The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Likewise, in Matumbiyu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)
The Greek that is translated as “those who say there is no resurrection” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with die eine Auferstehung leugnen or “those who deny a resurrection.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 20:27:
Noongar: “The Sadducees, they say this: people will not rise from the dead, so a few Sadducees came to Jesus and said,” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Several people who followed the teaching of the Saduki came/arrived at Yesus. Those Saduki people, they were leaders of the Yahudi religion who denied that dead people will live again in the future. When those Saduki people arrived, they said to Yesus:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After that the Sadduseo went to Isa. They are the ones who do not believe that the dead will live again in the last days.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then the Sadducees came near to Jesus. Now as for the Sadducees, they are the Jews who believe that no one will be raised from the dead in the future. And they said to Jesus,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There were also Sadduceo (Sadducees) who went to Jesus. They are a party/group of Jews who say that the dead don’t live again. They said to him,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The next who went to Jesus were the Saduceo, for they questioned him. As for these Saduceo, they uphold that those who have died aren’t made alive any more.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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®).
proselthontes de tines tōn Saddoukaiōn ‘some of the Sadducees came (to him).’
Saddoukaios ‘Sadducee,’ i.e. a member of the religious group called Sadducees.
hoi antilegontes anastasin mē einai ‘who deny that there is a resurrection,’ qualifying the entire group of Sadducees, not the few of them who came to Jesus. For antilegō cf. on 2.34; here it is construed with mē and infinitive to indicate that which is denied. anastasis (cf. on 2.34) refers here and in vv. 33, 35, 36 to the eschatological resurrection.
(V. 28a) epērōtēsan ‘(they) asked.’ As in v. 21f the actual question is preceded by two statements, i.e. of the principle involved (v. 28b), and of the case (vv. 29-32).
Translation:
Sadducees, or, ‘Sadducee men,’ ‘members of the (priestly) party/group of the Sadducees,’ ‘Jews called Sadducees.’ In transliteration the c may become s or k; the latter is preferable where possible.
That there is no resurrection, or ‘that the dead do not rise, or, come to life again,’ etc., cf. on 14.14.
(V. 28a) They asked him a question, saying, or “they set him a problem” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), or simply, ‘they said to him,’ cf. on “they asked him” in v. 21. In the latter case v. 33 may have to be introduced by, ‘then they asked him.’
Sadducees asked Jesus a trick question about the resurrection
The Jewish leaders continued to challenge Jesus’ authority and the things that he was teaching. In this section some Sadducees asked Jesus a question to try to show that his teaching was wrong. Like the Pharisees, the Sadducees were another group of Jewish leaders with certain religious beliefs. Many of the Sadducees were priests. They did not believe that God would cause anyone who had died to live again.
Jesus taught that God does cause people who have died to live again. The Sadducees tried to use this belief to trick Jesus in 20:27–40. They told a story to ridicule these beliefs that Jesus taught. The story was not true, but they used it to ask a question. They thought that if a person believed that people who died could live again, there was no sensible answer to the question.
The Sadducees based their story on the custom that is described in Deuteronomy 25:5–6. This scripture teaches that if an Israelite woman did not have any children by her husband before he died, her husband’s brother should marry her. Their first child would have the name of his dead brother and would be the heir of the dead brother. In that way, the dead man’s family and family name could continue through future generations. Since the Scripture taught this custom, the Sadducees believed that they could prove from Scripture that Jesus was wrong.
Examples of headings for this section are:
The Question about Rising from Death (Good News Translation) -or-
Do the dead rise again? -or-
The Sadducees challenged Jesus on people rising from death
Parallel passages for this section are found in Matthew 22:23–33 and Mark 12:18–27.
Paragraph 20:27–33
20:27a
Then: In Greek, 20:27a begins with the common conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then. Luke used this conjunction to introduce a new event. Matthew 22:23 indicates that this event happened on the same day as the events in the preceding section. The Greek text of Luke and Mark do not indicate how much time passed between these two events.
If it is natural in your language to begin a story with a time word or phrase, use an expression that is not too specific. For example:
Later -or-
After that
In some languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this event in a natural way in your language.
some of the Sadducees: The Sadducees were a group of Jewish religious leaders who had certain beliefs. The Sadducees taught that the first five books of the Old Testament were more important than the other books. They did not believe that God would cause people to live again after they died. They also did not believe that angels or spirits existed (Acts 23:8).
Here are some ways to translate Sadducees:
• Transliterate the word Sadducees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to a group of people. For example:
Sadusi members -or-
Saduce adherents
• Transliterate the word Sadducees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:
people belonging to the Sadusi religious group -or-
members of the Jewish group called the Saduceo
The word Sadducees occurs only here in Luke. It also occurs in Mark 12:18, Matthew 3:7, and six other times in Matthew. If you have translated those books, refer to how you translated Sadducees there. You should translate Sadducees in a similar way as you translated “Pharisees” in 17:20a–b.
20:27b–c
who say there is no resurrection: The clause who say there is no resurrection tells a belief of the group called the Sadducees. The Sadducees believed that God does not cause people to live again after they die. They also taught this belief to other people.
In this context the verb say refers to what the Sadducees generally believed and taught. It does not imply that the Sadducees said this to Jesus when they came to ask Jesus their question.
Some ways to translate this clause are:
The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. (Contemporary English Version) -or-
…who believed people would not rise from the dead. (New Century Version) -or-
…who say that people will never come back to life. (God’s Word)
In some languages it may be helpful to indicate that Jesus did believe in the resurrection. For example:
Sadducees, who did not believe, ⌊as Jesus did,⌋ that there would be a resurrection.
resurrection: The term resurrection refers to people living again after they die. This term does not imply that a person will live again as a different person or as an animal. It implies that when God causes people to live again, they will have the same identities that they had before they died. The term also does not indicate that people will literally “rise” up into the air or from their beds or graves. It indicates that they will live again. In some languages there may be other idioms to refer to this. For example:
when people come back to life again
Check your translation of this term carefully to make sure that it does not communicate a wrong meaning.
came to question Him: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as came to question Him means that the Sadducees came to Jesus to ask him a question. Notice that the actual question is in 20:33. The verses from 20:28–32 describe an imaginary situation that the Sadducees told as an introduction or basis for their question.
to question Him: The question that the Sadducees asked was not sincere. They asked it to trick Jesus and to ridicule the idea that people can live again after they die. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate some of this implied information. For example:
⌊to trick/discredit him⌋ with a ⌊difficult⌋ question
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