Translation commentary on Luke 19:47

Exegesis:

kai ēn didaskōn to kath’ hēmeran ‘he taught daily,’ referring to a period of teaching following the events of vv. 45f.

to kath’ hēmeran ‘day after day,’ ‘daily.’

hoi de archiereis kai hoi grammateis … kai hoi prōtoi tou laou ‘the chief priests and the experts of the law and the leaders of the people,’ together the subject of ezētoun. For hoi archiereis see on 9.22. But the fact that hoi prōtoi tou laou is separated from the other two by the predicate is an indication that hoi prōtoi tou laou are not in the same way involved as the chief priests and the experts, being involved either to a lesser degree, or only recently (this is the first time they are mentioned), preferably the latter.

ezētoun auton apolesai ‘(they) were seeking to destroy him,’ iterative imperfect referring to a situation which had existed for some time.

Translation:

For chief priests see on “high-priesthood” in 3.2.

And the principal men of the people. This phrase is better given a more independent position (see Exegesis); hence e.g. ‘and so did (or, similarly) the leading citizens’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation, Bible de Jérusalem, Balinese, which give this phrase at the end of the sentence). Whereas the two preceding terms refer to the religious authorities, this one refers to persons whose importance is felt in the more secular sphere.

For sought cf. on 5.18, for destroy, or, ‘cause-to-perish,’ ‘kill.’

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 19:47

Paragraph 19:47–48

This paragraph provides background information for the events in chapter 20. Use a natural way in your language to translate this as background information.

19:47a

Jesus was teaching at the temple every day: The verb form that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus was teaching describes a continual or repeated action. In the short period between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his arrest, his main activity each day was teaching in the temple courts. One way to say this could be:

He spent/passed his days teaching in the temple.
-or-
…he taught daily in the Temple. (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
Each day, Jesus kept on teaching in the temple. (Contemporary English Version)

In some languages, it may be necessary to make explicit what Jesus taught and whom he taught. For example:

He was teaching ⌊God’s message/word⌋ ⌊to the people⌋ in the temple every day.

at the temple: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple here is the same word that was translated as “temple courts” in 19:45a. It refers to the temple courtyard, not the temple building. See the note on “the temple courts” at 19:45a for more information and suggestions for translating temple.

19:47b–d

but the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people were intent on killing Him: The Berean Standard Bible begins this clause with the conjunction but to indicate a contrast between what Jesus was doing and what the leaders were doing. Jesus was teaching in the temple, and the leaders were trying to find a way to kill him. Many English versions do not have a conjunction here. Begin the statement in a natural way in your language.

the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people: Three groups of people are mentioned here. Together they represent the leaders of the Jewish people.

chief priests: A Jewish “priest” was a man who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. He also performed other rituals for them. The phrase chief priests refers to the leaders among these priests. They were important officers of the temple and served as part of a permanent temple staff. Some ways to translate chief priests are:

the leading/ruling priests
-or-
the elders among the Jewish sacrificers
-or-
the most prominent priests

See how you translated chief priests in 9:22. See also priest in the Glossary for more information.

scribes: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as scribes refers to men who studied, interpreted, and taught the law of Moses. This word is sometimes translated as “teachers of the law,” as in the New International Version. The original work of these men was to copy the laws of Moses by hand. In New Testament times, this was no longer their main task.

Some ways to translate this term are:

teachers of the Law of Moses (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
teachers of religious law (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
experts on the law

See how you translated scribes in 15:2.

leaders of the people: This probably refers to a group of leaders in Jewish society. They were the heads of important families. They are probably the same group that is described as “elders” in 9:22, 20:1, and 22:52.

Some ways to translate this are:

elders
-or-
leading/important men among the people

were intent on killing Him: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as were intent on killing Him indicates that the leaders were trying to think of a way to kill Jesus that would not cause the ordinary people to oppose them. The New International Version and New American Standard Bible say that they were “trying” to kill Jesus, but this does not mean they had already attempted to kill him but had been unsuccessful.

The tense of the verb in Greek implies continuing action. They continually searched for a way to do this. Some English versions make this explicit. For example:

The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him (New Revised Standard Version)

killing Him: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as killing here means “causing to be killed.” The Jewish leaders probably did not intend to kill Jesus themselves, but rather to find a way to make the Roman authorities want to execute him. It may be clearer to say:

bring about his death (Revised English Bible)
-or-
have him killed (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
cause him to be killed

© 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.