The Greek that is typically translated as “Blessed” in English is translated in the French 1985 translation by Chouraqui as En marche or “Rise up / Forward / Let’s get going.”
The Jewish scholar and inter-religious translator A. Chouraqui explains: “The first word of the Sermon on the Mount is, in most translations, the main obstacle to understanding Yeshua‘s message. Makarioi, the Greek says — “Blessed” — and this word immediately sends commentators off on the wrong track. The ‘Beatitudes’ are assumed to be something that should be possessed from the outset, whereas they will only be fully realized in the kingdom of Adonai. And Jesus did not say makarioi, but ashrei (see Psalm 1:1), an exclamation…from the root ashar which implies, not the idea of a vague and essentially hedonistic happiness, but the idea of uprightness, yashar — the uprightness of the person who is walking on a path clear of obstacles — the path that leads toward Adonai.” (Source: Watson 2023, p. 58)
Note that Psalm 1:1a is translated by Chouraqui as En marche, l’homme qui ne va pas au conseil des criminels — “En marche (see above), the man who doesn’t attend the council of criminals.”
The Greek that is translated as “Son of Man” is mostly used by Jesus to refer to himself as well as in the prophecies of Daniel and Enoch (see Enoch 17:34 et al). It is translated in the following languages as (click or tap for details):
Tzotzil: “I who am equal with men” or “The Older Brother of Everybody” (“expressing the dignity and authority of the Messiah and the universality of his work”)
Tenango Otomi: “The Man Appointed” (i.e. the man to whom authority has been delegated) (source for this and preceding: Beekman, p. 189-190, see also Ralph Hill in Notes on Translation February 1983, p. 35-50)
Aguaruna: “One who was born becoming a person” (source for this and two above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Older Sibling of Mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Child of a Person” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “One From Heaven Born of Man/human?” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Man who came from heaven” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “One who God sent, who was born a human” (a direct translation would have suggested “that the father is unknown due to the indiscretions of the mother” and where “he is the son of people” is used when one wants to disclaim responsibility for or relationship with a child caught in some mischief — source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Kâte: Ŋic Fâri Wâtuŋne or “the man who is a true support” (source: Renck, p. 106)
Mezquital Otomi: “The son who became a person” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Alekano: “The true man who descended from heaven” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
Central Tarahumara: “One who has been stood up to help” (“This suggests that Christ has been given authority to some appointed task. A very generic word, help, was selected to fill in the lexically obligatory purpose required by the word which means to appoint or commission. Usually this word is used of menial tasks but not exclusively. The choice of this generic term retains the veiled reference to the character of Christ’s work which He intended in using the ‘Son of Man’ title.”)
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “He who is relative of all people.” (“The Triqui word for relative is a rather generic term and in its extended sense sometimes is diluted to neighbor and friend. But the primary meaning is relative.”)
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “The Person who Accompanies All People” (“The literal equivalents ‘son of man’ and ‘son of people’ were both rejected because of the false inference of natural birth involving a human father. Furthermore, it was necessary to expand any translation of the Bible by the addition of the pronoun ‘I’ so as to clarify the fact that Jesus is using the third person in referring to Himself. A common expression used by the Cuicatecos when difficulties befall someone, is to say to that one, ‘don’t worry, we are accompanying you.’ By this they mean they share that person’s sorrow. When wedding guests arrive at the home of a son who has just been married, they say to the father, ‘We have come to accompany you.’ By this they mean that they have come to share the father’s joy. These expressions do not refer to ordinary physical accompaniment, which is expressed by a set of different verbs. For example, visits are always announced by some such greeting as, “I have come to visit you,’ ‘I have come to see you,’ or ‘I have come to ask you something.’ The desire to accompany a friend on a journey is expressed by saying, ‘I will go with you.’ Translation helpers used the verb ‘accompany’ in constructing the phrase ‘I, the Person who Accompanies All People.'(…) It reflects the fact that Jesus closely identified Himself with all of us, understands our weaknesses, shares our burdens, rejoices with us in times of gladness, etc.”) (source for this and the three preceding: Beekman in Notes on Translation January 1963, p. 1-10)
Guhu-Samane: “Elder-brother-man” (“Since the term denotes an elder brother in every way such as honor, power, leadership, representation of the younger, etc. it is a meaningful and fitting — though not ostentatious — title.” Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )
Navajo (Dinė): Diné Silíi’ii — “Man he-became-the-one-who” (“This terra presented a difficulty not only in Navajo but also one peculiar to all the Athapaskan languages. It lies in the fact that all these languages, so far as we know, have a word phonetically similar to the Navajo diné which has three meanings: ‘man, people in general,’ ‘a man,’ ‘The People’ which is the name the Navajos use for themselves. (The name Navajo was first used by the Spanish explorers.) Although it seemed natural to say diné biye’ ‘a-man his-son,’ this could also mean ‘The-People their-son’ or ‘a-Navajo his-son,’ in contrast to the son of a white man or of another Indian tribe. Since the concept of the humanity of Christ is so important, we felt that diné biye’ with its three possible meanings should not be used. The term finally decided on was Diné Silíi’ii ‘Man he-became-the-one-who.’ This could be interpreted to mean ‘the one who became a Navajo,’ but since it still would impart the idea of Christ’s becoming man, it was deemed adequate, and it has proven acceptable to the Navajos.”) (Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )
Toraja-Sa’dan: “Child descended in the world” (“using a poetic verb, often found in songs that [deal with] the contacts between heaven and earth”) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Obolo: Gwun̄ Ebilene: “Child of Human” (source: Enene Enene).
Mairasi: Jaanoug Tat: “Person Child” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Costa Rican Sign Language: “It was impossible to translate the expression ‘Son of Man.’ The son-man sign simply means ‘male child.’ The Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO) team opted for an interpretation of the term and translated it ‘Jesus.'” (Source: Elsa Tamez (in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 59ff. )
Lokạạ: wẹẹn wạ ọnẹn or “son of a person.” “This translation is symbolic in that it uses indigenous Lokạạ words. However, since the publication of the New Testament in 2006, this phrase has gained popularity within contemporary Lokạạ society as an expression to describe an important person whose career is going well. In the New Testament, the phrase ‘son of man’ is used to describe Jesus as prototypically human, but the Lokạạ phrase is now being used to describe an exceptional person in Lokạạ society.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
In many West African languages, using a third person reference as a first person indicator is common practice with a large range of semantic effects. Languages that use the exact expression “son of man” as a self-reference or reference to another person include Lukpa, Baatonum, Mossi (“son of Adam”), Yoruba (“son of person”), Guiberoua Béte, or Samo. (Source: Lynell Zogbo in: Omanson 2000, p. 167-188.)
In Swahili the expression Mwana wa Mtu or mwana wa mtu or “son/daughter of human person,” which is used by several Bible translations, also has “the idiomatic meaning of ‘a human being’” (source: Jean-Claude Loba-Mkole in An Intercultural Criticism of New Testament Translations 2013, see here). The same is true for the Lingala expression Mwana na Moto — “son/daughter of human person.” (Ibid.)
In Balinese “we are again bordering on theological questions when we inquire as to which vocabulary shall be used to translate the texts where Jesus speaks of himself as ‘the Son of man.’ One of the fixed rules governing the use of these special vocabularies is that one may never use the deferential terms in speaking of oneself. This would be the extreme of arrogance. Now if one considers the expression ‘Son of man’ primarily as a description of ‘I,’ then one must continually indicate the possessions or actions of the Son of man by Low Balinese words. In doing this the mystery of the expression is largely lost. In any case the vocabulary used in most of the contexts would betray that Jesus means the title for himself.
“However, a distinction can actually be made in Balinese between the person and the exalted position he occupies. For example, the chairman of a judicial body may employ deferential terms when referring to this body and its chairman, without this being taken as an expression of arrogance. Considered from this standpoint, one may translate in such a way that Jesus is understood as using such deferential words and phrases in speaking of himself. The danger is, however, that the unity between his person and the figure of “the Son of man” is blurred by such usage.
“On request, the New Testament committee of the Netherlands Bible Society advised that ‘the sublimity of this mysterious term be considered the most important point and thus High Balinese be used.'”
“One of the first things that we did in working through the earlier part of the New Testament was to decide on how we would translate some of the more difficult technical terms. It was immediately obvious that something must be done with the translation of ‘the Son of Man,’ since the literal rendering anak manusia (literally ‘child of a man’) held absolutely no meaning for Malay readers. We felt that the title should emphasize the divine origin and authority of the one who used this title, and at the same time, since it was a title, we decided that it should not be too long a phrase. Finally, a phrase meaning ‘the One whom God has ordained’ was chosen (yang dilantik Allah). It is interesting to note that the newly-begun Common Indonesian (Alkitab Kabar Baik, published in 1985) has followed a similar route by translating ‘the One whom God has chosen’ (yang depilih Allah).”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 6:22:
Noongar: “God will do good to you when people hate you, when people reject you, when they insult you, and they lie about you only because of the Son of Man!” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “‘You are fortunate if who are hated, expelled, disparaged, and your names made-to-stink because of your following of Me the Child of Man.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘How fortunate you are/good it is for you if the people hate you and if they don’t receive you and talk-evil (about you) and destroy you (your good name) with your companions because you follow me, the Son of Mankind.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: (includes verse 23) “Far better off are you if people are against you and they don’t accept you as their companion, and they treat you shamefully, and they talk about you and say that your custom is bad, because you follow me, the older sibling of mankind. This is what their ancestors did long ago to the prophets of God. Rejoice very much if this happens to you, because how very great will be God’s reward to you which you can look forward to in Heaven.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Fortunate are you if people hate you and exclude you and also shame you and moreover say-bad-things-about you because of your faith in me who am Child of a Person.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “You can be happy if you are hated, ignored/boycotted and insulted by your fellowman, even your name regarded by them as disgusting, because you believe-in/obey me who am the One From Heaven Born of Man/human.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
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®).
makarioi este hotan… ‘blessed are you, when…,’ syntactically a different type of beatitude, because the subordinate clause is not causal but temporal or conditional and refers to the situation in which the subject of the main clause lives. It is this situation which receives full emphasis now. The blessedness implicit in makarioi is described in v. 23.
hotan misēsōsin humas hoi anthrōpoi ‘when people hate you.’ Because of heneka tou huiou tou anthrōpou ‘to hate’ here has a religious connotation, cf. on 1.71 where the connotation is different.
kai hotan aphorisōsin humas kai oneidisōsin kai ekbalōsin to onoma humōn hōs ponēron ‘and when they exclude you and revile you and ban your name as evil.’ The repetition of hotan suggests that the three clauses go together closely and refer to one and the same situation, i.e. that of excommunication from the synagogue.
oneidizō ‘to revile,’ ‘to insult.’ It is possible that it refers to the curses that belonged to excommunication from the synagogue, cf. Strack-Billerbeck IV, 1 p. 302. As object of oneidisōsin is best taken humas ‘you.’
ekballō (cf. on 4.29) may be rendered ‘to spurn,’ ‘to ban,’ or less strongly, “to reject” (Translator’s New Testament). For the historical problems involved cf. commentaries.
to onoma humōn ‘your name,’ i.e. their own names, rather than their name as Christians.
heneka tou huiou tou anthrōpou ‘on account of the Son of man,’ i.e. because of your allegiance to the Son of man, or, “because you are loyal to the Son of Man” (Phillips).
Translation:
Exclude you, i.e. break off all intercourse with you; hence, ‘outlaw/boycot you’ (Balinese); the rendering in Pohnpeian and Chuukeseliterally means ‘to separate-away,’ in Toraja-Sa’dan it is a derivation of ‘to wean.’
Revile you, i.e. use abusive language about you, call you by ill names. Some possible renderings are here, “insult you” (Good News Translation), ‘curse you’ (Sranan Tongo), “slander you” (Phillips), ‘say bad things about you,’ ‘say that you are evil.’
Cast out your name as evil, i.e. do not (or, no longer) mention your name, as though it were bad; hence such renderings as, ‘consider your name as impure’ (Balinese), ‘discard your name as though it were evil’ (Zarma), ‘make your name that it be one of ill omen’ (Shona 1966), ‘ruin your name’ (Sranan Tongo).
On account of the Son of man, or, ‘because you are followers of (or, have believed on, Tzeltal) the Son of man.’ One should make clear that the phrase qualifies the four verbs that precede it in the Greek, e.g. by placing it at the head of the first “when”-clause (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, Marathi, Bahasa Indonesia RC).
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 the fourth statement that begins with “Blessed are you,” Jesus describes the opposition that those who are a part of God’s kingdom will experience. They will experience these things because they are Jesus’ disciples.
6:22a
Blessed are you: Translate this phrase the same way you did in 6:20b.
when people hate you: The phrase when people hate you means “when people hate you as Jesus’ disciples.” Jesus was not implying that being hated (or excluded or insulted) is a blessing in itself. Being hated was a sign that they were faithful followers of God. They were supposed to recognize that they were blessed because of that. Some other ways to translate this are:
when others hate you (Contemporary English Version) -or-
when you are hated
6:22b
and when they exclude you: The word exclude means “refuse to accept someone as part of a social or religious group.” Some other ways to translate this are:
won’t have anything to do with you (Contemporary English Version) -or-
avoid you (God’s Word) -or-
when they separate you from their group
and insult you: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as insult also means “to reproach.” This word implies that the person being insulted is wrong and should be blamed.
6:22c
and reject your name as evil: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as reject your name as evil is literally “cast out your(plur) name as evil.” It means “to speak against someone in a way that harms him or his reputation.”
Some other ways to translate this are:
slander your very name (Revised English Bible) -or-
defame you (New Revised Standard Version) -or-
say cruel things about you (Contemporary English Version) -or-
spoil your name/reputation
your name: For the Jews, a person’s name symbolized that person himself and his reputation. So the phrase your name is a figure of speech. It is another way to refer to a person himself. Another way to translate it here is:
you
6:22d
because of the Son of Man: The phrase because of the Son of Man means “because you are disciples of the Son of Man.” Many people would act badly toward Jesus’ disciples because those disciples followed Jesus, the Son of Man. Some other ways to translate this are:
because you follow the Son of Man (New Century Version) -or-
because you are committed to the Son of Man (God’s Word) -or-
because you are loyal to the Son of Man (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
the Son of Man: Jesus used the title the Son of Man to refer to himself. In some languages, it may be necessary to make it clear that Jesus was talking about himself. For example:
me, the Son of Man (New Living Translation (1996))
The phrase the Son of Man also occurs in Luke at 6:5.
General Comment on 6:22a–d
The phrase, “because of the Son of Man,” goes with all of the four verbs in 6:22a–c. Jesus was saying that his disciples are blessed when:
(a) people hate them because of the Son of Man,
(b) people exclude them because of the Son of Man,
(c) people insult them because of the Son of Man, and
(d) people reject them as evil because of the Son of Man.
To make this clear, you could move the phrase “because of the Son of Man” to the beginning of the list of the four verbs. For example:
⌊You have chosen to follow me,⌋ the Son of Man. Because of that, you are blessed when people hate you, when they exclude you…
Or you could leave it at its present position and add a phrase to include all four verbs. For example:
Blessed are you when men hate you…and reject your name as evil—all of this because you follow me, the Son of Man.
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