Translation commentary on Luke 6:1

Exegesis:

egeneto de … diaporeuesthai auton dia sporimōn ‘and it happened that he was passing through grainfields.’ In this form the egeneto-construction (cf. on 1.8) relates the introductory circumstances.

diaporeuomai ‘to go, or, to walk through.’

sporima, plural, ‘standing grain,’ ‘grainfields.’

kai etillon hoi mathētai autou ‘and his disciples were plucking,’ i.e. tous stachuas ‘the heads of grain.’ The imperfect tense indicates repeated action. tillō.

kai ēsthion tous stachuas psōchontes tais chersin ‘and were eating the heads of grain, rubbing them with their hands.’ Strictly speaking the rubbing comes before the eating but in a general sense both acts happen simultaneously. psōchō.

Translation:

While he was going through … Actually the agents are Jesus and his disciples; hence ‘Jesus and his disciples walked in the midst of’ (Tae’ 1933), or in honorific languages, to avoid double translation of the verb, ‘while Jesus, accompanied by his disciples, was going through…,’ or with a further change, ‘while the disciples, followed Jesus through…, they….’ Going through, or, to bring out that he was not treading the grain under foot, ‘taking his way through,’ ‘walked between’ (Pohnpeian), ‘going along a path through’ (Amganad Ifugao).

Grainfields, or, ‘cultivated-fields’ (Shona 1966), ‘fields’ (Marathi). For “grain” in the sense used here see on “wheat” in 3.17.

Plucked and ate some ears of grain, rubbing them in their hands. It is usually better to take the noun object with the first verb, and to change the order of the second and third verb, cf. e.g. “pick the heads of wheat, rub them in their hands, and eat the grain” (Good News Translation), or with a final construction, .’.. they rubbed it in their hands, to chew on’ (Tboli). When another cereal is chosen to render ‘wheat’ details will have to be adjusted to fit its characteristics and the more or less specific terms used with reference to it. In some cases the verb ‘to pluck/pick’ does not take ‘ears of grain’ as object, but ‘the grains,’ or the name of he plant itself, as in Toraja-Sa’dan, Balinese, Tzeltal, Trukese. Then “rubbing” has to be taken in the sense of removing the husks of the grains. For ears of grain; some substitutes used are, ‘corn cobs’ (Kele), ‘fruits of the rice’ (Tboli). For ate some languages use a more specific term here, e.g. ‘chewed/nibbled-on-rice-kernels’ (Tboli, which possesses still another term for chewing on kernels of corn).

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 6:1

Section 6:1–11

Jesus taught that he was Lord of the Sabbath

In the Old Testament, God commanded the Jewish people to rest on the seventh day of each week. They called this day the “Sabbath.” The Pharisees believed that Jewish people should not do any work at all on the Sabbath day. They made many strict rules about what people were not allowed to do on the Sabbath.

In this section, the Pharisees continued their disagreement with Jesus from Luke 5:33–39. The Pharisees questioned Jesus’ authority to change the old traditions. They focused on the laws and traditions concerning the Sabbath. Jesus stated and proved that he did indeed have greater authority than the Pharisees to decide what a person could do on the Sabbath. As a result, the Pharisees perceived Jesus as a threat to their own authority.

Some other possible headings for this section are:

The Pharisees and Jesus disagreed about Sabbath-day laws
-or-
Jesus showed/taught the true meaning/use of the Sabbath day
-or-
A Discussion about the Sabbath (New Living Translation (2004))

There are parallel passages in Matthew 12:1–14 and Mark 2:23–3:6.

Paragraph 6:1–5

In this paragraph, Luke described how Jesus allowed his disciples to pick and eat grain on the Sabbath. Some Pharisees saw the disciples doing that and rebuked Jesus. Jesus had not told his disciples to stop what they were doing. Therefore, the Pharisees felt that Jesus was not respecting their laws about the Sabbath day.

In response, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of a story about King David. He showed them that the way they thought about the Sabbath was wrong. He told them that he had the authority to decide what was right or wrong to do on the Sabbath.

6:1a

One Sabbath: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as One Sabbath is literally “and it happened that on a Sabbath.” This phrase introduces a new story that happened one Sabbath day. The exact time in relation to the previous story is not in focus. The important information is that this incident happened on a Sabbath day.

Connect this story with the previous story in a natural way in your language. For example:

Once, on a day of worship (God’s Word)
-or-
On a Sabbath (Revised Standard Version)

Sabbath: The word Sabbath is the name of the seventh and last day of the week for the Jews. The Sabbath was the special day of the week when the Jews rested and worshiped God. The Law of Moses said that the Jews must not do any work on that day (Deuteronomy 5:12–15).

Some ways to translate Sabbath are:

the ⌊Jewish⌋ rest day
-or-
the day for resting
-or-
the day to rest and worship God

See how you translated Sabbath at 4:16.

Jesus: It is clear from 6:1b that Jesus’ disciples were with him. In some languages, it may be natural to mention them in this verse also. For example:

Jesus ⌊and his disciples⌋ were going through the grainfields.
-or-
Jesus was going through the grainfields ⌊with his disciples⌋.

Or you could say in 6:1b:

His disciples, ⌊who were with him⌋, began to pick…

was passing through the grainfields: There were paths through the grainfields where people could walk without damaging the grain. Jesus and his disciples were walking in a place where they were allowed to walk. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this explicit:

was going ⌊along/on the paths that went⌋ through the grainfields

grainfields: The grainfields were fields, farms, or gardens where the people grew crops that produced grain. This grain could have been wheat, barley, or a similar type of grain. Some ways to translate grainfields are:

• Translate this term literally. For example:

fields of grain (New Century Version)

• Use an expression for a specific type of grain. For example:

wheat fields (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
barley farms
-or-
fields where people grew something like millet

• Use a general expression for a field where people grow crops for food. For example:

cultivated field
-or-
fields/land for growing food
-or-
farms

6:1b

His disciples began to pick the heads of grain: Jesus’ disciples picked some heads of grain by snapping them off with their fingers. They did not use tools. They only took a small amount of grain. They ate it as they walked along.

In the Old Testament, God allowed the Jewish people to do this in fields owned by fellow Jews. They were not allowed to harvest the grain in large amounts (see Deuteronomy 23:25). Another way to translate this is:

his disciples broke off heads of grain (New Living Translation (2004))

disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disciples means “learners” who are in a relationship with a teacher. The learners commit themselves to their teacher in order to learn from him and live according to his teaching and example. In the New Testament disciples often lived with their teacher and followed him wherever he went.

Use the same term you used in 5:30a. See the note there and see also disciple in the Glossary.

the heads of grain: The phrase heads of grain refers to the top part of grain plants. Clusters of seeds develop on the top part of grain plants. These clusters are the heads of grain. These grains could be eaten raw.

In some languages, this part of the plant is simply referred to as:

grain
-or-
grain seeds

grain: The text does not say what sort of grain this was. Some ways to translate this are:

• Use a general word for grain. For example:

grain seeds
-or-
seeds

• If you do not have a general word for grain, use a word that refers to a specific type of grain. For example:

wheat
-or-
barley
-or-
something like rice/millet

6:1c

rub them in their hands, and eat them: The phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as rub them in their hands, and eat them is literally “eating some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.” The disciples had to rub the husks off the heads of grain before they could eat the kernels that were inside. The Berean Standard Bible has put the actions in the order in which they happened.

rub them in their hands: The disciples rubbed the heads of grain between their hands in order to remove the husks from the seeds. The husks were not good to eat.

eat them: The Berean Standard Bible has added the pronoun them for the sake of English style, even though it is not in the Greek text. It may also be helpful to add a term to show that the disciples were not eating the entire “heads of grain,” only the part inside the husks. Other ways to say this are:

eat the kernels (New International Version)
-or-
eat the seeds
-or-
eat the grain

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