Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 22:57:
Noongar: “But Peter lied, ‘Woman, I don’t know Jesus!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Petrus denied it, he said: ‘I don’t know him!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But Petros asserted he said, ‘Woman, I don’t know him.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Peter answered, ‘Woman, I don’t know that person they have arrested.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But Pedro denied it saying, ‘No indeed, is it indeed-the-case that (RQ implying of course not) I know him?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But Pedro denied him, saying, ‘Expl., no! I don’t know him”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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 22:54-65:
Peter kept his distance after Jesus was arrested
and led away to the house of the high priest.
Some people were sitting around a fire
in the courtyard of the house, and Peter joined them.
“This man was with Jesus!” blurted out a servant girl.
“I don’t even know the guy!” insisted Peter.
“You’re one of them!” someone said with a smirk.
“Not me!” denied Peter.
An hour or so later, another man swore,
“This man was with Jesus—they’re both from Galilee.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
came Peter’s denial.
At that very moment, while Peter was still speaking,
he heard the sound of a rooster crowing.
The Lord looked in Peter’s direction,
and Peter remembered those solemn words,
“Before a rooster crows tomorrow morning,
you’ll say three times you don’t even know me.”
Peter left and wept bitterly.
Meanwhile, the guards insulted and struck Jesus.
They put a blindfold on him and sneered as they said,
“Tell us who hit you?”
And this was not the worst they did to him.
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®).
ouk oida auton, gunai ‘woman, I don’t know him,’ denying the possibility of any relationship with Jesus.
Translation:
He denied it, saying “Woman…”, or simply, ‘he said, “No, woman, …” ’; cf. on v. 34. Woman. The translator should seek a term that is culturally appropriate in the given situation: a stranger addressing a female servant belonging to the household, cf. on 13.12.
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.
But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But is a common conjunction that can be translated in different ways. Here it introduces Peter’s response to the servant girl. This response did not agree with what she said, so the word “but” is a natural way to introduce it in English. Some English versions do not use a conjunction here. Connect Peter’s response to 22:56c in a natural way in your language.
Peter denied it: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Peter denied it is more literally “he denied, saying.” It introduces the words, “I do not know him” in 22:57b. Peter’s statement was not true. You should use a natural way in your language to introduce this statement of denial. For example:
Peter denied it by saying (God’s Word) -or-
Peter declared/replied ⌊falsely⌋ -or-
Peter said (Contemporary English Version) -or-
Peter told the woman
22:57b
Woman: Here Peter addressed the female servant as Woman. This was a common way for a Jewish man to address a woman. It was not an insult, and it was not harsh. If it is unnatural or unkind in your culture to address a woman this way, you may:
• Omit the direct address, but make it clear in 22:57a that Peter was speaking to the woman. See the examples in that note.
• Use a different form of address that will be more natural or polite in your language. For example:
Madam -or-
Sister
In 13:12 Jesus addressed a woman in this way. Refer to how you translated it there.
In Greek, the word Woman comes at the end of Peter’s denial:
I do not know him, Woman!
Place the direct address where it is natural in your language.
I do not know Him: Here Peter told the woman that he did not personally know Jesus. Peter’s statement was a lie. Of course, he knew Jesus, but he was afraid to admit it. He probably thought that the guards might arrest him also. Some other ways to translate this are:
I don’t even know him! (Good News Translation) -or-
I do not know that man.
he said: The phrase he said is a translation of the verb “saying” from 22:57a. (Refer to the note there for more information.) Place this verb where it is natural in your language.
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