complete verse (Luke 5:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 5:28:

  • Noongar: “Levi stood up, left everything and followed Jesus.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “He got up, leaving all and he followed Yesus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then he got up and left everything there and followed Isa.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Levi abandoned everything there, and he followed Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Levi stood-right-up and left-behind everything to go-with Jesus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When Levi heard, he stood up at once. He left all that which was his making-a-living and followed-right-behind Jesus.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 5:28

Exegesis:

katalipōn panta lit. ‘after leaving everything,’ realized by, not prior to, following Jesus.

kataleipō ‘to leave (behind).’ Here it is synonymous with aphentes in v. 11. Cf. also v. 29.

anastas ēkolouthei autō lit. ‘after rising he followed him,’ hence ‘he rose and followed him.’ anastas is here to be taken literally.

Translation:

For this verse see on 5.11.

He left everything. To bring out the interpretation preferred in Exegesis one may better shift this clause, e.g. to final position, .’.. followed him, leaving (or, and so he left) everything behind.’

Rose For reasons of transition or specification it may be better to say, ‘rose from there,’ ‘rose from where he was sitting.’

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 5:28

5:28

and: In Greek, a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as and connects 5:27c and 5:28. However, 5:28 is the result of Jesus’ command in 5:27c. So in some languages, it may more natural to introduce this result with a different conjunction. For example:

So (New Living Translation (2004))

Another way to connect these verses is:

Then

In other languages, no conjunction may be necessary here.

Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him: In Greek, the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as got up, left everything, and followed Him is literally “abandoning all things, rising up, he followed him.”

In English, it is not natural to say “he abandoned everything” before saying “he got up.” For this reason, a number of English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, have changed the order.

left everything: The phrase left everything in this context means “left/abandoned his work as a tax collector.” It appears from the following verses that Levi still had his own house and personal money.

This phrase emphasizes Levi’s commitment to follow Jesus. See also the note on “left everything” at 5:11b.

followed Him: In this context the phrase followed Him indicates that Levi became a disciple of Jesus. See the note on “Follow me” at 5:27c.

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.