The Hebrew and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:
“rest the heart” (Central Mazahua) / “rest within” (Lacandon) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40 and 128ff.) / “wait well in your heart” (Yatzachi Zapotec) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 10:1-12:
Later the Lord chose seventy-two other followers
and sent them out two by two to every town and village
that he intended to visit. He said to them:
“So many crops in the field, and so few workers!
Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send more workers.
Now go, and remember I’m sending you out
like lambs among hungry wolves.
Take only the clothes you absolutely need,
and don’t waste time just hanging loose!
Ask God’s blessing upon every home
where you are welcomed,
but withhold it where you are rejected.
Stay with the first family that invites you,
eating and drinking whatever they provide,
without moving from place to place.
Remember you are worth what you receive,
if you work really hard.
“When a town welcomes you, heal their sick and say,
‘The Ultimate Kingdom will soon be here!’
But when a town rejects you,
stand on the top of a soap box and shout,
‘This is your final warning!
The Ultimate Kingdom will soon be here!’
“My followers, I tell you now
that no town will be judged more harshly
than those that reject you!”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 10:6:
Noongar: “If one man is living there who loves peace, your words of peace can sit with him; if not, you take back your words of peace.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “If the houseowners are kind [lit, have good hearts] to receive you, the Lord God will definitely bless them. But if they should not want to receive you, they will not receive blessing/benefit from your blessing.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If there is a person there worthy to be given peace, the peace that you ask for them will stay there with him. But if not, what you said will have no result.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And if they welcome you, God will greatly bless them. But if they do not welcome you, then God will not go ahead and bless them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “If they are worthy to receive the blessing that you said, they will truly be blessed, but if they are not worthy, neither will they be blessed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well it the householder habitually-wants peace/protection, this peace will be theirs, but if not, well, it won’t be theirs.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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).
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
kai ean ekei ē huios eirēnēs lit. ‘and if there is a son of peace there.’ Here ‘son of peace’ means a person who is destined to have/receive peace, cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 166.
epanapaēsetai ep’ auton hē eirēnē humōn ‘your peace will rest upon him.’
epanapauomai ‘to rest (upon)’ is used in Num. 11.25f of the spirit that rested upon the seventy elders (cf. also 2 Kings 2.15). The picture is here that of a blessing, as it were released by the speaking of the word eirēnē (hence hē eirēnē humōn ‘your peace’) and subsisting apart from that word.
ei de mēge, scil. ē huios eirēnēs ekei ‘if (there is) not (a son of peace there).’
eph’ humas anakampsei ‘it will (turn around and) come back to you.’ anakamptō.
Translation:
A son of peace. The phrase may be rendered, ‘one who can (or, is ready to) receive peace,’ ‘one who has an expectation of peace’ (Sinhala), ‘a man who is worthy of (or, to receive) peace’ (cf. Bahasa Indonesia 1968). It is essential that both here and in the next clause the relationship with ‘peace’ in v. 5 be preserved in translation.
Your peace, i.e. the peace you have wished; hence, ‘your greeting of peace’ (Kituba), ‘your saying of being-well’ (Balinese), ‘that prayer of you’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘the blessing you ask for him’ (Tzeltal).
Rest upon him, or, ‘stay with him,’ ‘bless him.’ Descriptive or idiomatic terms or phrases for ‘peace’ may influence the rendering of this clause, e.g. ‘your wish of well-being will make him well.’
Return to you, or, “return and rest upon you” (New English Bible), ‘come to rest upon you again,’ or further shifts in accordance with those in the preceding clause.
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.
If a man of peace is there: The clause If a man of peace is there refers primarily to the head or leader of the household. It means, “If the head of the household is a man of peace.” But this clause probably includes the other people who live in the house. For example:
If the people living there are peace-loving (Contemporary English Version)
a man of peace: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a man of peace is literally “a son of peace.” It refers to a person who seeks and loves peace. A person like this would desire to have peace with God and to experience his blessing. So the person would welcome the disciples into his home and receive what they taught.
In some languages, you may need to make some of this implied meaning explicit. For example:
loves peace and is willing to listen to you -or-
desires to receive peace and blessing ⌊from God⌋ -or-
wants God to bless/proper him
your peace will rest on him: The phrase your peace means “the peace/blessing that you have spoken/requested from God.” The phrase will rest on him means that he will truly receive this peace/blessing. Some other ways to translate this whole clause are:
the peace that you asked God to give him will remain with him -or-
your prayer for peace will bless them (Contemporary English Version) -or-
God will prosper/bless him
10:6b
if not: The phrase if not is an ellipsis. The complete clause would be “if ⌊a man of peace is⌋ not ⌊there⌋.” This implies, “If the leader of the home does not receive you.” Here is a way to fill in the missing information:
But if they are not peace-loving (Contemporary English Version)
it will return to you: The clause it will return to you indicates that the family would not receive the blessing that the disciples spoke when they entered the home. It would be as if the disciples had never spoken the words of blessing. This phrase probably does not mean that the disciples would receive the blessing instead of the family. Other ways to translate this clause are:
he will not receive the blessing/peace you ⌊asked God to give him⌋ -or-
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