Translation commentary on Luke 24:19 – 24:20

Exegesis:

poia (with genomena ‘the things that happened’ understood) ‘what kind of thing?’ or simply ‘what?’ The latter is preferable.

ta peri Iēsou tou Nazarēnou ‘the things about Jesus of Nazareth.’ This general phrase is elaborated by (1) the relative clause hos egeneto ‘who was…,’ and (2) the indirect question hopōs te paredōkan, etc., ‘and how handed him over….’ It is also possible to understand both ta peri Iēsou tou Nazarēnou and hopōs te paredōkan, etc., as object of egnōs in v. 18, but this is less probable.

hos egeneto anēr prophētēs ‘who was a man, a prophet,’ i.e. ‘who was a prophet.’

dunatos en ergō kai logō ‘powerful in deed and word,’ in apposition to prophētēs. en ergō refers to miracles and healings, logō to teaching and preaching. For ergon cf. on 11.48.

enantion tou theou kai pantos tou laou ‘in the judgment of God and of all the people,’ cf. on 1.6. The phrase means that God confirmed Jesus’ power in word and deed by its outcome and that all the people recognized it as such.

(V. 20) hopōs te paredōkan auton … eis krima thanatou ‘how (they) handed him over to a sentence of death,’ i.e. ‘to be sentenced to death.’ hopōs refer to the facts related in the clause rather than to their mode.

hoi archiereis kai hoi archontes hēmōn ‘our chief priests and rulers,’ cf. on 9.22 (hoi archiereis) and on 23.13 (archōn).

kai estaurōsan auton ‘and (how) they had him crucified,’ still dependent on hopōs.

Translation:

Concerning Jesus, or, ‘the things concerning (or, about, or, that happened to) Jesus’; if the preceding question has been rendered ‘what?’ (see Exegesis) another antecedent may be preferable, e.g. ‘what happened to Jesus,’ “all this about Jesus” (New English Bible). The two subsequent subordinate clauses may better become co-ordinate sentences, e.g. ‘he (or, this man/this Jesus) was a prophet, …, but our chief priests … crucified him’ (cf. Kilega).

Mighty in deed and word, or, ‘mighty in what he did and said’; or changing the phrase structure, ‘Whose (or as a new sentence, his) deeds and words were mighty/strong’ (cf. Balinese, Ekari), ‘who/he acted and spoke powerfully,’ ‘who/he performed mighty deeds and spoke powerful words.’

(V. 20) Our chief priests and rulers. The pronoun has exclusive force, presumably. For chief priests see on “high-priesthood” in 3.2, for rulers see on 23.13.

Delivered him up, see on 20.20. If idiom requires a reference to the other participant(s), one may add ‘to Pilate,’ or, ‘to the Roman authorities.’

To be condemned to death, or, ‘to receive the death sentence,’ ‘in order that Pilate/the Roman authorities (or, a pronominal reference, if these persons have been mentioned already in the preceding clause) would sentence him to death, or, to be killed.’

And crucified him, or, ‘and had him (or, caused him to be) crucified’ (see Exegesis). If an active construction is obligatory a difficulty may arise in that Pilate or the authorities in their turn are also initiators. This may result in ‘and caused him/them to order the soldiers to crucify him.’ As a rule a rendering that is less explicit as to participants will be possible, e.g. ‘and (so) caused him to die on the cross.’

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 24:20

24:20a

Our chief priests and rulers: The phrase Our chief priests and rulers refers to the religious leaders of the Jewish people. The chief priests and the other rulers belonged to the council (the Sanhedrin), which was mentioned in chapter 23. The chief priests were among the Jewish rulers. Be sure to make that clear in your translation. One way to do that in English is:

Our(incl) chief priests and ⌊other⌋ rulers/leaders

For help in translating chief priests see the note at 19:47b–d, and for rulers see the note at 23:13a–c.

24:20b

delivered Him up to the sentence of death: The phrase delivered Him up implies here that the Jewish leaders accused Jesus to the Roman governor. The phrase to the sentence of death indicates that the leaders demanded that the governor condemn Jesus to die. For more information, see 23:10–11 and 23:20. Some other ways to translate these actions are:

had him arrested and sentenced to die (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
handed Jesus over ⌊to the Roman rulers for them⌋ to sentence him to death
-or-
accused/took him ⌊to the Romans⌋ and demanded that ⌊they⌋ condemn him to die

24:20c

and they crucified Him: The word they refers here to the chief priests and Jewish rulers. Although the Roman soldiers actually nailed Jesus to the cross, the Jewish rulers were the people who caused Jesus to be crucified. In some languages In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit in some way. For example:

and they ⌊caused⌋ him to be crucified

For help in translating crucified, see the note at 23:21b.

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