physician

The Greek that is translated as “physician” in English is translated in Jju as ba̱bvok or “diviners who used their witchcraft substance to harm others.” (Source: McKinney 2018, p. 216)

complete verse (Luke 8:43)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 8:43:

  • Noongar: “One woman walked among them. She was very sick and she had been bleeding for twelve years. She had used all her money for doctors, but not one could heal her.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “In the middle of the people, there was a woman, she had continually bled for twelve years, and there was not its stopping [it never stopped], although many had treated [lit, medicined] her.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Among the crowds of people there was a sick woman, she was always bleeding. She had had the sickness for twelve years now. She had already spent all her money for the doctors but nobody could heal her.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was there a woman who’d had great difficulty, because for twelve years now she had been bleeding and it would not stop. There was no one who could cure her.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “One of them was a woman whose flowing-out blood had not dried-up for twelve years. She was totally spent (of money) from what she had been paying those who medicined her, but no one was able-to-cure her.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There was also a woman there who for twelve years had been bleeding abnormally. Even though she kept having herself treated no-one could stop it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 8:43 – 8:44

Exegesis:

kai gunē … hēpsato ‘and a woman … touched.’ gunē and hēpsato are subject and main verb in a long sentence. With gunē go (a) ousa en rusei haimatos apo etōn dōdeka lit. ‘being in a hemorrhage since twelve years,’ conjunctive participle, and (b) hētis ouk ischusen ap’ oudenos therapeuthēnai ‘who could not be healed by any one’; (a) and (b) together serve to identify the woman by describing her hopeless plight. With the verb hēpsato goes the participle proselthousa opisthen ‘coming up behind,’ which describes the first stage of her action.

ousa en rusei haimatos ‘being in a flow of blood,’ i.e. ‘suffering from a hemorrhage.’

apo etōn dōdeka ‘since twelve years’ implying that the illness had begun twelve years ago and had lasted ever since.

hētis … ouk ischusen ap’ oudenos therapeuthēnai ‘who could not be healed by any one,’ or, “whom nobody had been able to cure” (An American Translation), in order to bring out the connotation of ‘being able,’ which ischuō often has (cf. on 6.48). For therapeuō cf. on 4.23.

[iatrois prosanalōsasa holon ton bion] ‘having spent all her property on physicians.’ The participle has concessive force.

bios ‘life,’ here ‘means of subsistence,’ ‘property.’

(V. 44) proselthousa opisthen ‘after coming up behind, or, from behind,’ in the latter case implying that she stayed behind him. opisthen also 23.26.

hēpsato tou kraspedou tou himatiou autou ‘touched the hem, or, tassel of his garment.’

kraspedon ‘hem,’ or, ‘tassel.’ The latter rendering is slightly preferable. Cf. also Num. 15.38ff and Deut. 22.12.

kai parachrēma estē hē rusis tou haimatos autēs ‘and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.’ The possessive genitive autēs goes with haimatos.

Translation:

The sentence structure of vv. 43f may have to be simplified, e.g. ‘among them (or, in the crowd) was a woman who had (or, a certain woman; she had) suffered from a flow of blood…; nobody had been able to cure her. (v. 44) She came up … and touched … At once her flow of blood ceased.’

Who had had a flow of blood. The Balinese nonvulgar term, ‘illness (that makes) ritually-impure,’ expresses a religious view that closely parallels biblical concepts: impurity according to Jewish ritual law was one of the reasons why the woman did not act openly.

To heal, here, of course, the recovery from a non-congenital disease is meant. In some cases a hemorrhage is not said to be ‘healed’ but to be ‘stopped’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, and cf. the Greek in v. 44).

(V. 44) Came up behind him, or, ‘approached him from behind,’ ‘was able to come near to his back,’ or more contextually, ‘made her way towards him from behind, or, at his back.’

Touched. The verb or verbal form used should express or imply an intentional act.

The fringe of his garment. The loose end of the rather short square upper-garment was usually thrown over the left shoulder, so that it came to hang on the upper part of the back; it will have been the ‘fringe’ or ‘tassel’ attached to this end, that the woman touched, since it was only this part of Jesus’ dress that could be reached in the situation described. A term suggesting a place low down (such as ‘foot of his robe,’ found in one version), should not be used. If fringe, or, ‘tassel,’ has to be described, one may say, ‘the loose threads at (or, that adorned) the hem, or, the end of his uppergarment.’ For garment cf. on “cloak” in 6.29.

Her flow of blood ceased, or, ‘the blood stopped to flow,’ ‘her blood dried up’ (Balinese), ‘her hemorrhage ceased’ (Nieuwe Vertaling), ‘her illness (or, she) was-healed’ (Tae’).

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.