complete verse (Luke 3:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 3:13:

  • Noongar: “John said to them, ‘Don’t take more money than the Law says.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “He answered them: ‘Do not collect more than the government has set.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He answered he said, ‘Don’t ask for more taxes than you are told to.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And John said, ‘When you collect taxes, don’t you cheat people in what they should pay. The only thing you should take from them is that which the government has commanded you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Don’t collect in excess but rather what is exactly right,’ he said in reply.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Juan replied, saying, ‘Don’t cause to be paid more than the amount which has been ordered for you to cause to be paid.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 3:13

Exegesis:

mēden … prassete ‘exact nothing.’ mēden is accusative of object.

prassō ‘to do,’ of taxes ‘to collect,’ possibly here with a slight connotation in the direction of ‘to extort.’

pleon para to diatetagmenon humin ‘beyond what has been laid down for you.’ para with a accusative has here the force of a comparative genitive. pleon ‘more’ is pleonastic.

diatassō ‘to order,’ with dative of the person to whom the orders are given.

Translation:

Do not collect more than. The comparative can be expressed by, ‘collect nothing that is not,’ ‘only ask for what…, don’t go beyond that’ (cf. Kituba), ‘apart from what…, you must take no more’ (Chinese). For collect one may use a term or phrase meaning ‘demand/ask money from the people,’ or, in order to bring out the concept of extortion, ‘take away money (from the people),’ ‘compel people to pay money’; cf. also on “tax collector” in v. 12.

(What) is appointed you, or, ‘(what) you are told’ (Ekari), ‘the amount designated’ (Pohnpeian); or, if an active construction is preferable, ‘things somebody ordered you’ (Nyakyusa), ‘(what) they have instructed (lit. set for) you to ask’ (Sranan Tongo).

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 3:13

3:13

Collect no more than you are authorized: The clause Collect no more than you are authorized means “Do not take any more tax money from people than the law requires you to take.” The government rulers had made a law that the Jewish people must give them a certain amount of money. This was the amount that the tax collectors were required to collect.

Some other ways to translate this are:

Do not require/force people to pay more tax money than the law says they must pay.
-or-
Do not charge people more money than they owe the government in order to get money for yourselves.

he answered: The Berean Standard Bible places the phrase he answered at the end of this verse. Some versions place it at the beginning of the verse, where it occurs in the Greek. Place this phrase where it is natural in your language.

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