complete verse (Luke 23:50)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:50:

  • Noongar: (incl. v. 51) “One man stood there, Joseph of Arimathea, a town of Judea. He was a very good, honest man. He was one of the Council and also one of the Pharisees, but he did not agree with their thinking and what they had done. He faithfully awaited the Kingdom of God to come.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “There was a man named Yusuf who was from the town of Arimatea in the land of Yudea. Yusuf was a good man and his behavior was upright, and he was also waiting for the time that God would become King in the world. Even though he was a judge in the Big Religious Meeting of the Yahudi people, but he did not like the command and their decision that said that Yesus must be killed.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There was a man there called Yusup from the town Arimati, there in the place Yahudiya. He was a good man and his conduct was straight/righteous. He waited for the fulfillment of the things foretold about God’s rule. He was one of the councilors but he had not gone along with their thinking and doing in killing Isa.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There was a man named Jose who was from-Arimatea which was a town in the province of Judea. He was a good and righteous person who was waiting for the arrival of the ruling of God. Even though he was one of the leaders of the Jews, he hadn’t agreed-with the plan of his companions and its fulfillment.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, there was a man whose name was Jose. He was a taga Arimatea, which was one of the towns of the Judio. As for that person, he was nice/good and straight/righteous, and one of those who was longing-for (lit. causing-to-arrive) the kingdom of God. He was indeed a member of the Sanedrin, but was not in agreement with the sentence passed on Jesus by those companions of his.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 23:50-56)

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 23:50-56:

Joseph Arimathea was honest and earnest,
       eagerly awaiting the advent of the Ultimate Kingdom.
Although he was a member of the council,
       he had disagreed with their decision to execute Jesus.

Joseph approached Pilate, requesting the body of Jesus.
He removed it from the cross, and wrapped it in a linen cloth,
       before placing it in a tomb carved from solid rock —
              a pristine tomb, as yet undefiled by death.

Friday had arrived — the Sabbath would commence at sunset.
Those women who had come from Galilee
now followed Joseph and watched
       as the body was placed in the tomb.
They wanted to go at once and prepare burial spices,
       but their religion required they rest on the Sabbath.

Translation commentary on Luke 23:50 – 23:53

Exegesis:

These verses comprise a long elaborate sentence, introduced by kai idou (‘and behold,’ cf. on 1.20). The structure of this sentence is as follows: the subject anēr onomati Iōsēph is followed by three appositions bouleutēs huparchōn, anēr agathos kai dikaios and apo Arimathaias poleōs tōn Ioudaiōn which serve to identify him as to his position, his moral character and his local origin, and by the relative clause hos prosedecheto tēn basileian tou theou which identifies him as to his religious conviction. Between the second and third apposition a parenthetical clause is inserted (houtos … autōn) in order to explain his relationship with the trial of Jesus. At the beginning of v. 52 the main clause begins, the subject being resumed by the demonstrative pronoun houtos; it consists of three co-ordinate verbs ētēsato, enetulixen and ethēken, the first two being preceded by a subordinate participle (proselthōn and kathelōn). In each case participle and main verb denote closely connected acts. Finally mnēma is more precisely defined by the closing relative clause hou … keimenos. For details cf. subsequent notes on each verse.

(V. 50) bouleutēs huparchōn lit. ‘being a council member,’ i.e. a member of the Sanhedrin, cf. on 22.66. For huparchō cf. on 7.25. Here huparchōn is virtually redundant. bouleutēs.

anēr agathos kai dikaios ‘a good and just man,’ used in a moral sense, and explained by what follows.

(V. 51) houtos ouk ēn sugkatatetheimenos tē boulē kai tē praxei autōn ‘this man had not agreed with their plan and their action,’ parenthesis serving to explain how he, a member of the Sanhedrin, in the present situation with regard to Jesus could be called good and just. The periphrastic pluperfect has no special meaning. autōn refers to the members of the Sanhedrin, though they are not mentioned in the preceding clauses. boulē, cf. on 7.30.

sugkatatithemai, with dative, ‘to agree with,’ ‘to consent to,’ ‘to vote for.’

boulē here ‘plan,’ ‘purpose,’ ‘policy.’

praxis ‘action,’ ‘act.’

apo Arimathaias poleōs tōn Ioudaiōn lit. ‘from Arimathea a town of the Jews,’ best understood as identifying him as a native, not an inhabitant, of Arimathea. tōn Ioudaiōn has the name of the people instead of that of the country.

hos prosedecheto tēn basilean tou theou ‘who expected the (coming of the) kingdom of God.’ For a similar use of prosdechomai cf. on 2.25, 38. For the coming of the kingdom of God cf. on 17.20.

(V. 52) ētēsato to sōma tou Iēsou ‘(he) asked for the body of Jesus.’ sōma means here ‘(dead) body,’ ‘corpse.’

(V. 53) kai kathelōn enetulixen auto sindoni ‘and after taking it down (from the cross) he wrapped it in a linen cloth.’ auto, referring to sōma ‘corpse,’ goes with both verbs.

entulissō ‘to wrap,’ ‘to wrap up.’

sindōn ‘linen,’ ‘linen cloth,’ ‘linen sheet.’

ethēken auton en mnēmati laxeutō ‘he laid him in a rock-hewn tomb.’ Note auton ‘him,’ referring to a person, i.e. Jesus, after auto ‘it’ in the preceding clause.

laxeutos ‘hewn in the rock.’

hou ouk ēn oudeis oupō keimenos ‘where no one had yet been laid.’ The accumulation of the negations strengthens the negative aspect of the clause. Periphrastic ēn keimenos is to be rendered as a pluperfect, not as an imperfect.

Translation:

The main clause, vv. 52f, can usually be rendered as two or more separate sentences; the real difficulty is in the introductory clauses, vv. 50f, because of the parenthesis in v. 51. Some translators change the syntactic structure rather radically, redistributing the clauses and phrases according to a clearer, more logical sequence, cf. e.g. Good News Translation. This has the drawback of suggesting relationships which Luke may not have had in mind. Most translators, therefore, think it wiser to restrict themselves to subdividing vv. 50f into two or more sentences, if necessary elucidating the relationships, e.g. ‘Now there was a man called Joseph, a member of the (Jewish) council, a good and just man, who had (or, He was a good and just man; as such he had) not agreed with their … deed. He came from the Jewish town of A. He expected the kingdom of God. This man (or, Joseph) went to Pilate…,’ cf. e.g. New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem; also Marathi (which puts the locative apposition directly behind the name, as does Good News Translation). It may be necessary to transpose part of the main clause to the first sentence, e.g. ‘Look, a man who was called Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man, went to Pilate. He had not agreed with … what they did. He was a man from A., … He was expecting the kingdom of God. Well, he went to Pilate, he asked…’ (Sranan Tongo).

(V. 50) From the Jewish town of Arimathea, or, ‘native from A., a town in the region Judea (Bahasa Indonesia RC, Balinese), or, in the Jewish country.’ For the force of the preposition from see on “of Cyrene” in v. 26, for town cf. on “city” in 1.26.

A member of the council, or, ‘a man of the (or, elder in their) council’ (cf. Balinese, Zarma), ‘one of the men who sat in council’ (cf. Tae’); or a derivation of the word for council, e.g. ‘one of the speechmakers/discussers’ (Ekari). For council see on 22.66; the term may have to be specified, cf. “Jewish council” (Phillips).

Righteous, cf. references on 1.6.

(V. 51) Who had not consented to their purpose and deed, or, ‘who had not approved of what they had decided and what they had done (cf. Sranan Tongo), or, what the other members had designed and done,’ or, ‘he had not agreed with the other men about the things they had planned and done.’ In Ekari consented, or, ‘agreed’ is rendered by the phrase ‘one thought decided.’

He was looking for, or, ‘expecting,’ see on 2.25.

The kingdom of God, or, ‘the day to come that God rules’ (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), ‘the time when the hour of God’s governing would arrive’ (Tzeltal).

(V. 52) Went to. In this context an honorific term may be preferable or obligatory, e.g. ‘waited upon’ (Balinese, cf. also “went into the presence of”, Good News Translation).

Asked for. In some cases better in direct discourse, ‘said, “Please, give me the body of Jesus” .’

Body, or, ‘corpse,’ ‘dead body,’ as is obligatory in several languages.

(V. 53) He took it down. A locative specification may be preferable, and/or an indication that Joseph probably was not the direct agent, e.g. ‘he had it taken down (or, caused people to lower it) from the cross.’

A linen shroud, or, ‘a grave cloth’; or less specifically, ‘a (good, or, linen) cloth.’

Laid him. In several languages the use of a personal pronoun would suggest a reference to a living person, and therefore one has to neglect the difference and use “it”, or a similar non-personal reference.

A rock-hewn tomb, or, ‘a tomb hewn (or, cut/dug) out of a rock (or, a rock cliff),’ ‘a stone-hole grave’ (Sranan Tongo). If tomb has to be described, one may say here, ‘hole/cave to place dead people in,’ or simply ‘hole/cave,’ the function being sufficiently clear from the context.

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 23:50

Section 23:50–56

Jesus was buried

This section tells about how people buried Jesus’ body. Sometimes the Romans did not allow the body of a crucified person to be buried. But for the Jews, a proper burial was important. It was their custom to bury the body on the same day that a person died. A respected Jewish man named Joseph decided that Jesus must have a proper burial. So Joseph went to Pilate and asked permission to take Jesus’ body and bury it.

The Sabbath Day began just a few hours after Jesus died. On the Sabbath it was forbidden to move a dead body. So Joseph had to act quickly in all that he did.

Examples of other headings for this section are:

The Burial of Jesus (Good News Translation)
-or-
Jesus Is Buried (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Joseph buried Jesus’ body
-or-
Jesus’ corpse was placed in a burial cave

Parallel passages for this section are found in Matthew 27:57–61, Mark 15:42–47, and John 19:38–42.

Paragraph 23:50–54

23:50–51

Verses 50–51 give background information about Joseph and about his relationship to the Jewish Council. In some languages it may be more natural to arrange the information in a different order. See the General Comment on 23:50–51 at the end of 23:51c for examples of how to reorder these verses.

23:50a

Now there was a Council member named Joseph: This clause introduces Joseph. The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now is more literally “and see/look!” It is a way to introduce Joseph as an important person in the story of Jesus. Some other ways to introduce him are:

And listen! there was a man named Joseph.
-or-
There was also a man called Joseph there.

Introduce Joseph in a natural way in your language.

a Council member named Joseph: The phrase a Council member describes Joseph. Joseph was one of the leaders who met together as the Jewish Council. In some languages it may be more natural to use a complete clause. For example:

a man named Joseph…. He was a member of the council (English Standard Version)

Council: The Council made many decisions for the Jewish people. It was also the highest court among them. It was discussed in the note on 22:66a–b. See how you translated “the council” in 22:66.

23:50b

This part of the verse praises Joseph as a good man. This seems to contrast with the statement in 23:50a that he was a member of the Council, since the Council condemned Jesus. Verse 51 explains that Joseph did not agree that Jesus should be condemned. In some languages it may be natural to use a contrast connector here in 23:50b. Connect the verses in a natural way in your language.

a good and righteous man: The phrase a good and righteous man indicates that Joseph was a good person who did what is right. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as righteous means “righteous, just.” Some other ways to translate a good and righteous man are:

He was a good man and his conduct was straight/righteous.
-or-
He was a good person, and he did what was right

In this context, the words good and righteous have similar meanings. In some languages it may be more natural to translate them with a single phrase. For example:

a truly good man

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