complete verse (Luke 6:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 6:8:

  • Noongar: “But Jesus knew their thinking and he said to the man, ‘Stand up and come in front of me.’ The man stood.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “But Yesus knew what was in their hearts. That is why he said saying to the person whose one hand was dead: ‘Come stand in the middle here.’ He really went and stood there.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But Isa knew what they were thinking and he said to the person with the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’ So he stood up and stood there.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for Jesus, he knew what was inside their thinking, and he said to the man whose hand was destroyed, ‘Son, stand up and come here.’ And the man stood up and he went up to Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But Jesus knew what was in their minds, and he said to that one with the atrophied arm/hand, ‘Stand-up so you (sing.) will come here in front of us (excl.).’ Then he stood-up and went.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But what they were thinking wasn’t hidden from Jesus. He said to that one with the limp/useless (hand), ‘Stand up. Come here to the front.’ Without anything further, that one with the limp (hand) approached and stood there in front of everyone.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("knowing")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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, shitteo-rare-ru (知っておられる) or “knowing” is used.

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

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 are (され) 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Luke 6:8

Exegesis:

autos de ēdei … eipen de… ‘but he knew…, and (hence) he said…’ Co-ordination of two clauses in order to give full emphasis to the first one. The first de marks contrast, the second continuation. autos is also emphatic.

tous dialogismous autōn ‘their thoughts,’ i.e. “what was in their minds” (New English Bible). For dialogismos cf. on 9.46.

tō andri tō xēran echonti tēn cheira ‘to the man who had the withered hand,’ hence (bringing out the emphasis on xēran which takes up xēra in v. 6), ‘whose hand was withered.’

egeire kai stēthi eis to meson ‘get up and stand in the middle.’ egeire probably has here a more general meaning, and on 5.23, i.e. ‘get up,’ from a sitting position. stēthi is ingressive.

kai anastas estē lit. ‘and he rose and took his stand (there),’ ingressive aorist, cf. stellte sich hin (Zürcher Bibel).

Translation:

He knew, or, ‘he perceived/was aware of.’

Their thoughts, or, ‘what they were thinking (or, asking themselves),’ ‘their disposition (lit. their way of mind)’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).

Come and stand here, preferably, ‘get up, and (take your) stand in the midst,’ i.e. of the group around Jesus, ‘get up, come and stand here in the centre.’ For ‘in the midst’ see on 4.35.

He rose and stood there, preferably, ‘he got up and took his stand there’ (see Exegesis). The repetition has the function to indicate that the man did as he was told.

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 6:8

6:8a

But Jesus knew their thoughts: In Greek the word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus is an emphatic form of the pronoun “he.” This part of the verse changes the focus back to Jesus and indicates that he knew that the Pharisees wanted to accuse him. Express this focus in a natural way in your language. One way to do that is:

As for Jesus, he knew what they were thinking

knew their thoughts: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as knew their thoughts is the same phrase that it translates in 5:22a as “Knowing what they were thinking.” See how you translated it there and decide how to translate it here.

6:8b

and said to the man: Some English versions connect 6:8b to 6:8a with the conjunction and (Berean Standard Bible) or with “so” (Contemporary English Version). Others do not use a conjunction here (Good News Translation). Connect 6:8a and 6:8b in the way that is most natural in your language.

6:8c

Get up: The command Get up implies that the man was sitting down. He could have been sitting on the floor or on a bench. Another way to translate this is:

Stand up (Good News Translation)

stand among us: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as stand among us is literally “stand into the middle.” Jesus wanted the man to move to the center of the synagogue where everyone could see him.

Some other ways to translate this are:

and stand in the center ⌊of the synagogue⌋ (God’s Word)
-or-
and come here to the front (Good News Translation)

General Comment on 6:8b–c

In some languages, it may be natural to translate Jesus’ command as indirect speech. For example:

…he told the man to stand up where everyone could see him (Contemporary English Version)

6:8d

So: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So is most often translated as “and.” Some English versions translate it as “and” (Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible), and some do not translate it (Good News Translation). This conjunction introduces what the man did when he obeyed Jesus’ command. Connect 6:8c and 6:8d in the way that is most natural in your language.

he got up and stood there: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he got up and stood there is literally “and rising up, he stood.” You may need to make explicit where he stood. The Berean Standard Bible does this by adding the word there.

Make it clear in your translation that the man did what Jesus told him. For example:

So he rose and stood there. (NET Bible)
-or-
So the man came forward. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
So the man came and stood in the center ⌊in front of everyone⌋.

In some languages, the phrase got up and stood can be translated as one verb. For example:

And the man stood up. (Contemporary English Version)

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