Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“send”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Luke 22:8 – 22:9

Exegesis:

apesteilen ‘he sent off,’ ‘he despatched,’ implying the idea of a commission. Subject is Jesus.

eipōn ‘saying,’ i.e. ‘instructing,’ ‘ordering.’

hetoimasate hēmin to pascha hina phagōmen lit. ‘prepare for us the passover meal that we may eat (it).’ hina phagōmen describes the potential result of hetoimasate in the form of a final clause.

(V. 9) pou theleis hetoimasōmen ‘where do you want us to prepare (it)?.’ For the construction cf. on 18.41. The emphasis is on pou.

Translation:

Prepare the passover for us, that we may eat it, or, “get our Passover supper ready for us to eat” (Good News Translation), or simply, ‘prepare the passover meal for us, or, our passover meal’ (cf. New English Bible).

(V. 9) Where will you have us prepare it?, or, ‘where do you want (or, would you like) us to prepare it?,’ or in a more expanded form, ‘what is your wish as to (the place) where we must prepare it?’; or in two clauses, ‘where must we prepare it? What do you wish, or, do you command (us)?.’

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 22:8

22:8a–c

This verse tells what Jesus did because the Passover time was arriving. In Greek it begins with a common conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Several versions, such as the Revised Standard Version, begin the verse with “So.” Connect this verse to 22:7 in a natural way in your language.

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare for us to eat the Passover.”: Here Jesus told Peter and John to go and prepare for him and the apostles to eat the Passover meal together. The location for the meal is not stated until 22:10, where Jesus told them to go into the city of Jerusalem.

In some languages it may be necessary to specify the location here in this verse. For example:

So Jesus sent Peter and John ⌊into Jerusalem⌋, saying, “Go make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
-or-
Jesus gave Peter and John these instructions: “Go ⌊into the city⌋ and prepare for our Passover meal.”

In some languages it may be more natural to use indirect speech for the instructions. See the General Comment on 22:8a–c for an example.

22:8b–c

Go and prepare for us to eat the Passover: In the Greek text, this instruction is more literally “prepare for us the Passover that we may eat.” To prepare for us to eat the Passover probably included all the tasks that were necessary to prepare for the feast. For example, Peter and John must obtain a suitable room. They must get a lamb and take it to the temple to be sacrificed. They must buy other food and cook the meal or get someone to cook it.

It is good to translate in a general way that can refer to different types of preparations. For example:

prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it (New American Standard Bible)

The instructions Go and prepare for us are given to the two disciples Peter and John. However, the word us includes Jesus, Peter, John, and Jesus’ other disciples. They would all eat the Passover together. If your language has different forms for dual and plural, be sure to use the appropriate forms here.

to eat the Passover: In 22:7 the word Passover referred to the Passover lamb to be sacrificed. Here in 22:8 it refers to the Passover meal that the disciples would eat together. In some languages it may be helpful to make this explicit. For example:

the Passover meal (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
the Passover supper

General Comment on 22:8a–c

In some languages it may be more natural to use indirect speech for Jesus’ instructions in this verse. For example:

Jesus ordered/told Peter and John to go and make preparations for them to eat the Passover meal.

© 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.