Translation commentary on Luke 11:20

Exegesis:

ei de en daktulō theou ekballō ta daimonia ‘but if I cast out demons by the finger of God….’ The emphasis is on en daktulō theou. The accusation that Jesus casts out the demons by Beelzebul has been refuted. If it is not by Beelzebul then it must be by the finger of God.

daktulos ‘finger,’ here symbolic of God’s active power, cf. also Ex. 8.19.

ara ephthasen eph’ humas hē basileia tou theou ‘then (it is a sign that) the kingdom of God has come upon you.’ ara is inferential.

phthanō ‘to have just arrived,’ ‘to attain.’ With epi ‘upon’ it is probably a rendering of an Aramaic idiom which implies that one cannot withdraw from the meeting.

Translation:

If it is by the finger of God, an “if”-clause indicating what is not a hypothetical condition but an obvious fact, as brought out in, “no, it is rather by means of God’s power” (Good News Translation).

The finger of God. Some versions can render finger in this context literally, e.g. Kele, and Zarma (lit. ‘offspring of the hand’); elsewhere one has to shift to ‘arm,’ ‘hand’ (Dan), or to a non-metaphorical rendering such as, ‘power/strength/authority’ (Sinhala, Kituba, Ekari and several others); hence e.g. ‘through the power of God,’ and with further shifts, ‘because God’s power helps/enables me to…,’ etc., cf. on v. 15.

Then, or, ‘it-means-that’ (Sundanese), “then be sure” (New English Bible); or, if the protasis has been restructured, “which proves that” (Good News Translation), or, ‘that means that.’

The kingdom of God has come upon you, or, ‘among you all God is already ruling’ (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec).

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 11:20

11:20a

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But introduces a contrast. The contrast is between the untrue statement in 11:19a (“I drive out demons by Beelzebul”) and the true statement in 11:20a (“I drive out demons by the finger of God”).

Most English versions translate this conjunction here as But. It is also possible to use a separate negative phrase. For example:

No, it is rather by means of God’s power (Good News Translation)

Use a natural way in your language to contrast these two statements.

if I drive out demons by the finger of God: In this context, the word if introduces something that is true. Another way to translate this is:

since I cast out demons by the finger of God

the finger of God: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as the finger of God is a figure of speech. It refers to God’s power. In many languages it will be necessary to translate the direct meaning of this figure. For example:

the power of God (New Century Version)

11:20b

then: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as then introduces a logical conclusion. It is not a time word. Since what Jesus was saying in 11:20a was true, what he says in 11:20b must be true also. For example:

it proves that… (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
then it shows that…
-or-
then that means that…

the kingdom of God has come upon you: The phrase the kingdom of God refers to God’s rule in people’s lives. Jesus was saying that God had already begun to rule among the people to whom he was speaking. God was exercising his authority and power through Jesus. This is why Jesus was able to cast demons out of people.

Some ways to translate this are:

the Kingdom of God has arrived among you (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
you are now experiencing God’s power to rule
-or-
God has begun to rule among you

The phrase kingdom of God also occurs in 9:2.

© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.