The Greek that is translated as a form of “teach” is translated with some figurative phrases such as “to engrave the mind” (Ngäbere) or “to cause others to imitate” (Huichol). (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
In Noongar it is translated as karni-waangki or “truth saying” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”). (Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)
In Matumbi it is translated as Sabato ya Ayahudi or “Sabbath of the Jews,” to distinguish it from the Islamic Sabbath (which is Friday) or the Christian Sabbath (which is Sunday). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ថ្ងៃឈប់សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (ថ្ងៃសប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original). Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”
In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 4:31:
Noongar: “Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a town in Galilee. On the Sabbath, he taught the people.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “After that, Yesus went to Kapernaum town in Galilea land. When he arrived there, he also taught in the house of prayer on the Sabat Day.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa went down from Nasaret to Kapernaum, a town also in the place Jalil. When Saturday came the day-of-no-work he preached to the people in the prayer-house.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus continued on to Capernaum, a town in the province of Galilee. There on a day of rest, He taught the people in a church.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus went-downhill to Capernaum which was a town in Galilea. On Saturday which was their rest-day, he went to the synagogue to go teach.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When Jesus went from there, he went to Capernaum in the district of Galilea. He again taught the people there in the worship-place on the Day of Rest.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is 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, kuda-rare-ru (下られる) or “descend” and oshieteo-rare-ru (教えておられる) or “teaching” are used.
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 katēlthen ‘and he went down.’ kai connects the following narrative with the preceding and marks it as a continuation.
katerchomai (also 9.37) ‘to go down’ or ‘to go a lower place.’ Here the difference in height is approximately 1900 feet, that in distance, about 20 miles.
Kapharnaoum polin tēs Galilaias ‘Capernaum, a town of Galilee.’ polin tēs Galilaias is added as an identification. Capernaum was mentioned already in v. 23 but this first mentioning neither gave opportunity for nor required a geographical explanation.
kai ēn didaskōn autous en tois sabbasin ‘and he taught them on the sabbath.’ Two interpretations are possible which depend ultimately on the understanding of vv. 31-37 as a whole: (1) the clause refers to Jesus’ consecutive teaching on several sabbath days; this also applies to v. 32 which describes the reaction of the people to this teaching. Then vv. 33-37 refer to what happens on presumably the last of these sabbath days; (2) the reference is to a specific sabbath and this clause and the clauses in the imperfect tense in vv. 32f, as contrasted with the aorist tense of anekraxen ‘he shouted’ and subsequent verbs in vv. 32-36, describe as it were the setting in which the sudden outburst of v. 34 happens. The fact that v. 33 begins with kai and does not contain a reference or hint to a specific sabbath to be distinguished from sabbaths referred to previously, points to the second interpretation as being the more natural. This is also consistent with Mk. 1.21-23.
autous refers to the inhabitants of Capernaum who were present in the synagogue, though they have not been referred to previously and the synagogue itself is not mentioned until v. 33, though implied in “was teaching”.
Translation:
He went down. For movement to another level, cf. on “went up” in 2.4.
Capernaum, a city of Galilee, or, ‘(the city) C. (which is) in (the region) G.,’ cf. on 1.26.
And he was teaching them on the sabbath, or, to bring out interpretation (2), ‘once he was teaching them (or, the people (there)) on the sabbath,’ ‘on a certain sabbath he was … (etc.).’ That this happened in the synagogue may have to be stated explicitly.
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.
In Nazareth, people did not believe that Jesus was sent by God. In this section, Jesus went back to Capernaum (4:23d). Apparently, the people in Capernaum accepted him. There he commanded a demon to come out of a man. The people were amazed at both the authority and the power with which Jesus spoke.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
Jesus Forces an Evil Spirit out of a Man (God’s Word) -or-
Jesus exorcises an evil spirit
There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 1:21–28.
Paragraph 4:31–32
4:31a
Then: This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Some English versions, such as the English Standard Version, translate it that way. However, since this verse is the beginning of a new story, other versions, like the Berean Standard Bible, translate this conjunction with a time word. In some languages, it will also be natural to begin this paragraph with a time word or phrase. For example:
After that -or-
One day
He went down to Capernaum:Capernaum is the name of a town. Jesus went down from the town of Nazareth (a higher place) to Capernaum (a lower place). Capernaum was about 580 meters lower in elevation than Nazareth was. It was nearly thirty kilometers away.
In some languages, it is important to say whether people go up or down when they travel. In other languages, this would be unusual and might be confusing. If it is confusing in your language, you should not translate “down.” For example:
Jesus went to Capernaum -or-
Jesus traveled to Capernaum
a town in Galilee: Capernaum was a town in the province of Galilee. It was on or near the northwest shore of Lake Galilee.
Since Nazareth was also a town in Galilee, it may be necessary to translate this as:
⌊another⌋ town in Galilee
4:31b
and on the Sabbath He began to teach the people: On one particular Sabbath day, Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum and began to teach there. While he was teaching, the incident in 4:33–37 happened.
the Sabbath:
The Sabbath day was the name of the seventh and last day of the week for the Jews. See the note on Sabbath at 4:16b for a more complete description.
He began to teach the people: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as began to teach is literally “he was teaching” (as in the Revised Standard Version). It can also be translated as “taught.” For example:
he taught the people (Good News Translation)
In some languages, it may be necessary to say explicitly what Jesus taught the people. For example:
taught ⌊God’s word to⌋ the people
the people: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the people is literally “them.” It refers to the people of Capernaum who were in the synagogue that Sabbath day.
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