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 24:34:
Noongar: “They were saying, ‘The Lord really has risen! Jesus showed himself to Simon!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “The ones gathered said: ‘It really is true, that the Lord lives again! He appeared to Simon!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They said to the two, ‘Really, the Lord is really alive again and he has shown himself to Simon.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the reason they were gathered there is they were telling each other, saying, ‘It must really be true that the Lord Jesus is raised from the dead, because he appeared to Peter.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “saying, ‘It is sure-enough true that the Lord has come-to-life again, because he appeared to Simon!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The disciples said, ‘It’s really true that the Lord Jesus has been made alive again. He indeed came-to-see Simon.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Simon (Peter)” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines a reference to “Peter” (see here for the Libras translation of “Peter”) and “son” (of Jonah / John). (Source: Missão Kophós )
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Chichewa: AmbuyeAmbuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, arawas-are-ru (現される) or “appear” is used.
anastantes autē tē hōra ‘getting up at that very hour, i.e., immediately,’ referring to rising up from the table.
heuron ēthroismenous tous hendeka kai tous sun autois ‘they found the eleven and their adherents gathered together.’ For hoi hendeka cf. on v. 9. hoi sun autois lit. ‘those with them,’ i.e. ‘their adherents,’ or, ‘the others of the group,’ cf. on v. 24.
athroizō ‘to collect,’ ‘to gather,’ here of people that are gathered together.
(V. 34) legontas ‘saying,’ going both with the eleven and with all the others.
hoti ‘that,’ or, introducing direct speech, preferably the latter.
ontōs ēgerthē ho kurios ‘indeed the Lord has risen,’ cf. on 7.14. For ontōs cf. on 23.47; for ho kurios cf. on 1.6.
ōpthē Simōni ‘he has appeared to Simon,’ cf. on 1.11.
Translation:
That same hour, or, ‘at once,’ ‘without (a moment’s) delay.’
Found, cf. on 7.10.
(V. 34) Who said, or, ‘and these said (to them).’
Indeed, here indicating affirmation, more specifically rejection of previous doubts.
Appeared to Simon, or, ‘showed himself to Simon’ (Balinese, Toraja-Sa’dan, Medumba), ‘caused S. to see him’ (Sranan Tongo). Some translators, taking Simon to be in focus, render, ‘Simon has seen him,’ but this is less advisable.
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.
saying: The word saying introduces what the group said to the two disciples in 24:34a–b. The group was probably already discussing those things with each other. As soon as the two disciples arrived, the group began telling them that news. The quotations here in 24:34 are probably a summary of what different people in the group said.
Some other ways to introduce what they said are:
They were saying (God’s Word) -or-
They began to tell them
Introduce the quotation in a natural way in your language. In some languages it may be more natural to use indirect speech. See the General Comment on 24:34a–c at the end of 24:34c for an example.
24:34b
The Lord has indeed risen: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as The Lord has indeed risen is literally “The Lord has really/certainly risen.” This statement by the larger group of disciples confirmed that what the women had earlier told them was true. It implies that they now had further evidence that Jesus had come back to life. Some other ways to translate this statement are:
The Lord has really come back to life… (God’s Word) -or-
The Lord has really risen! (New Living Translation (2004))
The Lord has…risen: The clause The Lord has…risen indicates that the Lord Jesus had been dead, but now he was alive. The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as has…risen occurred in 24:6. It is good to translate it in the same way here. For more information, see the note at 24:6b.
Lord: The word Lord refers here to Jesus. In some languages it may be necessary to refer to him more explicitly. For example:
the Lord ⌊Jesus⌋ -or-
our Lord ⌊Jesus⌋
For more information, see Lord, Context 3, in the Glossary.
24:34c
and has appeared to Simon: This clause indicates that Jesus had come to Simon and Simon had seen him. The verse implies that Simon had told the others that he had seen Jesus. When Simon told them about it, they believed that Jesus really was alive. This happened on the same Sunday when Jesus came back to life. Other ways to say has appeared to Simon are:
Simon has seen him ⌊with his own eyes⌋! -or-
He has been seen by Simon. -or-
He came to Simon, and Simon saw him.
Simon:Simon was the other name for the apostle Peter.
General Comment on 24:34a–c
In some languages it is more natural to translate the quotation in this verse as indirect speech. For example:
They told the two disciples that the Lord was really alive and had appeared to Simon.
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