perplexed

The Greek that is translated as “perplexed” or similar in English is translated in Noongar is translated as dwangka-birgi or “ear-sore” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Elhomwe it is idiomatically translated as “to be silent.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also perplexed / puzzled, troubled / perplexed, or perplexed.

Resurrection of Jesus

The following is a stained glass window from 1855 by artist H. Beiler over the altar of the Evangelische Stadtkirche Bad Rappenau, Bad Rappenau, Germany:

Photo by Llez, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

complete verse (Luke 24:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 24:4:

  • Noongar: “They stood there because this confused them. Suddenly two men stood there near them, their clothes shining.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “While they were standing carried by their confusion, suddenly two men dressed in shining white appeared, standing beside them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They were confused about that. Then suddenly there were standing beside them two men, their clothes were very bright/dazzling.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then they were very troubled in their thinking, and suddenly two men appeared to them whose clothes were very shining white.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “While they were standing there, extremely-amazed, there suddenly-appeared two men with shining clothes standing-with them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Their minds/thinking were agitated about that.Suddenly/unexpectedly there were two men there close to them whose clothing was dazzlingly-bright.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 24:1-12)

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 24:1-12:

Before Sunday dawned, the women rushed to the tomb,
       carrying spices they had prepared.
The stone had been rolled away from the entrance,
       and they rushed right in.
Where was the body of the Lord Jesus?
It was nowhere to be seen,
       and they didn’t know what to think.

Two men there in shining white garments!
Where did they come from?

Shocked, the women fell to the ground, but the men said:

       “The living don’t dwell in tombs of the dead!
       Jesus has been raised to life,
              and now he’s long gone.
       While you were still in Galilee, don’t you remember
       he told you he’d be arrested, then executed on a cross,
              but three days later he’d rise to life?”

At that very moment, the women recalled
       what Jesus had said to them.

Quite a crowd of women had gone to the tomb,
among them: Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
       and Mary the mother of James.
They hurried off and informed others,
including the closest followers of Jesus,
       who refused to believe such nonsense.

However, Peter raced to the tomb,
but after stooping and looking carefully inside,
       he saw only burial clothes.
Still confused, he returned to the others.

Sung version of Luke 24

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®).

For more information, see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Luke 24:4

24:4a

In the Greek text, 24:4a begins with a phrase that literally means “And it happened.” Luke used this phrase to connect 24:4a with 24:3b and to introduce what was about to happen in 24:4b. You should connect 24:4a with 24:3b in a way that is natural in your language.

While they were puzzling over this: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they were puzzling means that the women were perplexed and confused. The phrase over this tells what caused them to be confused. They could not imagine where Jesus’ body might be. Some other ways to translate this are:

Then they were troubled and amazed about that
-or-
As they were totally confused about ⌊where his body could be⌋
-or-
That caused them to be confused/amazed

In some languages there is an idiom for this meaning. For example:

While they stood utterly at a loss (Revised English Bible)

24:4b

suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them: This clause implies that the two men were not ordinary people by saying that their clothes gleamed like lightning. In 24:23 the women described the two men as “angels” when they told the disciples about them.

In some languages it may be helpful to translate this part of the verse as two separate clauses. For example:

suddenly two men stood beside them. The men were wearing clothes that gleamed like lightning.

suddenly two men…stood beside them: In this context the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as suddenly introduces something that is surprising or unexpected. The women were startled as they became aware of the presence of two men. The women did not see or hear these men come. Some other ways to translate this phrase in English are:

all at once two men appeared, standing beside them
-or-
unexpectedly two men…stood beside them

in radiant apparel: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as radiant means “dazzling, bright.” The same word can be used to describe flashes of lightning (as in 17:24). The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as apparel refers to clothing. In this context these words indicate that the angels’ clothes were bright and shining. A form of this word was also used in 9:29 to describe Jesus’ clothing during his transfiguration. You may be able to translate it in a similar way here.

Some other ways to translate in radiant apparel are:

in bright, shining clothes
-or-
clothed in dazzling robes (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
wearing clothes that were as bright as lightning

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