The Greek that is translated in English as “beat his breast” or similar is translated in Kasem as “clapped his hands.” To beat one’s breast is considered to be a sign of arrogance and pride. To express regret people clap their hands. (Source: Urs Niggli in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 16)
Similarly in Bafut (in Luke 23:48): “If we translated the image, ‘beating their breasts’ literally, it would give a wrong meaning. ‘Beating their breasts/chests’ translates in Bafut as ‘ŋ̀kwɛɛ nɨ̂ mɨnt ̀ɨɨ̀ myaa.’ This means they were proud of what they had done. Another consideration is that literally translating ‘beating their breasts’ will mean that it was the women beating their breasts, not men, since, in Bafut, men are perceived as not having breasts. In order to bring out the right meaning using a culturally relevant image, we rendered this as ‘ŋ̀wɛtə mbô myaa,’ and this means ‘crossed their arms’ (under the chin, so the palms rested on the shoulders), which is a sign of mourning in the culture. So in order to explain the symbolic action, the translation added the implicit information, ‘nloŋ mə mɨntɨɨ̀ myaa lɛ nluu nɨ̂ àjəŋnə̀‘ which means, ‘because their hearts were full with sorrow.'” (Source: Michael Suh Niba in Vila-Chã / Hu 2022, p. 233ff.)
In Yaweyuha it is expressed more explicitly as “feeling great sorrow, repeatedly beating their chests” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98) and likewise on Chokwe as “beat his breast for sorrow” (“beat one’s breast” is the equivalent of the English “pat oneself on the back”) (source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. ).
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:48:
Noongar: “People coming together there, watching the punishment, they saw what happened, all of them went sadly back to their homes, beating their chests.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “All the people who had gathered to watch, when they saw what had happened, went back to their homes, and along the way they kept rubbing their chests” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And all the people who had gathered there watching, when they saw what happened there, went home beating their chests for they were very grieved.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for the people that were gathered there to watch him, when they saw that which had happened they went home, and they were very sorrowful.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The many-people also who had gathered to spectate, when they saw what happened, they went-home repeatedly-striking their chests because of their sorrow.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Those people who had gathered around as spectators, when they also observed those things which had happened, they went home continually thumping their chest in the big-size of their grief.” (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 23:44-49:
The sun stopped shining and shadowy darkness
spread like a shroud from noon to mid afternoon.
The temple curtain split down the middle,
as the final words of Jesus thundered,
“Father, I trust myself to you!”
A Roman soldier witnessed the events and exclaimed,
“Today I’ve seen a truly good man!”
The crowd that had gathered to gape at the gruesome sight,
dispersed and disappeared with broken hearts.
But the close friends of Jesus — especially the women
who had accompanied him from Galilee —
stood at a distance as solemn witnesses.
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®).
And when all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened: This part of the verse refers to the crowd of people who came to watch the crucifixion. In some languages it may be necessary to divide 23:48a into two separate sentences. For example:
Many people had gathered to witness this sight. When they saw what took place….
for this spectacle: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for this spectacle is more literally “at the spectacle, show.” The word spectacle can refer to any public event that people come to watch. Here it refers to the execution of Jesus and the other two men.
In some languages it may be necessary to make the meaning more explicit. For example:
to see the crucifixion (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
to watch
saw what had happened: The phrase saw what had happened refers in general to the things that happened when Jesus and the men were crucified. Other ways to translate it are:
saw what happened (Good News Translation) -or-
observed all that occurred there -or-
saw ⌊and heard⌋ what happened there
23:48b
they returned home beating their breasts: In that culture people beat their chests/breasts with their fists to show sorrow and distress. The people at the crucifixion were distressed because of what happened to Jesus. They realized that Jesus was innocent, and he did not deserve to suffer so terribly. As they left, they mourned over this by beating their chests.
In some cultures, beating the chest does not have this meaning. If that is true in your culture, some other ways to translate it are:
• Translate the action and indicate the meaning. For example:
they felt so distressed that they beat their chests -or-
beating their chests because they were so sad (New Century Version)
• Translate the meaning without the action. For example:
they felt brokenhearted and went home (Contemporary English Version) -or-
they left, mourning greatly/deeply -or-
they…went home in deep distress (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
• Substitute an action that has the right meaning in your culture. For example:
They left, ⌊wailing⌋ in sorrow
Translate the meaning in a natural way in your language for this context.
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