Raising a Girl (image)

Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China

Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English:
Raising a Girl
Proof that Jesus is the true God

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (Luke 8:54)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 8:54:

  • Noongar: “But Jesus took her hand and called out, ‘Stand up, child!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “After that, Yesus held the hand of that child, and he said to her: ‘Get up, child!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then Isa took the hand of the child and he said in a loud voice, ‘Girl, get up.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus went near to the child, he took her by the hand, and he called to her, and he said, ‘Girl, get up.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But as for Jesus, he took-the young-lady -by-the-hand and said to her, ‘My child, get-up.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But Jesus took hold of that child’s hand and said, ‘Daughter, get up now!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 8:54

Exegesis:

autos de ‘but he,’ emphatic.

kratēsas tēs cheiros autēs ‘after seizing her hand,’ or ‘taking her by the hand.’

krateō (also 24.16) ‘to seize,’ ‘to grasp,’ with the genitive of the part grasped.

ephōnēsen legōn ‘he called out, saying.’

hē pais, egeire ‘child, get up.’ hē pais is a nominative with the force of a vocative.

Translation:

Taking her by the hand he called, saying, or in co-ordinated clauses, ‘he took her by the hand (or, took hold of her hand) and (he) called (or, said loudly, or, said in a loud voice).’ Her may have to be specified, e.g. ‘the child/girl,’ ‘the dead one’ (Javanese).

Child, here in the vocative; some renderings used are, ‘girl (lit, woman/female)’ (Balinese, employing a term for addressing a female person in a friendly way), or, a kind of name-substitute used by parents to their young daughter (Toraja-Sa’dan), or a term of endearment for little girls (Cuyono). Sometimes a pronoun of the second person is added, better to bring out the vocative force (e.g. Batak Toba).

Arise, or, ‘get up,’ ‘stand up.’

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 8:54

Paragraph 8:54–56

8:54

There is implied information here. After Jesus spoke to the people in 8:53, he went to the place where the girl’s body was lying. See Mark 5:40. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

⌊Jesus went to the place where the girl was lying⌋ and took her

But Jesus:
In the Greek text, the pronoun “he,” which the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus, is emphatic. Along with the conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But, it indicates a contrast. The focus shifts from the people who were mocking Jesus to what Jesus did next. He went to the girl and raised her from the dead, as he had come with Jairus to do. Connect these verses in a way that is natural in your language. Another way to translate this is:

As for Jesus, he ⌊went and⌋ took

Jesus took her by the hand: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus took her by the hand means that Jesus held the hand of the girl in his own hand. Some languages may express this idea in different ways. For example:

he grasped the girl’s hand
-or-
he took her hand

Jesus was gentle as he picked up her hand and held it. Your translation should not imply that it was a forceful action. For example:

Jesus gently took her by the hand (NET Bible)

Express this action in a natural way in your language.

and called out: The Greek verb phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as called out is literally “called saying.” The word “called” indicates that Jesus spoke in a loud voice, and the word “saying” introduces what he said. Some other ways to translate this are:

He…spoke forcefully (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
Jesus…said in a loud voice (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Jesus…called to her (New Century Version)

Child: In the parallel passage in Mark 5:41 Jesus’ word (in another language) is translated into Greek with the meaning “little girl/lady.” Use a term of address that would be appropriate in your culture for a man kindly to address a young girl who is twelve years old.

get up: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as get up can mean:

(a) stand up from a lying or sitting position;

(b) wake up from sleep;

(c) live again after being dead.

Option (c) is the clearest in this context. It emphasizes that Jesus was telling a dead person to live again. This is important in cultures where the other options might imply that the girl was not really dead, but asleep (8:52). However, option (a) is appropriate when it implies that the girl had been dead, as well as lying down. Some languages may have a word like the English word “rise” that can be used for all three meanings. If that is true in your language, it may be a good choice here.

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