humble form of "come" (mairu)

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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, mairu (参る), a humble form of kuru (来る) or “come” is used.

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

See also respectful form of “come” (omie ni naru), respectful form of “come” (oide ni naru), and come (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Luke 7:20

Exegesis:

paragenomenoi de pros auton ‘and after they came to him,’ cf. on v. 4.

Iōannēs ho baptistēs lit. ‘John the Baptizer’ (cf. the virtually equivalent ho baptizōn ‘he who baptizes’ in Mk. 1.4). The traditional rendering ‘John the Baptist’ is more a transliteration than a translation.

Translation:

The men, or, “the messengers” (New English Bible), ‘those two’ (Bahasa Indonesia).

To him. Often ‘to Jesus’ may be required.

John … has sent us to you has to become in Foe, ‘because John … sent us we came to you,’ using the near past tense (cf. on 1.19). — John the Baptist.

Are you … another exactly repeats v. 19b, but now as a quotation in a quotation. This may make preferable certain adaptations, e.g. a shift to indirect discourse (Sranan Tongo), or a specification of the source of the quotation.

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 7:20

7:20a

the men: The phrase the men refers to the two disciples whom John had sent to Jesus. Another way to translate this is:

they (Good News Translation)

7:20b

John the Baptist: John had baptized many people. As a result, he became known as John the Baptist or “John the Baptizer.”

If you use a verbal expression, such as “John the Baptizer” or “John who baptizes ⌊people⌋,” be sure that you do not imply that John was still baptizing people at this time. He was in prison. (See the note about John at 7:18a.) For example, you could say:

John who had baptized ⌊people⌋
-or-
John who had been baptizing ⌊people⌋

In many parts of the world, there are churches that are called Baptist Churches. If possible, translate the Baptist in a way that means that John baptized people and not that he was the member of a Baptist church.

See also baptize, Meaning 1, in the Glossary.

the Baptist: The word Baptist has the same meaning here as the word “baptizer.” It refers to a person who baptizes people. The verb “baptize” means to purify people with a special ritual that uses water. In this context the ritual involved purification from sin. It did not mean that the person was cleaned to remove dirt. Baptism was an initiation that marked the beginning of a person’s life as one of God’s pure people.

You will probably need to decide how to translate the verb “baptize” before you translate the title “John the Baptizer.” Here are some ways to translate “baptize”:

• Use a descriptive term. For example:

⌊ritually⌋ wash
-or-
initiate ⌊people⌋ in/with water
-or-
immerse people in water for God
-or-
sprinkle/shower people with God’s initiation water

• Use a term for a similar ritual that is already used in your culture. You may need to indicate that in this context it has a special connection with God. For example:

purify people with God’s ceremonial bath
-or-
wash people in initiation water for God

• Use a term that is already accepted by the local churches. In some areas this term may have been borrowed from the national language or transliterated from Greek or English.

Churches use different ways to baptize people. Choose a term that is acceptable to the different churches in your area.

Some other ways to translate the title “John the Baptist” are:

John who cleansed ⌊people⌋ ⌊for God⌋
-or-
John the ⌊Ritual⌋ Purifier
-or-
John who initiated ⌊people⌋ with God’s washing

7:20c

The words in this part of the verse are exactly the same as in 7:19b. See the notes there.

7:20d

The words in this part of the verse are exactly the same as in 7:19c. See the notes there.

General Comment on 7:20b–d

In 7:20c–d the words in 7:19b–c are repeated as a quotation within another quotation. In some languages it may not be natural to have a quotation within another quotation like this. You may need to use indirect speech for one of the quotations. For example:

…they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask if you are the one who was to come, or if we should expect someone else.”
-or-
…they said that John the Baptist had sent them to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?”

© 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.