complete verse (Luke 2:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:7:

  • Noongar: “Mary bore her first son, she wrapped him in cloths (lit.: “Kangaroo skin”) and laid him in the box for cattle food, because there was no shelter for the two of them for sleeping in the town.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “She really gave birth, to a male child, her firstborn child. She wrapped that child and laid-him-to-sleep in a manger, because the guest house was full.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “She gave birth to her first-born, a son. She wrapped her child in a blanket and laid him in a box (used) for feeding animals in the barn for they didn’t have room in the rest-house.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “and she gave birth to a male which was the first born. She wrapped that child in a blanket and laid him down in the feeding-trough of the horses, because there was no room for them in the house where they caused people to sleep, because it was full of people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Since there was no place-for them -to-stay in the place-where-people -spent-the-night, they went to the animal (means large animals) stable. And there is where she gave-birth-to her firstborn male. When he was born, she wrapped-him-up, then she laid-him-down-to-sleep in the feeding-place of the animals.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “She gave birth to her first child who was a male. And then according to their custom of that time, she bound- the child -round-and-round well with pieces-of-cloth. She laid him down in the animal feeder, for only there was where they were able to stay, in the animals’ shelter, because there was no more room there in the rental/guest rooms upstairs (i.e. in the main part of the house). They were really full up already.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 2:7

Exegesis:

kai eteken ‘and she bore,’ best taken as not dependent upon egeneto.

ton huion autēs ton prōtotokon ‘her first-born son’; ton prōtotokon is attributive to huion, and not in apposition to it.

prōtotokos ‘first-born,’ here in the literal sense as usually in the Old Testament; the word represents here the Hebrew bekor, ‘first-born’ (cf. Ex. 13.2; 34.19; Num. 18.15f), which belonged to the Lord and, in the case of the human male first-born, had to be redeemed, as is done with Jesus in vv. 22-24, but serves primarily to distinguish Jesus from Mary’s children that were born later (Plummer, Zahn, Klostermann).

kai esparganōsen auton ‘and wrapped him up,’ scil. in spargana ‘swaddling cloths’; this was a very natural procedure and the phrase suggests no special circumstances.

sparganoō (also v. 12) ‘to wrap up.’

kai aneklinen auton en phatnē ‘and she laid him in a manger.’

anaklinō ‘to lay down,’ ‘to cause to lie down,’ in the passive ‘to lie down,’ ‘to recline.’

phatnē ‘manger,’ ‘feeding trough,’ or ‘stall’ (cf. Moffatt), preferably the former.

ouk ēn autois topos ‘there was no room for them’; autois refers to Joseph and Mary.

topos here ‘place or room to stay or to live.’

en tō katalumati ‘in the inn’ or ‘in the lodging.’

kataluma (also 22.11) ‘a place to lodge,’ usually after a journey; in 22.11 the word clearly refers to a room, not to a house, and the usual word for ‘inn’ is not kataluma but pandocheion (cf. 10.34); on the other hand it seems improbable that kataluma refers here to the guest room of a private house; hence Klostermann thinks it indicates the common lodging-place of a caravanserai.

Translation:

Gave birth, cf. on 1.57.

Her first-born son. In languages where one has to say ‘male child,’ one must make clear that the word ‘first-born’ is not qualifying ‘child’ only, but ‘male child’; hence such shifts as, ‘her first(-born) child, a male-one’ (Tae’), ‘child male, her first child’ (Kituba). Some idiomatic renderings of first-born are, ‘first seen’ (Enxet), ‘he/she that opens the gown’ (in use in Batak Toba, because formerly a woman stopped wearing a gown and started using a bodice after the birth of her first child), ‘he/she that damages the stalk (i.e. the body)’ (Uab Meto). In some receptor languages the normal equivalent of “first-born”, e.g. ‘eldest’ (Balinese), implies that more children are expected to follow, or are known to have followed.

Wrapped him in swaddling cloths, or, ‘swaddled him,’ or more generically, ‘wrapped/enveloped him in pieces of cloth.’

Manger, or descriptive phrases like, ‘trough (for) grass’ (Thai), ‘place (for) animals’ grass’ (Low Malay), ‘box from which animals eat’ (Sinhala), ‘place where cared-for animals eat’ (Ekari), ‘place (where) they always put the food for the horse’ (Tboli, horses being the only domesticated animals kept in the area), ‘thing that animals use-to-eat their food’ (Kituba).

There was no place for them in the inn may be better stated affirmatively, ‘the inn was-crowded’ (cf. Ekari). The inn is usually best described as ‘guest place,’ ‘lodging place,’ ‘travellers place,’ ‘place to pass the night,’ which leaves room for the interpretation indicated in Exegesis.

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 2:7

2:7a

her firstborn, a Son: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as her firstborn, a Son is literally “her son, the firstborn.” It indicates that this baby was Mary’s first child, and that he was a boy. Another way to translate this is:

She gave birth to her first child, a son. (New Living Translation (2004))

2:7b

She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths: Mary wrapped strips of cloth around the baby Jesus. It was a Jewish custom to wrap newborn babies in that way. This kept them warm, and it also kept their arms and legs straight.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

She wrapped the baby with pieces of cloth (New Century Version)
-or-
She wrapped his ⌊arms and legs snugly⌋ with pieces of cloth
-or-
She put/wrapped strips of cloth around him ⌊as was their custom⌋

swaddling cloths: These cloths were long strips of cloth like bandages that were wrapped about the baby many times.

2:7c-d

and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn: According to many people’s understanding or traditions, Mary and Joseph arrived at Bethlehem just at the time when Mary was ready to give birth. They approached an inn or hotel in Bethlehem, but were told that it was full. Instead they were guided to a stable with animals, where Mary gave birth.

But according to Luke 2:6, they had already been in Bethlehem for a time when the moment came to give birth. And it is likely that they stayed in a house. Joseph probably had relatives in Bethlehem, and they would have invited him to stay with them. The home where they stayed had a room for guests, but it was already occupied. So they stayed in another room that was close to where animals were kept inside the house at night. This meant that a manger would have been nearby, and it became a good place to lay the newborn baby. This understanding of the story is followed in the notes below.

because there was no room for them in the inn: This clause explains the reason why Mary laid the baby in a manger, which was not a usual place to lay a baby. It was because there was not enough space for the couple to stay, or to have the baby, in the guest room of the house. Instead they stayed near where the family kept their animals, and so they laid the baby in a nearby manger. See the translation suggestions at the end of the note on “because there was no room for them” at 2:7d for ways to make some of this information explicit.

In some languages, it may be more natural to put the reason clause before the result clause. For example:

Because there was no space for them in the guest room, she placed him in a manger.
-or-
There was no place for them in the room for travelers, so she laid him in a manger.

2:7c

in a manger: A manger was a box or trough that held food for animals, especially for large animals such as cattle and horses. People made this feeding box out of wood or stone. Other ways to translate this are:

in a feeding trough
-or-
in a feeding box for animals
-or-
in a trough where people put food for the animals (Translation for Translators)
-or-
on a bed of hay (Contemporary English Version)

Jewish peasant families commonly kept their animals in their houses at night. So the manger was probably inside a house where Mary and Joseph were invited to stay, and not in a stable away from a house. You may want to make this information explicit in your translation. For example:

in a feeding trough ⌊in a home⌋
-or-
in an animal’s feeding box ⌊at the house where they were staying⌋

2:7d

because there was no room for them in the inn: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as inn is a general word that refers to any place for travelers to stay or lodge. (This is a different Greek word than the word translated as “inn” in Luke 10:34.) The word can refer to an inn, a guesthouse, or a guest room in a house. In this context, it probably refers to a room in a village home where guests could stay. It does not refer to a building such as a hotel with many rooms.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

guest room (New International Version (2011))
-or-
in the room ⌊of the house⌋ for travelers/visitors

because there was no room for them in the inn: In this context, the words no room mean that there was not enough space for them either to stay or to have the baby in the guest room. That room was already occupied, possibly by other relatives or travelers who had arrived for the census before Joseph and Mary or who had higher status. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

because there was no place for them in the guestroom (CEB)
-or-
because there was not enough space for them in the room/place for travelers
-or-
because the guest room was full (English Easy-to-Read Version)
-or-
because other people were already staying in the guest room ⌊of the house where they stayed⌋

This clause because there was no room for them explains the reason why Mary laid Jesus in a manger, a place where people do not usually lay a baby. Mary and Joseph were probably invited to stay in a home, possibly with relatives. But since the guest room of that home was already full, they stayed in another part of the house. They may have shared the room where the host family stayed. Wherever they stayed, it was near the part of the house where the family kept their animals inside at night. So the most suitable place Mary could find to lay the baby was in a nearby manager.

You may want to make some of this information explicit in your translation. For example:

Since the guest room was already full, ⌊the most suitable place that Mary could find⌋ to lay the baby was the manager.
-or-
She laid him there ⌊because there was no better place for him where they were staying⌋. That was because other people were staying in the guest room.
-or-
Since other people were staying in the guest room, ⌊Mary and Joseph stayed near where their hosts kept their animals in the house.⌋ So she laid the baby in a ⌊nearby⌋ manger.
-or-

⌊That was the best place to lay the baby.⌋ This was because there was no space for them in the guest room of the house. ⌊Instead/so they stayed in the house near the animals and the manger was there.⌋

General Comment on 2:6a–7d

In some languages, it may be more natural to put 2:7d before 2:6a. For example:

7dThere was not enough room/space for them in the guest room ⌊of the house where they stayed,⌋ ⌊so they stayed in the part of the house near where the animals sleep⌋. 6a-7cWhile they were there…

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