treasured all these things in her heart

The Greek that is translated as “treasured all these things in her heart” or similar in English is translated in Kupsabiny as “kept those words/things in her stomach.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)

See also ponder.

Jesus' human vs. divine nature in modern Burmese translation

There are three different levels of speech in Burmese: common language, religious language (addressing and honoring monks, etc.), and royal language (which is not in active use anymore). Earliest Bible translations used exclusively royal and religious language (in the way Jesus is addressed by others and in the way Jesus is referred to via pronouns), which results in Jesus being divine and not human. Later editions try to make distinctions.

In the Common Language Version (publ. 2005) the human face of Jesus appears in the narrative of the angel’s message to Joseph and what Joseph did in response (Matthew 1:21-25). The angel told Joseph that Mary was going to give birth to a son, not a prince.

Likewise in Luke 2:6-7 the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is told simply using the Common language. Again in the description of the shepherds’ visit to the baby Jesus (Mark 1:21-25), in the story of Jesus’ circumcision (Luke 2:6-2:7), and in the narrative of the child Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem (Luke 2:46-51), the human face of Jesus comes to the forefront.

On the other hand, the child Jesus is clearly depicted as a royal or a divine child in the story of the wise men (Matthew 2:9-12), the story of the flight to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14), and the return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-21).

(Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )

See also Mary (mother of Jesus).

complete verse (Luke 2:51)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:51:

  • Noongar: “So Jesus went with them to Nazareth. There, he obeyed them, doing everything they asked. Jesus’ mother kept all these things in her heart.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “After that, they went together back to Nazaret, and he definitely submitted to the commands of his mother and father. His mother stored all that had happened in her heart.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Isa went along with his parents home to Nasaret and he did/followed what they commanded him. And all that happened was kept/stored-up by Mariyam in her liver.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now as for Jesus, he returned with them to Nazareth because he was obedient to his parents. And his mother did not forget all these things, but rather, she kept them in her thinking.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then Jesus accompanied them to go-home to Nazaret, and he obeyed all that they were telling him. As for his mother, she stored in her mind all these-things that had happened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well only then could they accomplish their returning to Nazaret. Jesus was really obedient to them. All that which Maria was observing, she was storing well in her head.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“serve”)

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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 rare (られ) 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, tsukae-rare-ru (仕えられる) or “serve” is used.

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

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Luke 2:41-52)

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 2:41-52:

Every year Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for Passover,
       and when Jesus was twelve, they went there as usual.
After Passover, his parents left,
       not knowing Jesus had stayed on in the city.

They thought he was traveling with friends,
       and they went a whole day before looking for him.

When they could not find Jesus with relatives or friends,
they returned to Jerusalem and for three days
       anxiously searched everywhere.

Finally, they found Jesus in the temple,
listening to the teachers, asking them questions,
       and surprising everyone by his wisdom and knowledge.

“Son, why have you done this to us?” asked his mother.
       “Your father and I’ve been frantically searching for you.”

“Why did you have to search for me?” questioned Jesus.
“Didn’t you know I’d be here in my Father’s house?”
       But they didn’t understand what he meant.

Jesus returned home to Nazareth with his parents,
       and was always obedient to them.
But his mother never stopped thinking about all of this.

As Jesus grew up, he grew wiser and stronger —
       so much so that God and people were pleased with him.

Translation commentary on Luke 2:51

Exegesis:

kai katebē met’ autōn ‘and he went down with them.’

katabainō ‘to come down,’ ‘to go down,’ here used of going away from Jerusalem (cf. 10.30, 31; Acts 24.1; 25.7), as contrasted with anabainō (cf. vv. 4 and 42), and implying going back home.

kai ēn hupotassomenos autois ‘and he was obedient to them.’ The imperfect tense is durative.

hupotassō ‘to subject,’ in the passive ‘to become subject,’ ‘to obey’; here the participle is virtually equivalent to an adjective meaning ‘obedient.’

kai hē mētēr autou dietērei panta ta rēmata ‘and his mother kept everything.’ The definite article ta here makes panta ta rēmata a summary of the events told in the preceding narrative.

diatēreō ‘to keep,’ ‘to treasure,’ synonymous with suntēreō, used in a similar phrase in v. 19.

Translation:

He (or, the boy Jesus) went down with them and came to Nazareth, or, ‘came and-arrived in N.’ (Kituba). Some versions contract the two clauses into one, e.g. “he went back with them to N.” (An American Translation). Went down. For movement to a lower, or a higher, level cf. on “went up” in 2.4. With them, or specifying the pronoun, ‘with his parents,’ ‘with the-two-of-them’ (Malay); Balinese has ‘returned together,’ leaving the persons in whose company he returned to be inferred from the context.

And was obedient to them. From the change of aspect it follows that this clause is not a mere continuance of the preceding pair of clauses; hence some versions prefer a major break and an explicit reference to the agent, cf. .’..; and he was submissive to them’ (Bible de Jérusalem). The phrase may be interpreted as the description of Jesus’ behaviour (i.e. he willingly did as he was ordered), or of the situation in which he found himself, cf. ‘was under their authority’ (cf. New English Bible). Where a rendering covering both possibilities is not available, the second one can best be chosen. — Obedient. The concept of ‘obedience’ may be described by ‘to do what a person says,’ ‘to accept orders,’ ‘to follow (in a person’s steps)’ (Malay), ‘to have an ear that listens’ (Kipsigis), ‘to hear a person’s mouth’ (Uduk). In some other languages one term covers ‘to believe’ and ‘to obey’ (Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Tzeltal), or ‘to hear/listen’ and ‘to obey’ (Bahasa Indonesia), or, ‘to listen,’ ‘to believe’ and ‘to obey’ (Thai).

Kept all these things in her heart, cf. on v. 19.

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 2:51

Paragraph 2:51–52

2:51a

Then He went down to Nazareth with them: The town of Nazareth was lower in the hills than Jerusalem. So anyone traveling from Jerusalem to Nazareth had to walk down the hill to a place that was lower in elevation.

In some languages, it is important to say whether people go up or down when they travel. In other languages, this will be unusual or may be confusing. If it is confusing in your language, you may use a more general word or phrase. For example:

Jesus went with them to Nazareth (New Century Version)
-or-
Then he returned to Nazareth with them (New Living Translation (2004))

2:51b

and was obedient to them: The clause was obedient to them means that Jesus obeyed his parents. It does not imply that he did not obey them before. If this is not clear, you could say:

he continued to obey them

In this verse part, Luke made it clear that Jesus obeyed his parents as he grew to be a mature man.

2:51c

But: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible here translates as But is often translated as “and.” There is no strong contrast between 2:51c and 2:51b. This word simply indicates that the story continues. So here some versions translate this word as “and.” For example:

and his mother kept all these things in her heart (Revised Standard Version)

Other versions start a new sentence here and leave this word untranslated. For example:

His mother treasured all these things in her heart. (Good News Translation)

You should connect 2:51c to 2:51b in a way that is natural in your language.

His mother treasured up all these things in her heart: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as treasured means “kept” (as in the Revised Standard Version). Mary kept all these things in her heart. This means that she remembered them. She did not allow herself to forget these things.

This word has a meaning that is similar to a different word in 2:19 that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “treasured up.”

Other ways to translate this are:

kept all these things in mind and pondered them
-or-
remembered all these things and thought about them often
-or-
kept thinking about all these things

His mother: The phrase His mother refers to Jesus’ mother Mary.

all these things: The phrase all these things refers to all the events that happened in 2:41–50. It may also refer to events that had happened in the earlier part of Jesus’ life.

in her heart: The word heart is figurative here. The Jews often spoke of the heart as the part of a person in which thoughts and feelings occur. In some languages, it may not be natural to use an expression like “in the heart.” If that is true in your language, here are other ways to translate this part of the verse:

• Use a specific expression that people in your culture use to refer to the part of a person in which thoughts and feelings occur. For example:

Mary treasured all these things and turned them over in her mind.

• Use a general expression without mentioning a specific part of a person. For example:

Mary treasured these things and continued to think about them.
-or-
His mother kept on thinking about all that had happened. (Contemporary English Version)

This same phrase occurs in 2:19.

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