idle tale

The Greek in Luke 24:11 that is translated into English as “nonsense” or “idle tale” is translated as

  • “empty talk” (Uab Meto)
  • “wind talk” (Indonesian)
  • “carried-around story” (Ekari)
  • “purposeless talking” (Kele)
  • “words that-frighten without-reason” (Toraja-Sa’dan)
  • “talk without foundation” (Pohnpeian, Chuukese) (source for all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “telling a fairy tale” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004).
  • “women’s gossip” (Weibergeschwätz) (German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord, publ. 1999)
  • “weird talking” (dwatsche Snack) (Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • “what-they-had-made-up” (Tagbanwa) (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • “silly talking” (Noongar) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • “baseless talk” (wújīzhī tán / 無稽之談  / 无稽之谈) (traditional idiom in the Mandarin Chinese Catholic Sigao version)

they did not believe them

The Greek in Luke 24:11 that is translated as “they did not believe them” in English is translated in Elhomwe idiomatically as “they had no use of it.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Luke 24:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 24:11:

  • Noongar: “But in the eyes of the disciples, everything the women said was only silly talking, and they did not see the truth.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “But those disciples did not believe their words, they thought it was just words that they made up.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But the apostles did not believe what the women told for they said it was just idle-talk.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, the apostles of Jesus, they thought it wasn’t true and they didn’t believe the news of these women.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But the apostles thought that what the women said was just foolish-chatter, so they didn’t believe (it/them).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But the disciples thought-mistakenly that what those women were telling was just what-they -had-made-up. That’s why they didn’t acknowledge it as true.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Women at the Tomb

The following is a stained glass window from the Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France, ca. 1150:

Source: Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Original source: Wikimedia

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 )

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 .

Translation commentary on Luke 24:11

Exegesis:

kai ephanēsan … hōsei lēros ta rēmata tauta ‘and these words appeared … as nonsense.’ Notwithstanding ta rēmata tauta being neuter plural ephanēsan is in the plural. phainomai, cf. on 9.8.

lēros ‘nonsense,’ ‘idle talk.’

enōpion autōn ‘in their sight,’ equivalent to dative autois going with ephanēsan.

ēpistoun autais ‘they did not believe them,’ denoting the situation that existed as a result of what the preceding clause related.

apisteō (also v. 41) ‘to disbelieve,’ here used in a non-religious sense, in v. 41 with the connotation of being unable to believe.

Translation:

These words seemed to them, or, specifying the participants, “the apostles thought that what the women said was” (Good News Translation).

An idle tale. Some idioms used are, ‘empty talk’ (Zürcher Bibel, Uab Meto), ‘wind talk’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘carried-around story’ (Ekari), ‘purposeless talking’ (Kele), ‘words that-frighten without-reason’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘talk without foundation’ (Pohnpeian, Trukese).

Believe them, or, ‘their words’; cf. on 1.20.

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 24:11

24:11a

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But is more often translated as “and.” Here it introduces the apostles’ response to what the women said. In English it is natural to begin it with But because the apostles did not believe them, as the women might have expected. In many languages there may be a more natural way to introduce the apostles’ response to what the women said. Introduce their response in a natural way in your language.

their words seemed like nonsense to them: The clause their words seemed like nonsense indicates that what the women said seemed too impossible to be true. The apostles thought that what they said was not sensible. It seemed like a foolish story. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

The apostles thought that the women’s story didn’t make any sense (God’s Word)
-or-
their words seemed like a foolish story to them (Translator’s Reference Translation)

nonsense: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as nonsense refers to words that are not true or sensible. It describes statements that are considered absurd, ridiculous, or unbelievable. In some languages there is an idiom that expresses this meaning. Consider how you describe such a report or story in your language. Here is another way to translate this:

an idle tale (Revised Standard Version)

24:11b

and: The word and implies that 24:11b is the reason or result of the apostles’ impression of the women’s words. They did not believe the women’s report because it did not seem sensible. (See the example below in the General Comment on 24:11a–b.)

Connect the clauses in 24:11a–b in a natural way in your language.

they did not believe the women: The clause they did not believe the women indicates that the apostles did not believe what the women told them. They did not believe that men in shining clothes told them that Jesus was alive again. Some other ways to translate the clause are:

the apostles did not believe what the women said
-or-
they would not believe them (Revised English Bible)

For more information about using the word believe in this sense, see believe, Meaning 1, in the Glossary.

General Comment on 24:11a–b

Some English versions change the Greek order of clauses in 24:11a–b. Both 24:11a and 24:11b tell how the apostles responded to the women’s story. The apostles did not believe them (24:11a), and the women’s story seemed like nonsense (24:11b). Some English versions translate 24:11b as the reason that the apostles did not believe the women, and 24:11a as the result. Other versions translate the clauses as two different ways to express the same unbelief. Either translation is acceptable.

In some languages it may be more natural to reverse the order of the Greek clauses. For example:

24bBut they did not believe the women, 24abecause their words seems like nonsense (New International Version)

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