καὶ καταγαγόντες τὰ πλοῖα ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἀφέντες πάντα ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ.
11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1970).
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.
For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
“Fisherman spent their time finding fish to feed their family and sold what was left. It is not common for fishermen to be interested in or qualified for a study of the dharma but Jesus called them anyway.”
Drawing by Sawai Chinnawong who employs northern and central Thailand’s popular distinctive artistic style originally used to depict Buddhist moral principles and other religious themes; explanation by Paul DeNeui. From That Man Who Came to Save Us by Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. DeNeui, William Carey Library, 2010.
For more images by Sawai Chinnawong in TIPs see here.
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:
“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
See also ships of Tarshish, harbor, anchor, and sailor.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 5:11:
Exegesis:
katagagontes ta ploia epi tēn gēn ‘when they had brought the boats to land.’ The shift from the singular in vv. 8-10 to the plural here is remarkable and shows that v. 10 is understood by at least some of Simon’s partners to refer to them also. katagō.
aphentes panta ‘after they had left everything,’ with the implication of giving up, cf. 18.28. For aphiēmi cf. on 4.39.
ēkolouthēsan autō ‘they followed him,’ i.e. they joined Jesus and became his disciples and followers.
akoloutheō ‘to come after,’ ‘to accompany,’ ‘to follow’ as a disciple.
Translation:
When they had brought their boats to land, the opposite process of “to put out into the deep” (v. 4); some renderings used are, ‘after the boats had been brought-to-the-side’ (Balinese), ‘they having tied their boats at shore’ (Ekari), ‘when they had moved their boats beside/near the land’ (Pohnpeian). — They, or better to bring out the plural, ‘Simon and those with him’ (cf. v. 9).
They left everything, or, ‘they abandoned/renounced all they had,’ ‘they turned their back on all their possessions.’
Followed him. To express the inceptive-durative aspect a shift to ‘they became his followers’ may be useful. For the meaning intended here an idiomatic phrase may exist in the language, such as, ‘followed in his footprints,’ used metaphorically of being a disciple (Santali). In some languages ‘to follow’ has the connotation of ‘to do as told,’ ‘to obey.’ This may be an advantage here, but, when this connotation has become dominant the clause will only mean that they obeyed Jesus’ command (e.g. his words in 10b), not that they accompanied him. Then some such expression as ‘went with him,’ ‘walked behind him’ (Sranan Tongo) is preferable.
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.
5:11a
And: This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that is often translated as “and.” Some English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible and the English Standard Version, translate it that way. This verse concludes this event and tells what the fishermen did as a result of what happened. Some other ways to translate this word are:
Then (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
So (New International Version)
Some versions do not translate this word. Connect this verse with the previous verses in a way that is natural in your language.
they: Jesus had been talking specifically to Simon in the previous verse. However, the pronoun here is plural. It may refer to all the fishermen who were with Simon, to some of them, or specifically to Simon, James, and John. So it is recommended that you leave this general if possible. Some ways to do this are:
• Use a plural pronoun. For example:
they
• Use a phrase. For example:
Simon and his companions
had brought their boats ashore: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as had brought their boats ashore is literally “brought the boats on the land.” The fishermen pushed or pulled their boats up on dry land where it would be safe to leave them.
5:11b
left everything: The phrase left everything means “abandoned everything.” The word everything here probably refers to their fishing equipment. The fishermen left their boats. They left the fishing business. They even left the fish they had just caught.
They might have given or sold their equipment to other fisherman or just left it sitting on the shore. These details are not in focus in the story.
followed Him: The phrase followed Him here means “became Jesus’ disciples/ followers.” The fishermen decided to go with Jesus wherever he went in order to learn from him.
Another way to translate this is:
went with Jesus as his disciples/followers
-or-
became Jesus’ disciples/followers
General Comment on 5:11a–b
There are three verbs in 5:11a–b (“brought the boats,” “left everything,” and “followed him”). In the Greek text, the main verb is “followed.” Express the actions in a natural way in your language.
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