“Usually, Thai men spend their free time with other men. Women only enter to serve them food, but here a woman has entered into the male social space in a counter-cultural way Not only is she female, she is a lowly prostitute. Although a Thai woman may sometimes wash her husband’s feet, she will never use her hair to dry them The men observing her are shocked at it all.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 7:41:
Noongar: “Jesus began talking, ‘Two men must give back money to the boss because he gave money (lit.: “stone”) to them before. One man must give back 500 coins (lit.: “stones”) and one man 50 coins.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Yesus said: ‘There were two people who owed-money to a person who could lend money [lit., could be-borrowed-from money]. One borrowed five hundred silver money, the other only fifty.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then Isa said, ‘There are two people who both have a debt to a person. The debt of one is five hundred pesos and the other one fifty pesos.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus told him this parable: ‘Long ago there was a person who lent out money. There were two people who borrowed from him — one borrowed five hundred and the other only fifty.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus said, ‘There were two people who owed money to a lender of money. The one, five hundred was his debt and the other, fifty.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, Jesus began to tell-a-story, saying, ‘There were two people who went for a loan to a moneylender. What one person borrowed was the sum of five hundred. As for the other person, only fifty.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
duo chreopheiletai ēsan daneistē tini lit. ‘two debtors (there) were to a certain money-lender,’ hence “two men were in debt to a money-lender” (New English Bible). duo chreopheiletai is emphatic by position.
chreopheiletēs (also 16.5) ‘debtor.’
daneistēs ‘money-lender.’
dēnaria pentakosia … pentēkonta ‘five hundred denarii … fifty.’ dēnarion is estimated as equivalent to 18 cents of a dollar (cf. IDB I, 824). The important thing is the fact that the one debtor owes ten times the amount of the other.
Translation:
The transition to the short parable is abrupt. Some translators, therefore, add an introductory phrase such as, ‘(then) Jesus said’ (as e.g. in Javanese, Toraja-Sa’dan).
The wording of the sentence is redundant in that the terms “creditor”, “debtor”, “owed” refer to different participants in and aspects of the same process, especially so in languages which for two or more of these concepts use terms built on the same base, as e.g. in Tboli and Cuyono, which use three derivations of the word ‘debt’; hence such lexical simplifications as, ‘There was a rich man; two people had borrowed from him. One had to pay 500 …’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘There were two men who borrowed from one. Well, one of them borrowed 500 …’ (Trukese), ‘A certain man lent money to two persons. To one of them (he lent) 500….’
A certain here indicates a reference to something specific but unspecified, which is a new item in the discourse. The corresponding Greek word (tis) is often used at the beginning of a parable (see 10.30; 12.16; 14.16; 16.1, 19; 18.2; 19.12), helping to mark the introduction of a story, and/or its imaginary character. In other languages one may have to do so by other means, cf. on 8.4.
Creditor, i.e. one to whom a debt is owed, or, one who has lent (something); or, as preferred in Exegesis, ‘money-lender,’ i.e. one who professionally lends money on interest. Tae’ 1933 tried to describe this by ‘a money trader,’ but the revision uses a modern borrowing, lit. meaning, ‘one who manipulates money.’ For ‘to lend’ cf. on 6.34.
Debtor, or, ‘one who is in debt, or, has borrowed.’ For ‘to borrow’ similar distinctions may exist as for ‘to lend.’
Owed, or, ‘had to pay’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘had-as-debt’; in Marathi the rendering lit. means ‘had a giving,’ in Zarma, ‘had it (i.e. the debt) on him’ (as though carrying a burden).
Five hundred denarii, … fifty. For ‘denarius’ see on 10.35. It is neither the exact value of the coin nor the precise number that is important here but the proportion between the two sums; hence such shifts as in “a hundred dollars … ten” (An American Translation, similarly Toraja-Sa’dan), “fifty pounds … five” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation) are legitimate. Sometimes it is possible to omit the reference to a coin, ‘one owed 500, the other 50,’ leaving it to the reader to supply the unit of currency, which will be the basic one used in his culture. Five hundred may have to be expressed approximately and analytically, e.g. ‘eight times sixty,’ the closest natural equivalent in Ekari.
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 these verses, Jesus told a short parable as an illustration. In some languages, there may be a special way to introduce an illustration such as this. For example:
Then Jesus told him this story (New Living Translation (2004))
7:41a
The Berean Standard Bible follows the Greek text by not introducing this parable with words such as “Jesus said.” However, in some languages it may be natural to include an introductory phrase like that. For example:
So Jesus said… (God’s Word) -or-
Jesus told him… (Contemporary English Version)
In some languages it may be helpful to use a specific phrase to refer to the parable or illustration. For example:
Then Jesus told this parable…
Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender: This is background information. It indicates that at some time in the past, two men had borrowed money from the same moneylender. The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Two men were debtors is literally “there were two debtors.” Other ways to translate the clause are:
Two men were in debt to a moneylender (Revised English Bible) -or-
A man loaned money to two people (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
Two men owed money to a certain moneylender (New International Version) -or-
Two men borrowed money from a lender
moneylender: A moneylender was a person who lent money to other people as his business. When they paid him back, they would pay him extra money as interest or payment for the loan. Other ways to translate this are:
person who lent people money for profit -or-
creditor
7:41b
One owed him five hundred denarii: One of the men needed to give the moneylender five hundred denarii. This amount included the money he borrowed and the extra money that he had to pay as interest for the loan.
five hundred denarii: The word denarii refers to silver coins of a certain type that Romans used as money. One of these coins, which was called a “denarius,” was worth what an ordinary worker earned for one day of work. So five hundred denarii was the same as the wages for working five hundred days. Some ways to translate five hundred denarii include:
• Use a general word or expression that does not specify the name of the coin. For example:
five hundred silver coins (Good News Translation)
• Use an expression that explains the value of the coins:
money worth the pay/wages for five hundred days of work -or-
money equal to what a man earns for working more than a year and a half
If you desire, you may want to include a footnote with more information. For example:
Each of these coins was worth as much as an ordinary worker earned for one day of work.
7:41c
the other fifty: The phrase the other fifty is an ellipsis. It means “the second man owed the moneylender fifty denarii.” Fifty denarii was the same as the wages that a worker earned for working fifty days.
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®).
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