as a testimony to them

The Greek in Luke 5:14 that is translated as “as a testimony to them” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Das wird den Priestern meine Vollmacht beweisen or “This will prove my authority to the priests.”

offer

The Greek that is translated in English as “offer” in these verses is translated in Jalapa De Díaz Mazatec as “take an animal offering,” since otherwise it would be understood as a money offering. (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

priest

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)

Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:

“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”

In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”

For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:

​​Bau cha r (បូជា‌ចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.

See also idolatrous priests.

complete verse (Luke 5:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 5:14:

  • Noongar: “Jesus said to him, ‘Don’t tell people, but you go to the priest and let him see you. This witnesses to people that you are healed. Then you go and make an offering, the way the Law of Moses says.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “After that, Yesus forbade him, he said: ‘Do not tell what happened here to anyone. Go first, show your (sing.) self/body to the priest, so that he sees that you (sing.) are healed, and carry your (sing.) offering according to the commands that were written by Musa, so that it is clear to all people that you (sing.) are really healed.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And Isa really sternly-instructed him, he said, ‘Don’t tell anybody. But go and show your body to the priest and sacrifice as Musa has commanded, to make it a sign for the people that you are really healed now.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus commanded him, saying, ‘Don’t you yet for awhile tell anybody, but rather you go to the priest that God has ordained, so that he might see that you are healed; and you give him the sacrifice so that you might fulfill that commanded long ago by Moses, so that everybody might know that it’s really true that you are healed.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then Jesus ordered him, ‘Don’t be relating this to even one person but rather go show-yourself (sing.) to the priest so he will see that your (sing.) sickness has been removed. Then give to him what Moses commanded you (pl.) to offer to God so the many-people will thereby-know that you (sing.) have truly become-good/clean.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Now,’ said Jesus, ‘don’t tell anyone yet, but on the contrary go at once to the priest to have him examine you. And then give the thank-offering in harmony with what was commanded by Moises, which is like a testimony to the people that you are now well.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("order/command")

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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 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, meiji-rare-ru (命じられる) or “order/command” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Luke 5:14

Exegesis:

kai autos ‘and he,’ i.e. Jesus, indicating change of subject, without emphasis.

parēggeilen autō mēdeni eipein ‘(he) ordered him to tell nobody,’ presumably that he had been cured by Jesus.

paraggellō ‘to give orders,’ ‘to order’; when used in connexion with a negative (as here mēdeni) sometimes translated ‘to forbid.’

alla apelthōn deixon seauton tō hierei ‘but (he said) go and show yourself to the priest,’ with a sudden shift from indirect to direct discourse (cf. Acts 1.4; 23.22). apelthōn (participle) deixon (imperative) are to be treated as two imperatives.

kai prosenegke peri tou katharismou sou kathōs prosetaxen Mōüsēs lit. ‘and present concerning your cleansing (an offering) as Moses prescribed.’ For katharismos cf. on 2.14. Moses is here named as the author of the Pentateuch, i.e. of the law, and the clause is virtually equivalent to ‘the law tells us.’

prospherō ‘to bring,’ ‘to present,’ often of gifts to be sacrificed by a priest. Here it is used without an object, ‘to make an offering.’

prostassō ‘to order,’ ‘to prescribe.’

eis marturion autois ‘for evidence to them.’ autois is best interpreted as referring to the people in general.

marturion ‘testimony,’ ‘proof,’ ‘evidence.’

Translation:

He charged him to tell no one, or, ‘He forbade him to tell anyone’ (cf. Javanese), ‘he imposed-silence-upon him lest he should tell anyone’ (Batak Toba), or where direct discourse is preferable, ‘he ordered/told him, “Do not tell (this to) anyone” .’

Where an abrupt shift to direct discourse is stylistically undesirable it is usually best to insert ‘he said’ (cf. Exegesis), unless idiom requires direct discourse all through, see above. In receptor languages that have a graded system of honorific and reverential terms one may suppose that the leper was socially inferior to both Jesus and the priest, and that Jesus, in addressing the leper, referred to the priest in polite or reverential terms.

Go and show yourself to the priest, or, ‘go to the priest and show yourself to him.’ Show yourself, i.e. cause (or, ask) to look over, cf. “let him examine you” (Good News Translation). For priest see on 1.5.

Make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded. In Balinese the translator can use the verbal derivation mentioned in the note on 2.21, ‘present your purification offering (lit. offering-of being-taken-away your stain) according to M.’s command.’ — Make an offering … as, or, ‘bring/present/put-down an offering … as (or, the offering … that)’; ‘bring/present/offer a sacrifice (see on 2.24) … as.’ For offering a term for ‘gift,’ ‘what-is-given,’ can often be used, especially a gift offered in token of homage, as in Bahasa Indonesia (which uses a derivation of the word for the gesture mentioned in the note on 4.7), or Toraja-Sa’dan (lit. ‘something-offered-on-the-palms-of-the hand’); some other renderings are, ‘blessed thing’ (Kpelle), ‘gift to God from the heart’ (San Blas Kuna). — As Moses commanded may have to be adjusted, e.g. ‘as ordered/prescribed in the law of Moses’ (for which cf. on 2.22f), or, ‘as M. told us (inclus.)/ the people to do’; and cf. on 4.3.

For a proof to the people, i.e. ‘to the public,’ ‘to everyone,’ usually requires rather radical adjustments, e.g. ‘that people may be certain’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘so that the truth may be clear to the people’ (cf. Kekchi), “to prove to everyone that you are now clean” (Good News Translation). The phrase may better become a co-ordinated sentence, e.g. ‘This will be a proof….’

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.