 2, in the Glossary.
was torn down the middle: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was torn down the middle indicates that the curtain was split down the middle into two parts. According to Matthew 27:51 and Mark 15:38 this curtain split apart from top to bottom.
The verb was torn is passive. The text probably implies that God caused the curtain to tear like that. In some languages it may be more natural to translate the clause without a passive verb. For example:
tore into two parts
-or-
ripped down the middle
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