Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:17:
Uma: “[[Pilatus said like that, because usually each Paskah Day he had to release one person who was in prison, in order to please [lit., take the hearts of] the people. That is why he said: ‘I will just whip him and release him.’]]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “(The reason that Pilatus said that was because it was his custom that each year when the Yahudi had the festival they called Festival of Remembrance, he would free one prisoner for the people.)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason Pilate said this is because it was the custom of the Jews that every time the Passover Feast took place, it was necessary for Pilate to turn loose one Jewish prisoner.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He said that because he had to release a prisoner at each fiesta called Passed-By, because that was his custom.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well since the governor had made it a custom that at each Fiesta of Passed-by, there would be one person whom he would release from being in prison, whoever the crowd wanted to ask for, that’s why it was necessary that he release one person then at that fiesta.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 23:13-25:
Pilate called together the chief priests,
the religious authorities, and all their cohorts.
Then he said:
“You brought Jesus into my court,
accusing him of being a troublemaker.
But you’re witnesses that I’ve found him innocent,
and so has Herod, who sent him back to me.
This man doesn’t deserve the death penalty.
I’ll have him beaten, then released.”
“Kill him! Set Barabbas free!” shouted the angry mob.
Now Barabbas had been in prison,
charged with terrorism and murder.
Pilate wanted to set Jesus free,
so he repeated himself to the mob.
But they shouted even louder,
“Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!”
“What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate once again.
“I’ve found him guilty of nothing deserving death.
I’ll have him beaten and released.”
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”
came the incessant cry of the crowd.
Finally, Pilate gave in to the demands of the frenzied mob.
He freed Barabbas, the terrorist and murderer,
then handed Jesus over to face certain death.
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®).
anagkēn de eichen apoluein autois kata heortēn hena lit. ‘he had the compulsion, i.e. he was obliged, to release for them one (person) at a feast’; here anagkē refers to a compulsion by tradition. For kata heortēn.
Translation:
To them, referring to the beneficiaries, may have to be described, e.g. by ‘as-a-kindness-to them’ (cf. Balinese), ‘according to their choice’ (Willibrord), ‘as they requested.’ The pronoun refers to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, hence ‘the populace’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘the crowd’ (Javanese), or to the whole people, as represented by their leaders and the populace of Jerusalem, hence ‘the Jews,’ or, ‘the Jewish people’ (Sundanese, Balinese).
At the festival, or more specifically, “at each Passover Feast” (Good News Translation); cf. above on 2.41.
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.
There is a textual issue concerning 23:17. The majority of Bible scholars think that 23:17 was probably not present in the original manuscript written by Luke. It was probably added later as background information. It explains what the people said in 23:18. They shouted that Barabbas should be set free. This information is in Matthew 27:15 and Mark 15:6.
There are two main options for translating this verse:
• Put a translation of the verse in a footnote. For example, the God’s Word has this footnote:
Some manuscripts and translations add verse 17: “At every Passover festival the governor had to set someone free for them.” (God’s Word)
If you use this option, as most English versions do, you may want to include the verse number for 17 with the number at the beginning of 23:18. For example:
17–18With one voice…
• Put the verse in brackets in the text. Here is one way to translate this:
17[Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.] (New American Standard Bible)
If the national language version includes 23:17 without brackets in the text, you may decide to follow it. If you do this, it is good to include a footnote to explain that this verse is not present in some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of Luke.
The words in the Display and in the following notes come from the Berean Standard Bible footnote.
Now Pilate was obligated to release to the people one prisoner at the feast: This statement is background information. The Berean Standard Bible indicates that with the word Now. The word Now is not a time word in this context. Introduce the background information in a natural way in your language.
This statement contains implied information. Pilate was holding some Jews as prisoners. There was a custom that Pilate had to set one of those prisoners free on the Feast of Passover. Some other ways to translate this verse are:
Now it was necessary for him to release one prisoner to them during the Passover celebration. -or-
⌊Pilate said this because⌋ it was a custom that he must release one ⌊Jewish⌋ prisoner for them during the time that ⌊the Jews celebrated⌋ their Passover festival.
the feast: The term the feast refers here to the Passover feast. See the notes at 22:1a–b for translation suggestions.
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