Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 8:19:
Noongar: “Jesus’ mother and his brothers went to him, but they couldn’t meet because of the crowd.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “One time, the mother and relatives of Yesus came wanting to meet/see him, but they could not pass because there were so many people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then the mother and younger brothers of Isa arrived there, but they could not come close to him because of the many people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The mother of Jesus and his younger siblings, they want to go to him but they could not get close to him because he was completely surrounded by many people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “After that Jesus’ mother and his siblings/cousins arrived where he was, but they were not able-to-approach him because many people had-crowded-around him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The mother and younger-siblings of Jesus arrived there, but they couldn’t approach him for it was full of people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
paregeneto de pros auton hē mētēr kai hoi adelphoi autou ‘and his mother and brothers came to him.’ Though paregeneto is in the singular, its subject hē mētēr is closely connected with hoi adelphoi by the fact that autou goes with both nouns. It appears that the event of vv. 19-20 are to be understood as following the events of vv. 4-18.
ouk ēdunanto suntuchein autō ‘they could not get to him, or, reach him.’ The imperfect ēdunanto refers to a situation in which they find themselves.
suntugchanō with dative ‘to come together with,’ ‘to get close to.’
Translation:
One of the pronouns his or him may have to be specified.
In some older Indonesian languages brothers (cf. on 6.14) has been rendered by ‘male siblings,’ but all more recent Indonesian translations investigated use ‘sibling,’ because the specification would unduly emphasize the sex of the persons in question.
Came to him, or, ‘came near to (the place/house) where he was,’ ‘came to see him’ (Tae’ 1933). Since they could not reach him, the aspect is conative, as made explicit in Toraja-Sa’dan.
For the crowd, or, ‘because the people (present) were/closely-packed-together’ (cf. Bahasa Indonesia), ‘there-not-being a passage through the many people’ (Tae’ 1933).
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.
Jesus said that people who obey God’s word are his real family
In this section Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. However, they could not get to him because there were many other people around him. The theme of this section is similar to the theme of 8:4–18. In 8:4–18, the text emphasized that people should listen carefully to Jesus’ teaching. In this section, Jesus said that people who hear and obey God’s message are members of his family. They are as closely related to him as his own mother and brothers are.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
All who obey God are members of Jesus’ family -or-
Jesus’ True Family (NET Bible) -or-
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers (Good News Translation)
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 12:46–50 and Mark 3:31–35.
Paragraph 8:19–21
8:19a
Then: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then here introduces the next thing that Luke wanted to write about. It does not refer to time. The parallel passage in Matthew 12:46–13:1 indicates that the event in this section probably happened on the same day that Jesus taught the people using parables. Some English versions have “Now” or “And” here. Other versions do not use a conjunction. Connect this section to the preceding one in a natural way in your language.
Jesus’ mother and brothers: Jesus’ mother and brothers are referred to in Mark 3:31 and also in Mark 6:3.
Jesus’…brothers: Church groups differ in what they believe about Jesus’…brothers. The three main views are:
(1) They were the sons of Joseph and Mary, born after Jesus.
(2) They were Jesus’ cousins.
(3) They were children of Joseph from a previous marriage. That is, they were Jesus’ step-brothers.
The Hebrew and Aramaic words for “brother” do not distinguish between biological brothers and cousins. It is good to use a general word for “brother” that could apply to any of the views above. For example, you may have a word that could refer to:
(a) brothers with the same father and mother,
(b) brothers with the same father but different mothers, and
(c) cousins who are children of one of the parents’ brothers or sisters.
If you must use a more specific word, it is recommended that you consult with all major church groups in your language area. You will want to choose a word that is acceptable to the churches.
If your language must distinguish between “older” and “younger” brothers, it is recommended that you use a term for “younger brothers” here. If your language does not use terms that distinguish male and female, such as brother or sister, it may be more natural to use general terms. For example:
siblings -or-
younger-siblings
came to see Him: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as came to see Him is literally “came to Him.” Several English versions use the word see here, since it occurs in 8:20c. Jesus’ mother and brothers wanted to see Jesus and talk to him. They did not simply want to look at him from a distance. In some languages it may be necessary to make this clear in some way. For example:
came to him (Good News Translation) -or-
came to ⌊talk to⌋ him -or-
came to ⌊meet with⌋ him
8:19b
but: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but is most often translated into English as “and.” Here most English versions translate it as “but” because this part of the verse contrasts with 8:19a. Jesus’ mother and brothers were not able to see him as they wanted and expected to. Connect 8:19a to 8:19b in a way that is natural in your language.
they were unable to reach Him because of the crowd: The phrase because of the crowd indicates that many people were sitting around Jesus as he taught (see Mark 3:32). Jesus’ mother and brothers were not able to come to Jesus because they could not get through that large crowd of people. Other ways to say this are:
they could not reach him because of the crowd ⌊of people⌋ ⌊around him⌋ -or-
but they could not ⌊press through⌋ the crowd to join him
In some languages it may be necessary to change the order of information here and first give the reason why Jesus’ mother and brothers could not get near him:
there was a crowd ⌊surrounding him⌋, so they could not get near
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