καὶ ὅσοι ἂν μὴ δέχωνται ὑμᾶς, ἐξερχόμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης τὸν κονιορτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν ἀποτινάσσετε εἰς μαρτύριον ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς.
5Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
The Greek that is translated as “as a testimony against them” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with zum Zeichen, dass jede Gemeinschaft aufgehoben ist or “as a sign that every form of community is suspended.”
In Paasaal it is translated as “that will let them know that they have refused you.” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
The Greek in Luke 9:5 that is typically translated in English as “shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them” is translated by the Italian La Sua Parola è Vita translation more explicitly as “shake the dust off your feet to show that you do not have anything more to do with them and that you leave them to their fate” (lasciandola scuotete la polvere dai vostri piedi per mostrare che non avete più niente a che fare con loro e li lasciate al loro destino). (Source: Cotrozzi 2019)
In Toposa, “shake the dust off your feet” was translated as “throw [some] soil behind you.” Throwing a handful of soil behind oneself without looking back is practiced mainly at funerals, but this substitution helps the audience to understand that it is a solemn act that is being performed, and that there will be no turning back.” (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 121).
See also Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you and shake off the dust from your feet.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 9:5:
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Exegesis:
hosoi an mē dechōntai humas lit. ‘as many as do not welcome you,’ i.e. ‘as for all those who do not welcome you’ (cf. Translator’s New Testament, New English Bible). The relative pronoun hosoi is not taken up by a corresponding demonstrative pronoun, but indirectly by tēs poleōs ekeinēs ‘that town.’ This shows that the clause hosoi … humas does not refer to the negative reactions of individuals but to the population of a certain town, or, towns, as a whole.
exerchomenoi apo tēs poleōs ekeinēs lit. ‘when you leave that town’ (cf. New English Bible); with a shift to an imperative because of apotinassete “leave that town” (Phillips).
ton koniorton apo tōn podōn humōn apotinassete ‘shake the dust off your feet,’ cf. 10.11.
koniortos (also 10.11) ‘dust,’ refers here to the dust in the streets.
apotinassō ‘to shake off.’
eis marturion ep’ autous ‘as a testimony against them.’ The shaking off of the dust serves as a demonstration, or, a warning, or, a protest against those who do not receive the disciples.
Translation:
Wherever they do not receive you, or, ‘in a town where they do not receive you,’ ‘if the people/inhabitants of a town reject you.’ The verb to receive is used with personal object in the sense of ‘to let a person come to one’; hence, ‘to allow a person to approach’ (in 15.2), ‘to welcome a person (to one’s house, or, as one’s guest)’ (9.5; 10.38; 16.4, 9, and cf. on “welcomed” in 8.40), which may imply readiness to help (a child, 9.48a), or, when Jesus or his disciples are the guests, acceptance of and obedience to their words (9.48b; 10.8, 10; 19.6).
When you leave that town shake …, preferably two imperatives, ‘leave (or, go away from) that town and shake…,’ or, better to bring out the simultaneousness, “leave their town, and as you do so shake…” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). For town cf. on “city” in 1.26.
Shake off the dust from your feet. The expression, as used by Jesus, is not a metaphor but refers to a well known custom, which may best be rendered literally. For a footnote, if required, cf. Plummer’s “It signified that henceforth they had not the smallest thing in common with the place”. — Shake, or, ‘dust off’ (Shona 1966), ‘wipe off,’ if that is the more common gesture (Balinese, similarly Marathi). Dust. In some languages the same or cognate words are used to refer to ‘dust’ and to ‘ash’ (Tae,’ Sundanese), or to ‘dust’ and to ‘powder/pollen’ (Batak Toba, cf. Malay); in Toraja-Sa’dan the word lit. means ‘what-is-like-husked-rice.’ The phrase from your feet is in some cases better taken with the noun, e.g. ‘the dust on your feet, or, that sticks to your feet’ (cf. e.g. Trukese, Malay). Instead of ‘your feet’ one may have to use ‘the soles of your feet’ (e.g. in Toraja-Sa’dan), cf. also ‘from underneath of your feet’ (Kituba).
As a testimony against them, serving to indicate the meaning of the gesture just mentioned. Some more meaningful renderings are, ‘as-breaking-off sign against those people’ (Balinese, making use of a term commonly referring to the severing of relationships), ‘to denounce (lit. to say-to-be-mistaken-to) those people’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘that it will be a sign of accusation to-them’ (Trukese).
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.
9:5a
In Greek, 9:5a begins with a conjunction that is often translated as “and.” The Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions do not translate this conjunction. It introduces the possibility that the disciples would not be able to do as Jesus had told them in the previous verse. In some languages it may be natural to translate it as “But.”
If anyone does not welcome you: The phrase does not welcome you refers to a situation where the people of a town might not receive the apostles. This probably implies that the townspeople would refuse to accept the apostles’ message. It may also imply that they would refuse to allow the apostles to stay in the town as guests.
In some languages it may be more natural to make explicit that this clause is referring to the people of certain towns. For example:
wherever people don’t welcome you (Good News Translation)
-or-
⌊But⌋ if ⌊you go to a town where⌋ people reject you
9:5b
shake the dust off your feet when you leave that town: In some languages it may be more natural to translate 9:5b as two commands. For example:
leave that town and shake the dust off your feet (Good News Translation)
shake the dust off your feet: Here Jesus told the disciples to remove any of the town’s dust that stuck to their feet and sandals. The disciples probably did this by shaking their feet or by brushing off the dust with their hands. Consider how you would describe this kind of action in your language.
To a Jewish person, shaking the dust of a place off his feet had a special meaning. It meant that he did not have any relationship with the people in that place. It implied that the people there were not God’s people.
In this context, the disciples were also showing that they were not responsible for what happened to those people. God would punish the people because they did not accept the disciples and their message.
It is important to translate this action literally here in 9:5b. Then you can explain the meaning in the next phrase (9:5c). Some ways to translate this are:
shake off the dust of that town from the bottom of your feet when you leave
-or-
when you leave, shake/brush/tap your feet to remove the dust
the dust: The phrase the dust refers to the dust of the town where people rejected them. In some languages it may be more natural to make this explicit. For example:
shake its dust from your feet
your feet: If your language has specific words for the “lower leg and foot” or for the “sole of the foot,” consider which of these expressions is more natural for this context.
9:5c
as a testimony against them: The phrase as a testimony against them gives the meaning of the symbolic action of shaking dust off one’s feet. When the apostles shook off the dust of a town from their feet, they were warning the people. They were saying that God would judge them if they did not repent. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
as a warning to them ⌊that God will judge/punish them⌋
-or-
as a sign to show them ⌊that they are responsible/guilty⌋
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