The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “messenger” in English is translated in Noongar as moort yana-waangki or “person walk-talk” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
complete verse (Luke 7:27)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 7:27:
- Noongar: “Because the Scriptures say of this man, John, ‘God says, ‘I will send my messenger before, clearing your path.”” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “Because he is the one who prepares the hearts of the people to receive me, like is written in the Holy Book long ago. God said: ‘He is my messenger, I send him ahead of You (sing.), to prepare your (sing.) way/road.”” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Yahiya is hep the person written about in the holy-book, it says there, ‘God says, I tell my messenger to go before you and prepare your way.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because John is the fulfillment of the prophesied, written word of God, because God said there, ‘There is a person I will send. I will send him in front of you that he might make clean your way.’ ‘ Then Jesus spoke again,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Because Juan is whom the written word of God is talking about which says, ‘I am sending someone to go-ahead of you (sing.) to prepare the path-you-(sing.)-will-take.’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Because this Juan is the one referred to in the word of God which is written, which says, ‘It’s true there is someone whom I will send to go ahead of you (sing.), for he will make ready where you will walk.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
first person pronoun referring to God
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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help.
In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
Translation commentary on Luke 7:27
Exegesis:
houtos estin peri hou gegraptai ‘this is he concerning whom it is written.’ gegraptai does not imply a literal quotation.
kataskeuazō, cf. on 1.17.
emprosthen sou ‘before you,’ either temporal (‘before your arrival’) or local (‘in front of you’), preferably the latter.
Translation:
This is he of whom it is written. The substitution of a noun or of the name ‘John’ is sometimes preferable; for the relative clause cf. on 4.4; hence, e.g. ‘John is the one of whom it is written,’ ‘about this man Scripture has said, or, a prophet has written,’ etc.
If I send my messenger, or, ‘my sent-one,’ would become tautological, one may say, ‘I send (or, order to go) my servant.’ The source of the statement may have to be indicated, e.g. ‘God says, “I send…” .’
Before thy face, or, ‘(to go/walk) in front of you,’ ‘to be herald before you’ (Javanese), ‘your forerunner’ (Batak Toba)
Who shall prepare thy way, cf. on 3.4.
Before thee (not found in 3.4 and Mk. 1.2) is semantically less important than the synonymous phrase ‘before thy face’ is in its clause, since it only expresses what is already implied in the preceding part of the sentence. It is best taken as attributive to ‘way,’ e.g. “the road ahead of you” (An American Translation), ‘the way that runs on in front of you.’ Simply to say, ‘prepare your way, or the way for you’ may be necessary in some cases, but does not do full justice to a feature that is characteristic of Luke’s wording here.
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.