The Greek that is translated as “astonished” or “amazed” or “marvel” in English is translated in Pwo Karen as “stand up very tall.” (In John 5:20, source: David Clark)
Elsewhere it is translated as “confusing the inside of the head” (Mende), “shiver in the liver” (Uduk, Laka), “to lose one’s heart” (Mískito, Tzotzil), “to shake” (Southern Bobo Madaré), “to be with mouth open” (Panao Huánuco Quechua) (source: Bratcher / Nida), “to stand with your mouth open” (Citak) (source: Stringer 2007, p. 120), “ceasing to think with the heart” (Bulu), “surprise in the heart” (Yamba) (source for this and one above: W. Reyburn in The Bible Translator 1959, p. 1ff. ), or “have one’s mouth full” (Maan (source: Don Slager).
In Mark 5:20 and elsewhere where the astonishment is a response to listening to Jesus, the translation is “listen quietly” in Central Tarahumara, “forget listening” (because they were so absorbed in what they heard that they forgot everything else) in San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, “it was considered very strange by them” in Tzeltal (source: Bratcher / Nida), “in glad amazement” (to distinguish it from other kinds of amazement) (Quetzaltepec Mixe) (source: Robert Bascom), or “breath evaporated (or “escaped”)” (Mairasi) (source: Enngavoter 2004).
In Western Dani astonishment is emphasized with direct speech. In Mark 1:22, for instance, it says: “Wi!” yinuk, pi wareegwaarak — “They were all amazed, saying ‘Oh'” (source: Lourens De Vries in The Bible Translator 1992, p. 333ff. )
In Low German it is translated as grote Oken maken or “make big eyes” (sometime followed by: un kreegn dat Stillswiegen: “and became silent”) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).
In the Kölsch translation (publ. 2017) it is translated as brummte de Lück de Kopp or “the heads of the people buzzed,” Bauklötz jestaunt, lit. “marvel toy blocks,” and vür Staune de Muhl nit mieh zojekräch or “so full of marvel that they couldn’t close their mouths again.”
In the Pfälzisch translation by Walter Sauer (publ. 2012) it is often translated as baff vor staune or “speechless because of their marvel.” (Source: Jost Zetzsche)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 4:32:
Noongar: “All the people heard Jesus. They were surprised because he spoke very powerfully.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “All the people who heard his teaching were surprised, because he spoke like a person who had authority.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They wondered when they heard his preaching for he had power when he spoke.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the people, when they heard His teaching, were very surprised because Jesus had great power to teach.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And they were amazed at the way he taught, because his words, they were like the words of someone who had authority/rule.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The people were amazed because it was clear from his words/speech that he was one who had true wisdom/understanding with which to teach.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
kai exeplēssonto epi tē didachē autou ‘and they were astonished at his teaching.’ For ekplēssomai cf. on 2.48.
didachē ‘teaching’ may refer to the act or to the content. Here it probably includes both, but with an emphasis on content, rather than on form.
hoti en exousia ēn ho logos autou ‘for his word was with authority.’ logos is best understood as “what he said” (Translator’s New Testament, New English Bible), because exousia would never apply to the act of speaking apart from what is said and apart from the person who speaks. en exousia therefore refers implicitly to Jesus himself as well.
exousia ‘authority,’ cf. on v. 6. Here it has not the concrete sense but refers to the authority which Jesus’ words command. German translations render Vollmacht, which is more than “authority” and less than “absolute power” but refers to an authority derived from and bestowed by a higher power, here by God.
Translation:
They were astonished, see on “wondered” in 1.21; 2.10. The term occurs also in 4.6 (which see), 36; 5.24; 7.8; 9.1; 10.19; 12.11 (plural, referring to persons); 19.17; 20.2, 8, 20; 22.25.
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.
They were astonished: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as They were astonished means “they were overwhelmed” or “they were astounded.” Another way to translate this is:
they were amazed (New International Version)
at His teaching: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as His teaching probably refers primarily to Jesus’ manner or style of teaching (See also the note for 4:32b). For example:
at the way he taught (Good News Translation)
The phrase His teaching may also include the content and power of what Jesus taught.
4:32b
His message had authority: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as His message had authority is literally “his word was with authority.” Jesus spoke as someone who knew that what he said was true. He spoke with confidence and certainty. Another way to translate this is:
he spoke with authority
General Comment on 4:32a–b
In some languages it may be natural to change the order of 4:32a and 4:32b. For example:
32bHis message had authority, 32athat’s why the people were amazed at his teaching. -or-
32bHe delivered his message with such authority 32athat the people were astounded.
Another possibility is to combine 32a–b and say:
When Jesus taught the people, they were astonished at the authority with which he spoke.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.