Translation commentary on Luke 9:41

Exegesis:

apokritheis de ho Iēsous eipen ‘Jesus answered.’ Strictly speaking the first clause of what follows represents Jesus’ reaction to v. 40, and the second takes up the father’s request in v. 38.

ō genea apistos kai diestrammenē ‘O faithless and perverse generation’ best understood as being addressed to all people who are present and had failed to show faith enough for the healing of the boy. For genea cf. on 1.48.

apistos (also 12.46) ‘unbelieving,’ ‘faithless.’

diestrammenē (past participle of diastrephō also 23.2) ‘perverted,’ ‘perverse,’ ‘crooked.’

heōs pote esomai pros humas lit. ‘till when, i.e., how much longer shall I be with you?’ The future tense of esomai implies compulsion; hence the rendering “must I be” (An American Translation and others).

kai anexomai humōn ‘and shall I (have to) endure you.’

prosagage hōde ton huion sou ‘bring your son here,’ turning to the father. prosagō.

Translation:

Faithless and perverse generation is used as a form of address and, therefore, often requires a reference to the second person plural, cf. e.g. “How unbelieving and wrong you people are” (Good News Translation), ‘you people of this time, there is no belief, your heart is corrupt’ (Sranan Tongo). Faithless, or, ‘who has no faith,’ cf. references on 5.20. Perverse, i.e. being what one ought not to be, has also been rendered, ‘crooked’ (Tagalog), ‘gone-astray’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘mis-behaving’ (Balinese), ‘of reversed spirit’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, the qualification being also used of words that pervert the truth), or simply, ‘not good’ (Kekchi). Generation, cf. on 1.48.

How long, or, as an exclamatory statement, ‘I cannot … (much) longer.’ Some receptor languages require that the words are repeated before ‘bear with you.’

Be with you, or, ‘remain with you (still)’; Medumba has, ‘be I-plus-you,’ using a compound pronoun referring to a combination of an individual and a group or of two groups; Batak Toba shifts to ‘how long (are) you my-companions.’

Bear with, or, ‘put up with,’ “have patience with” (Translator’s New Testament, similarly some Indonesian languages), ‘hold-out in your midst’ (Bahasa Indonesia 1968); in Balinese a verb used of catching trickling water in a receptacle can have the required figurative sense.

The last clause of this verse is no longer addressed to all present, but exclusively to the father, as is clear from the contents and from the singular verbal form and pronoun in the Greek. In languages not allowing such an abrupt transition from exclamation to imperative, and/or from third to second person, or second person plural (if that form has been used in the preceding clause) to second person singular, it is permissable to insert an explanatory clause like ‘and then Jesus said to that man there’ (Tboli, cf. Good News Translation).

Bring your son here, or, ‘come here with your son,’ ‘let your son come here’ (Javanese, using a causative verbal form derived from an adverb indicating movement towards the speaker).

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 9:41

Paragraph 9:41–43a

9:41a

O unbelieving and perverse generation!: The words unbelieving and perverse generation are similar to the expressions that Moses used in Deuteronomy 32:5 and Deuteronomy 32:20, when he described the people of Israel. Jesus may have been implying that the people who were listening to him were just like their ancestors. You may want to add a footnote with this information.

The word O indicates here that Jesus was speaking directly to the people. It also indicates that they had frustrated and disappointed him.

In some languages it may not be natural to address people directly with a phrase such as this. If that is true in your language, you may need to make this phrase a separate sentence. For example:

You people have no faith and your lives are all wrong. (New Century Version)

unbelieving: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as unbelieving here describes people who did not believe or trust God as they should have. In this context, they specifically lacked faith in God’s power to heal and do other miraculous things through Jesus. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:

You people have no faith ⌊in God⌋
-or-
You people truly do not trust ⌊God⌋

See believe, Meaning 2, in the Glossary.

perverse: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as perverse sometimes refers to things that are twisted or crooked. Here it refers to people who do not think and act in right ways. Instead, they change the standards of right and wrong in their minds, and they follow ways that are morally wrong. Other ways to translate this include:

How…wrong you people are! (Good News Translation)
-or-
you have strayed from the right path

generation: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as generation probably refers here to the majority of Israelites who were alive at that time. It indicates that they were a group of people who shared the same character.

Other ways to translate the phrase “O unbelieving and perverse generation” are:

What faithless and evil people you are!
-or-
You people are all alike! You lack trust/faith in God. You have turned away from the right path.

Jesus replied: Jesus replied to the man’s statement about the disciples, but he was probably not speaking directly to the boy’s father. So it may be better to translate as the Berean Standard Bible has done and not specify to whom Jesus replied.

The Berean Standard Bible has placed the clause Jesus replied in the middle of what Jesus was saying. In the Greek text the clause comes before the speech begins. Place it where it is most natural in your language.

9:41b

How long must I remain with you and put up with you?: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses the frustration that Jesus felt because these people did not trust God. It is also a rebuke to the people because they did not trust him. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

How long must I stay with you and endure your ⌊unbelief⌋?

Some other ways to translate this part of the verse are:

• As a rhetorical question or questions. For example:

How much longer must I be with you? Why do I have to put up with you? (Contemporary English Version)

• As an exclamation. For example:

I do not wish to stay with you and endure your ⌊unbelief⌋ for much longer!
-or-

⌊I am weary/frustrated⌋ that you still ⌊do not believe⌋ even after/though I have been with you for so long!

Use whichever form is most natural for expressing this kind of frustration and rebuke in your language.

you and put up with you: The forms of the word you in this part of the verse are plural.

9:41c

Bring your son here: The text uses a singular form of the verb Bring here. This indicates that now Jesus was speaking to the boy’s father instead of to the whole crowd. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit, for example:

Then he said to the man (Good News Translation)
-or-
Then Jesus said to the man (Contemporary English Version)

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