The Greek in Luke 17:14 that is translated as “show yourselves to the priests” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with zeigt euch den Priestern zur Gesundheitskontrolle or “show yourselves to the priests for a health check.”
priest
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that are typically translated as “priest” in English (itself deriving from Latin “presbyter” — “elder”) is often translated with a consideration of existing religious traditions. (Click or tap for details)
Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:
“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo (Dinė)), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”
In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this: “The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”
For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:
Bau cha r (បូជាចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.
See also idolatrous priests.
complete verse (Luke 17:14)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 17:14:
- Noongar: “When one of them saw he had become well, he went back, greatly praising God.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
- Uma: “When Yesus saw them he said to them: ‘Go show your bodies to the priests.’ They did go. While they were walking, they were healed.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “When Isa saw them, he said to them, ‘Go to the priests, let them examine your bodies that you are healed now.’ And while they were going they were healed already.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when he saw them, he said to them, ‘You go to the priests of God, so that they may see that you are healed.’ And then they left and at the moment that they left, they were suddenly healed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “When Jesus saw them, he said, ‘Go show-yourselves to the priests so they will see if your sickness has been removed.’ While they were still on the way, they became-well.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “When Jesus saw them, he said, ‘Go ahead, go to the priests and have them examine you.’ Well just as they were going now, suddenly/unexpectedly that leprosy of theirs stopped.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“say”)
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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Sung version of Luke 17
Translation commentary on Luke 17:14
Exegesis:
kai idōn eipen autois ‘and when he saw (them) he said to them,’ cf. on v. 12.
poreuthentes epideixate heautous tois hiereusin ‘go and show yourselves to the priests,’ cf. on 5.14. The order is implicitly a promise of healing, cf. on v. 19. epideiknumi.
kai egeneto en tō hupagein autous ekatharisthēsan ‘and as they were going they were made clean.’ For kai egeneto cf. on 1.8. Here it introduces the climax of the story. For hupagō cf. on 8.42b.
Translation:
Go and show yourselves to the priests, see on 5.14.
As they went, or, ‘while they were on their way, or, went there’ (cf. New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem).
They were cleansed, or, ‘became clean,’ cf. on 4.27.
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 17:14
17:14a
When Jesus saw them, He said: Jesus realized that the men were lepers when he saw the way they looked and acted. He did not need to ask what kind of help they needed. Another way to translate 17:14a is:
Jesus saw them and said (Good News Translation)
17:14b
Go, show yourselves to the priests: The commands Go and show contain implied information that Luke’s readers understood. The phrase the priests referred to the priests who were on duty at the temple in Jerusalem at that time. The command show implied that the men would go to Jerusalem and let the priests look at their skin to see if they were well.
In some languages you may need to make some or all of the implied information explicit. For example:
Go ⌊to Jerusalem⌋, ask the priests ⌊who are performing their duties in the temple⌋ to examine you ⌊and see if you are well⌋
Jesus gave a similar command to the leper in 5:14.
show yourselves to the priests: Only a priest could examine the men and confirm that they no longer had leprosy. If the priests saw that the men were well, they would declare the men to be ritually clean. This process is described in Leviticus 14:1–32. Some other ways to translate this are:
Go and let the priests examine you (Good News Translation)
-or-
Go(plur) to the priests so they can see/examine you
-or-
⌊Jesus⌋ told them to go show ⌊their skin⌋ to the priests
priests: Jewish priests were men who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. They also performed other rituals for the people.
Some ways to translate priests are:
• Use a descriptive term that focuses on the function of priests. For example:
sacrificers
-or-
men/people who offer sacrifices to God
-or-
men who represent people to God
• Use a local word for priests. This option may be acceptable if the duties of local priests are similar to those of Jewish priests. You may need to indicate that the word refers to Jewish priests. For example:
Jewish people’s priests/sacrificers
If possible, you should choose a term that can be used in both Old Testament and New Testament contexts. Remember that in the book of Hebrews believers are called priests and Christ is called our high priest.
See priest in the Glossary for more information.
17:14c
And as they were on their way, they were cleansed: In Greek this part of the verse begins with a phrase that is literally “and it happened.” It introduces the situation in which the next event happened. The lepers had started to obey Jesus and begun to walk to the priests when they became well. Other ways to translate this are:
and it happened that while they were going, they were healed
-or-
then it came about that as they were on their way ⌊to the priests⌋, they became well
Most English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, do not translate the phrase “and it happened.” Consider whether it is natural in your language to translate it here.
they were cleansed: In this context the phrase they were cleansed indicates that they were healed of their leprosy and so became ritually pure. It does not refer to being cleansed from physical dirt. In some languages it may be possible to translate both the idea of being healed and the idea of becoming ritually clean. For example:
they were healed and ⌊ritually⌋ cleansed
-or-
they were cleansed of their leprosy (New Living Translation (2004))
In other languages it may be more natural to translate only the idea of healing here. For example:
they were healed (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
they became well
The verb were cleansed is passive. In some languages it may be more natural to translate the action without using a passive verb. For example:
They became well/clean
-or-
⌊God/Jesus⌋ healed them from the leprosy
Translate the action in a natural way in your language.
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