Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 2:8-20)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 2:8-20:

At night in the fields near Bethlehem,
       some shepherds were guarding their sheep,
when suddenly an angel came down from the Lord,
       and the glory of the Lord flashed all around.

The shepherds were shaken, but the angel encouraged them,
“Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you —
       news that will bring happiness to all who hear.
Today a Savior was born for you in King David’s hometown.
This Savior is Christ the Lord, and you’ll recognize him —
       he’s a newborn baby on a bed of hay.”

At that very moment a multitude of angels
       descended from heaven, singing:
“Praise! Shout praises to God in heaven!
       Peace to everyone who pleases God!”

After the angels had returned to heaven,
the shepherds said to each other,
       “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what this is all about.”
They wasted no time, and when they arrived,
Mary and Joseph were there —
       and a newborn baby on a bed of hay.

The shepherds told the baby’s parents
       what the angel had said about Jesus.
They and everyone else were surprised,
but Mary kept all this in mind
       and never stopped wondering what it meant.

With praises to God flowing from their lips,
       the shepherds returned to their sheep.
Everything had happened exactly as the angel had said.

Translation commentary on Luke 2:16

Exegesis:

kai ēlthon speusantes ‘they went with haste’; the participle speusantes qualifies the action of the main verb as happening with haste or quickly (cf. Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Zürcher Bibel).

speudō (also 19.5f) ‘to hurry,’ ‘to make haste,’ in Luke always as a participle qualifying the main verb.

kai aneuron ‘and they found.’

aneurō ‘to find out,’ implying a search as in Acts 21.4, cf. “they found their way to Mary and Joseph” (New English Bible).

tēn te Mariam kai ton Iōsēph kai to brephos keimenon en tē phatnē ‘Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger’; the series of connectives te … kai … kai admits the following interpretations: (1) ‘Mary, Joseph and the child,’ i.e. te is taken to be followed by more than one corresponding kai, cf. Moffatt; (2) ‘Mary and Joseph, and the child,’ i.e. te is connected with the first kai only and this connection expresses that Mary and Joseph are one group as compared with the child, cf. Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, Phillips, An American Translation, Zürcher Bibel; (3) the second kai is taken to be connect two co-ordinate clauses, cf. “they found … Mary and Joseph; and the baby was lying in the manger” (New English Bible). Of these interpretations (2) is the most probable because when te is followed by more than one kai usually te and the first kai connect concepts which are more closely related to each other than to what follows, cf. Lk. 12.45, Acts 1.8, Heb. 2.4; this is here supported by the fact that the participle keimenon ‘lying’ goes with brephos only.

Translation:

Found, or, because of the implied search, ‘they looked for and found,’ ‘in their search they saw’ (Cuyono).

Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. To avoid the danger that the participle would be taken with the three persons mentioned, various ways are open, such as the use of different connectives, e.g. ‘Mary with Joseph, and the babe…’ (Bahasa Indonesia KB), ‘M. and J., more-over the babe…’ (Javanese, Balinese), or of a deictic element after ‘Joseph,’ giving to the next phrase a rather independent position (Sundanese); or the repetition of the verb, cf. ‘found M. with J., and found the babe lying…’ (Thai); or again, a repetition of ‘babe/child,’ cf. .’.. found M., J. and child; child lying…’ (Kituba).

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 2:16

2:16a–b

So they hurried off: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So introduces the result of the shepherds’ discussion. In some languages a conjunction may not be needed. For example:

They went quickly (God’s Word)

Connect this verse to 2:15 in a natural way in your language.

they hurried off: The phrase they hurried off indicates that the shepherds went quickly. They did not hesitate to go and see the baby whom the angel had told them about. Some other ways to translate this are:

the shepherds went quickly (New Century Version)
-or-
they came in a hurry (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
they came as fast as they could (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

and found Mary and Joseph and the Baby: The shepherds found Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus. The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as found implies that the shepherds searched for Mary, Joseph, and the baby before finding them.

who was lying in the manger: The baby Jesus was lying in the manger, as the angel had told them (2:12). For a description of manger, see the note for 2:7c.

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