Translation commentary on Luke 7:14

Exegesis:

kai proselthōn hēpsato tēs sorou lit. ‘and after going (scil. to the bier) he touched the bier.’ Because of the preposition pros in proselthōn a direction towards the bier is implied. For haptomai cf. on 5.13. Here the touching is, as the following clause shows, a means to stop the bearers and has no function in the subsequent raising which is performed by means of a word.

soros ‘coffin,’ ‘bier,’ presumably the latter, cf. IDB I, 437 and Klostermann.

hoi de bastazontes estēsan ‘and the bearers stopped, or, came to a stand,’ indicating the effect of the touching of the bier.

bastazō ‘to carry,’ ‘to bear,’ here in a literal sense.

neaniske, soi legō, egerthēti ‘young man, I say to you, rise up/arise.’ neaniskos is a (young) man between 24 and 40 years of age. soi legō serves to lend emphasis to the following imperative, as in 5.24. legō has the connotation of commanding, cf. on v. 7 and Plummer. egeiromai, when used of people called back to life (here) or raised from the dead (e.g. 20.37) is rendered ‘to rise,’ or ‘to be raised’ without difference in meaning.

Translation:

He came and touched the bier, preferably, ‘he came up/forward and touched the bier,’ or, ‘he came to the bier and touched it (i.e. with his fingers).’ Bier, or, ‘stretcher (lit. thing-to-be-carried-upon)’ (Bahasa Indonesia).

Young man. If a literal rendering would sound standoffish, ‘son’ (Marathi), ‘little-one’ (Balinese), ‘my brother/friend’ (Kituba) may be preferable forms of address. Where a vocative is undesirable or impossible (see on 1.3), one may transpose the noun, e.g. ‘he said to the young man, “I tell you: Arise!” .’

Arise, i.e. from a lying to a sitting position (in some languages to be distinguished from ‘arise,’ i.e. from a lying to a standing position, as in 5.23), or, ‘come to life (again).’

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 7:14

7:14a

He went up: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He went up means “he came/went toward.” It indicates that Jesus came near the coffin.

touched the coffin: Jesus put his hand on the coffin because he wanted the people who were carrying it to stand still, as the context indicates.

coffin: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as coffin probably refers to a stretcher or a plank. People used this stretcher to carry a dead person to where they would bury him. It was probably not a wooden box. Use an appropriate word in your language to describe what is used for this purpose. For example:

bier (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
stretcher (Contemporary English Version)

7:14b

and those carrying it stood still: The men who were carrying the stretcher stopped walking when Jesus came up and touched the bier. In some languages there may be a special word for people who carry corpses to be buried. For example:

pallbearers

carrying it: In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit how the men were carrying the stretcher. They were probably carrying it on poles over their shoulders.

7:14c

Young man: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Young man normally refers to a male who is beyond the age of puberty but not yet married. Consider the natural way to address such a person when his name is not known. For example:

Son
-or-
Friend
-or-
Little brother

In some languages, it is not natural to use such a term as part of Jesus’ command. If that is true in your language, you may be able to translate it as you introduce the command. For example:

He said to the young man, “I say to you, get up!”
-or-
He spoke to the ⌊dead⌋ young man, saying, “I tell you, get up!”

I tell you, get up: Jesus introduced his command to the dead person with the words I tell you. He could have just said get up. But the words I tell you emphasize what he commanded. The command was powerful and brought the dead person back to life.

The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as get up is literally “arise.” It has two meanings:

(1) It can refer to sitting or standing after lying flat.

(2) It can refer to returning to life after being dead.

In this context the man came back to life and sat up. The action of sitting up implies that he first came back to life. Some other ways to translate I tell you, get up are:

I say to you, rise! (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
I’m telling you to come back to life! (God’s Word)
-or-
I command you to get up ⌊and live again⌋!

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