complete verse (Luke 14:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 14:23:

  • Noongar: “So the boss told the servant, ‘Go out of the town to the country roads and smallest paths and tell all people they must come here to feast, so my house will be full’.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘The owner of the feast said: ‘Go again to the big roads and the small roads outside the town, force the people to come, so that my house is completely full.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the master said to his servant, ‘Go to the trails that are inland and the places inside and beg the people to come here so that my house will be full.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And his master answered him, ‘Go out into the fields and hills, and go up and down the paths there, and force the people there to come here to my feast, so that this house of mine might be full of people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then his master said, ‘Go then to whatever farther paths and places to still go convince others to come join-in-eating so that my house will thus be full.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Well go ahead,’ said his master, ‘go to the trails outside the city and to the huts of the pitiful. Force/persuade the people, even though they are reluctant/embarrassed, to come here anyway so that this house of mine will be filled.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 14:23

Exegesis:

eis tas hodous kai phragmous ‘to the roads and hedgerows.’ The article tas goes with both hodous and phragmous although they differ in gender. hodous denotes here roads outside the town, or, highways.

phragmos ‘fence,’ ‘hedge,’ here parallel with hodos and probably referring to hedgerows in the country where vagabonds and beggars are to be found.

anagkason eiselthein ‘make (people) come in.’

anagkazō ‘to compel,’ ‘to force,’ here ‘to urge strongly.’

hina gemisthē mou ho oikos ‘that my house may be filled.’

gemizō ‘to fill,’ here in the passive ‘to become full.’

Translation:

Go out, i.e. not only out of the house (as in v. 21), but also out of the city.

To the highways and hedges. The nouns may require different prepositions, cf. e.g. ‘on the roads and among (or, along) the hedges’ (cf. An American Translation, Javanese). The phrase refers to roads and lanes or places outside the towns; hence, ‘small trails and cornfields’ (Tzeltal), ‘roads and bushes’ (Shona 1966), ‘paths and bushtrails’ (Zarma), ‘(built) roads and garden-paths’ (one West Nyanja version), ‘small roads and shacks (in the fields)’ (Batak Toba). In some cases, e.g. Tae,’ the rendering coincides with that of “the streets and lanes”, only the absence of the phrase ‘of the town/settlement’ indicating that the reference is to the countryside.

Compel people to come in, i.e. those found in the countryside; hence, ‘urge (or, demand strongly) the people there to come in (or, into my house)’ (cf. Balinese).

That my house may be filled. One may render the conjunction by ‘so that’ (resultative), or, ‘in order that’ (final).

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 14:23

14:23a

So the master told his servant: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So introduces the master’s response to what his servant had just said. Another way to translate this is:

Then (New International Version)

Go out to the highways and hedges: The phrase the highways and hedges refers to places outside the town where the servant would probably be able to find other people. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

into the country lanes and behind the hedges (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
along the back roads and fence rows (Contemporary English Version)

highways: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as highways refers to roads that lie outside of towns in the rural areas. However, it does not refer to a major highway in the sense of a wide road with much traffic. Some English versions translate this word as “roads.”

hedges: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as hedges refers to the rows of bushes that acted as fences in the countryside. They were planted along the country paths and divided the fields from each other. In your culture hedges may not have this purpose. If that is true, you may wish to use a general word such as “lanes” or “paths,” since there would have been narrow walkways alongside these hedges and that may be what the master was referring to by using the word “hedges.”

14:23b

compel them to come in: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as compel in this context means to urge or persuade strongly. It does not imply that the servant should threaten the people or force them to do something that they did not want to do. The master wanted his servant to convince the people to come.

them: Make sure that the pronoun them refers to the people in the rural areas, not to the highways and hedges. Many English versions make this explicit. For example:

compel people to come in (Revised Standard Version)

14:23c

so that my house will be full: This is a purpose clause. It is also a hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration for emphasis). The master wanted every seat in the dining area to have a person sitting in it. He did not literally want his entire house to be full of people. In many languages the hyperbole will be clear and natural. In other languages it may be necessary to state the meaning more directly. For example:

so that there will be people sitting in every seat at my feast

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