The Greek in Luke 24:16 that is translated as “their eyes were prevented from recognizing” in English is translated with idioms in languages like Shona with “their eyes were clouded, or, shrouded/blindfolded,” Uab Meto with “their eyes were misty” or with a simile such as “their eyes were just as if they had been caused to be shut” in Marathi.
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated idiomatically with wie mit Blindheit geschlagen or “as if struck with blindness.”
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 24:16:
Noongar: “They saw him but they did not know this was Jesus.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “They could see, but there was something that caused them to forget/blank-out, with the result that they did not know it was Yesus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They saw him but they did not recognise Isa.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They saw him but Jesus did not allow them to recognize him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But even though they saw him, they didn’t recognize him because it was as if their eyes were blind.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But those two didn’t recognize him for it’s like it was hidden from them as to who he was.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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®).
kai egeneto ‘and it happened,’ cf. on 1.8, sub (2).
en tō homilein autous kai suzētein lit. ‘during their conversing and discussing,’ articular accusative and infinitive. For suzēteō cf. on 22.23.
kai autos Iēsous ‘Jesus himself.’
eggisas suneporeueto autois lit. ‘after drawing near went along with them,’ hence ‘drew near and went along with them.’ eggisas is used here in the sense of overtaking, cf. Plummer.
(V. 16) hoi de ophthalmoi autōn ekratounto tou mē epignōnai auton lit. ‘but their eyes were held back so as not to recognise him,’ hence, ‘their eyes were kept from recognising him.’ krateō ‘to hold back,’ or, ‘to restrain from,’ ‘to hinder’: pass. ‘to be prevented’ (here). The agent of ekratounto is God. krateō, cf. on 8.54. tou mē epignōnai is consecutive articular infinitive in the genitive.
Translation:
They were talking and discussing together. The second verb is stronger than the first; hence the sequence is a bit of a climax, e.g. ‘they were talking and even debating with each other’ (cf. Medumba), ‘they were questioning each other, even heatedly.’
Drew near and went with them, or, “came up and walked along with them” (New English Bible); or simply, ‘joined them’ (cf. Tae’ 1933).
(V. 16) Their eyes were kept from, implying that, though their eyes perceived a person, their minds were not able to recognise who he was, and that this was not their own doing but because of some outside agent, ultimately God. An explicit reference to God, however, should preferably be avoided, cf. e.g. ‘something covered their eyes that they not’ (Trukese), “a spell was on their eyes” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). Similar idioms appear to exist in several languages, e.g. ‘their eyes were clouded, or, shrouded/blindfolded’ (Shona 1966, 1963), ‘their eyes were misty’ (Uab Meto). Elsewhere one has to shift to a simile, ‘their eyes were just as if they had been caused to be shut’ (Marathi), but sometimes more radical changes are necessary, e.g. ‘they were prevented from,’ cf. also, “they saw him, but somehow did not recognise him” (Good News Translation). Cf. also below on v. 31.
Recognising him may be described here as ‘seeing who he was.’
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.
But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But is a common conjunction that can be translated in different ways. Here it introduces a situation that is unexpected. The men were followers of Jesus, but they did not recognize him. Introduce this unexpected situation in a natural way in your language.
their eyes were kept from recognizing Him: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as their eyes were kept from recognizing Him is literally “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” It indicates that although Jesus’ followers saw him, they did not know him. Something caused them not to realize that he was Jesus.
The clause is passive. It does not specify what caused Jesus’ followers not to recognize him. Probably the most likely possibility is that God caused it. There are several ways to translate the clause:
• Use a passive clause. For example:
but they were kept from recognizing him (New Century Version)
• Use an active clause and supply “God” as the subject. For example:
But God kept them from recognizing him (New Living Translation (2004))
• Translate in a more general way. For example:
Although they saw him, they didn’t recognize him. (God’s Word) -or-
but something prevented them from recognizing him. (Revised English Bible)
Translate the clause in a natural way in your language. In some languages there may be an idiom to translate the Greek idiom “their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” For example:
they did not recognize him because it was as if their eyes were blind
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