Translation commentary on Luke 17:15 – 17:16

Exegesis:

hupestrepsen ‘returned,’ scil. to Jesus. Presumably before he had shown himself to the priests.

meta phōnēs megalēs doxazōn ton theon ‘praising God with a loud voice,’ durative participle. meta phōnēs megalēs is best understood as instrumental, cf. phōnē megalē (instrumental dative) in 4.33. For doxazō cf. on 2.20.

(V. 16) kai epesen epi prosōpon para tous podas autou ‘and he fell on his face at his (i.e. Jesus’) feet’; for this expression cf. on 5.12 and on 8.41.

eucharistōn autō ‘thanking him,’ durative after the punctiliar epesen ‘he fell.’

eucharisteō ‘to give thanks,’ ‘to thank,’ usually with God as object but here the thanking is to be distinguished from the praising of God.

kai autos ēn Samaritēs ‘and he was a Samaritan.’ autos has here demonstrative force. For Samaritēs cf. on 9.52b.

Translation:

The subordinate clause when he saw that he was healed, separating subject and verb of the main sentence, may better be transposed, cf. e.g. ‘one of them turned back when he saw that he (or, his body) was healed,’ ‘seeing himself healed one of them turned back.’ If one has to shift to co-ordination, one should remember that this leper was not exceptional in his seeing that he was healed but in his turning back to Jesus; hence, ‘they saw that they were healed (or, became aware of their recovery). Then one of then returned.’ He was healed, or, ‘he had become well.’

Praising God, cf. on “glorifying … God” in 2.20. With a loud voice, cf. on 4.33.

(V. 16) He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, cf. the note on “he fell down at Jesus’ knees” in 5.8.

Samaritan, see 9.52b.

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.

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