complete verse (Luke 4:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 4:11:

  • Noongar: “‘The Scriptures also say, They will grasp you, so your feet do not strike the stones’.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “They hold you (sing.) so that your (sing.) feet do not hit the rocks.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And it is also written it says, ‘The angels will carry you on their hands so that not even your foot will hurt from a stone.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “and they will grab you so that not even your foot will be bruised against a stone.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They will support-you (sing.) -in-their-arms so that your (sing.) foot/leg will not be struck-against a stone.’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “and they will support/take-by-the-arms you so that even your foot/leg won’t get stubbed against a rock.”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And also it says, | ‘‘They will lift you up in their hands, | lest a stone stab your foot/leg.’ ‘” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Kupsabiny: “so that a stone doesn’t make you stumble.’ ‘” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “Then also in the Holy Book it says: ‘Then they themselves will hold you in the palm of their hands so that your foot will not hit a rock!’ it says.’” (Source Enggavoter 2004)

For the Old Testament quote, see Psalm 91:12.

Translation commentary on Luke 4:10 – 4:11

Exegesis:

gegraptai gar ‘for it is written,’ cf. on v. 4. This time the quotation from the Old Testament comes from the devil in order to found the suggestion of v. 9.

tois aggelois autou enteleitai peri sou ‘he will give his angels orders about you.’ Subject of enteleitai is ho kurios ‘the Lord’ understood. The double reference to the person concerned, i.e. peri sou and se, the object of diaphulaxai (cf. next note), is unidiomatic in Greek. This is due to the fact that the clause is a rather literal rendering of the Hebrew of Ps. 91.11, which is perfectly idiomatic in Hebrew.

entellomai ‘to command,’ ‘to give orders.’

tou diaphulaxai se ‘in order to guard you,’ independent articular infinitive with final force.

diaphulassō ‘to guard,’ in the Septuagint especially of God’s care for man. Here the reference is rather to protection from danger.

(V. 11) kai hoti ‘and’ connects the second part of the quotation with the first, probably because the phrase ‘on all your ways’ is omitted in the quotation.

epi cheirōn arousin se ‘on their hands they will bear you up.’ Subject is hoi aggeloi ‘the angels’ understood from v. 10.

airō ‘to lift up,’ ‘to bear up,’ ‘to carry along’ as a continuation of bearing up. Different from Ps. 91.11f, the picture is here that of the angels lifting up somebody who throws himself down.

mēpote proskopsēs pros lithon ton poda sou ‘lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ This clause also applies only indirectly to the present situation, see above.

mēpote ‘lest,’ emphatic form of mē here in the sense of ‘in order to prevent that.’

proskoptō ‘to strike.’

Translation:

Give his angels charge of you, to guard you. Some renderings are more analytic, e.g. ‘say to/command his angels, “Guard him/this man” ,’ others more synthetic, e.g. ‘cause-to-take-care-with-reference-to his angels you,’ i.e. cause his angels to take care of you (Pohnpeian). For to guard, or, “to keep from harm” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). — You here refers to man in general (as is clearly intended in the Psalm word quoted), not to the Messiah (as assumed in some versions). The repetition of this pronoun, is a literalism which should not be imitated at the cost of receptor language idiom.

(V. 11) The metaphorical meaning of the expressions used may have to be marked, e.g. by adding ‘as it were,’ ‘it will be as if.’

You strike your foot against a stone, or, ‘stumble-over a stone’ (Balinese); elsewhere ‘the/your foot’ has to become the subject of the clause.

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 4:11

4:11a

In Greek, there is a word at the beginning of this verse part that introduces a quotation. The devil started quoting from Psalm 91 in 4:10b, and this word shows that he broke off his quotation and resumed it here after leaving out some words. Specifically, the devil left out the phrase “to guard you in all your ways” from Psalm 91:11 and continued the quotation with Psalm 91:12.

The words that the devil left out would have shown that the purpose of angels’ protection is to help people keep obeying God. That would have defeated his efforts to tempt Jesus. Several English translations, such as the English Standard Version and NET Bible, use quotation marks to show that the quotation from Psalm 91 breaks at the end of 4:10b and resumes in 4:11a. You may wish to indicate this in a way that is natural in your language.

they will lift You up in their hands: The clause they will lift You up in their hands means “the angels will carry/support you.”

The devil was quoting Psalm 91:12. In that verse, angels lift up someone so that he will not stumble on the stones as he walks. Here the devil applied this verse to mean that the angels would catch Jesus if he jumped. Since the devil was quoting from Psalm 91:12, you should use a verb from your language that fits the context of the psalm. Use a verb that means carry or support. Do not use a verb such as “catch.” For example:

They will support you in their arms (Revised English Bible)
-or-
They will carry you in their arms (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
with their hands they will lift you up (NET Bible)

in their hands: In some languages, the phrase in their hands is implied by the verb used to translate “lift You up.” If that is true in your language, you do not need to translate it explicitly.

4:11b

so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone: The phrase strike Your foot against a stone means “hit your foot on a stone” or “stumble over a stone.” Psalm 91:12 describes someone who is walking along a path. As he walks, God’s angels protect him from stumbling on a rock, falling down, and hurting himself.

Satan quoted this verse and applied it to Jesus. He meant that if Jesus jumped from the top of the temple, he would not be hurt on the rocks/stones below. So here a literal translation of the phrase strike Your foot against a stone may be better than translating it as “stumble.”

Some other ways to translate this are:

so that you never hit your foot against a rock (God’s Word)
-or-
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone (New Living Translation (2004))

so that…not: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as so that…not links two actions. One action prevents the other action from happening. The purpose for which the angels carried someone (4:11a) was to prevent that person from being harmed (4:11b).

In this context, the devil quoted the psalm to say that angels would protect Jesus. They would protect him so that he would not be harmed if he jumped from the temple.

Some other ways to translate this are:

in order that you not injure your foot
-or-

to prevent your foot from striking

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