Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding Jesus).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, individual or several disciples address Jesus with the formal pronoun, expressing respect. Compare this to how that address changes after the resurrection.
In most Dutch as well as in Western Frisian and Afrikaans translations, the disciples address Jesus before and after the resurrection with the formal pronoun.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 18:28:
Noongar: “Then Peter said, ‘See! We have left our homes to follow you.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “From there, Petrus said: ‘But us (excl.), we (excl.) left-behind our (excl.) goods and followed you (sing.).'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then Petros spoke. ‘Look at us,’ he said, ‘We (excl.) have already left our (excl.) houses and we (excl.) are following you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Peter said, ‘As for us, we have abandoned all of our possessions so that we might be your disciples.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Pedro said, ‘And us (excl.) now? Because we (excl.) have left everything so-that we (excl.) would become your (sing.) disciples.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Pedro spoke, saying, ‘Well as for us (excl.) here, Master, isn’t it so that we have left everything to go around with you now?'” (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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, goran (ご覧) or “see/behold/look” (itself a combination of “behold/see” [ran] and the honorific prefix go- — see behold / look / see (Japanese honorifics)) is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
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®).
idou ‘see,’ emphatic introduction of what follows.
hēmeis aphentes ta idia ēkolouthēsamen soi ‘we having given up our possessions have followed you.’ hēmeis is emphatic and contrasts the disciples with the ‘ruler’ of vv. 18ff. For the general meaning of the clause cf. on 5.11.
ta idia lit. ‘the own things,’ i.e. ‘the things one owns,’ either in a specific sense, ‘home’ (An American Translation), or in a more general sense, ‘property’ (including wife and children), preferably the latter.
Translation:
Lo, cf. on “behold” in 1.20.
Left our homes, preferably, ‘given up our possessions, or, what was ours’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, Nieuwe Vertaling).
For left and followed see on 5.11.
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.
Look…we have left: In Greek Peter began his reply to Jesus with a word that draws attention to what he was about to say. Sometimes it is translated in English as Look, as in the Berean Standard Bible, or “Listen.” Some versions, such as the New International Version, have not translated this Greek word here. Other English versions translate it in several ways in this context. For example:
Look! We have left… (Good News Translation) -or-
Remember, we left… (Contemporary English Version) -or-
What about us? We left… (Revised English Bible)
Use a natural way in your language to indicate that Peter wanted Jesus to pay special attention to what he was about to say.
we: The pronoun we refers to the disciples. It does not include Jesus.
In this context the pronoun is emphatic. It implies a contrast with the rich man or with rich people in general. (See 18:24.) In contrast to the rich leader who would not give up his possessions, the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. In some languages it may be necessary to make this contrast explicit. For example:
Unlike the rich leader/people
Indicate this contrast in a natural way in your language.
have left all we had: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as have left means “left behind” or “abandoned.” This verb implies here that the disciples thought that following Jesus was more important than keeping their possessions. Whether they gave away their possessions or just left them with relatives is not known.
Some other ways to translate this are:
abandoned everything that we had -or-
put aside all that we owned
all we had: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as all we had is literally “our own things.” There are two ways to interpret it in this context:
(1) It refers in general to property and possessions, including homes and families. For example:
we have left everything we own (NET Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, NET Bible, New International Version, King James Version, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, God’s Word, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) It refers specifically to homes. For example:
We have left our homes (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Peter was saying that he and the other disciples of Jesus had left everything so that they could be his disciples. The phrase all we had probably includes the things that Jesus mentioned in 18:29.
18:28b
to follow You: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as to follow You is literally “and we(excl) followed you.” It expresses the purpose that the disciples had for leaving everything. They left everything to become his disciples. Express this purpose in a natural way in your language.
The disciples followed Jesus in both a literal and figurative way. They literally followed him wherever he went, and they also “followed him” by learning from him as his disciples. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate the figurative meaning along with the literal meaning. For example:
in order to follow you ⌊as your disciples⌋ -or-
to follow you ⌊and learn from you⌋
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