Translation commentary on Luke 5:3

Exegesis:

embas de eis hen tōn ploiōn, ho ēn Simōnos ‘after stepping in one of the boats which was Simon’s’; the genitive is possessive.

embainō ‘to go in,’ ‘to step in,’ in Luke always of going into a boat.

apo tēs gēs epanagagein oligon ‘to put out a little from the shore,’ dependent upon ērōtēsen auton ‘he asked him.’ gē ‘land’ as opposed to sea.

epanagō ‘to put out to sea.’

kathisas de ‘and after sitting down,’ going with edidasken ‘he taught.’ As 4.20 shows the usual way of teaching was sitting.

ek tou ploiou edidasken ‘he taught from the boat.’ The imperfect tense is continuative, cf. “he went on teaching” (New English Bible).

Translation:

Shifting to co-ordination one may say, ‘one of them was S.’s boat (or, one of the boats belonged to S.). He got into it and asked….’

To get into a boat, or synthetically, ‘to embark,’ is variously expressed, e.g. ‘to mount a boat’ (Tae,’ same verb as used with horses), ‘to ascend a boat’ (Tboli, same verb used when one comes up into a house on stilts).

Asked him to put out …, or more analytically, ‘said to them, “Will you put out…, or, I want you to put out…” ’; elsewhere more synthetically, ‘he-let-her-be-pushed-off’ (Toraja-Sa’dan). In a language such as Balinese Jesus does not ask but ‘utters-a-wish.’

To put out … from the land. The aspect is momentaneous. Idiomatic equivalents may be viewing the event from another angle, ‘to go-to-the-middle’ (i.e. of the lake) (Balinese), or built on the instrument used, ‘to pole out (from the shore)’ (Ekari, Tae’).

He sat down and taught … from the boat, or, if the first verb requires a locative qualification, ‘he sat down in the boat and taught … from there’ (Santali). Sat down, i.e. on a beam or bench in the boat, or perhaps in its bow or stern.

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 5:3

5:3a

Jesus got into the boat: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as got is a specific verb for entering a boat. Some other ways to translate this are:

he climbed aboard the boat
-or-
he stepped into the boat
-or-
he descended into the boat

You should use a word or phrase that is appropriate in your language for entering a boat.

Simon: Luke mentioned Simon in 4:38, so he is not a new person in the story of Jesus’ life. However, it may be necessary to make it explicit that he was one of the fishermen. For example:

Simon, ⌊who was one of the fishermen⌋

Simon was also called Peter. Sometimes both names were used together, as in 5:8.

5:3b

asked him to put out a little from shore: The clause asked him to put out a little from shore means that Jesus asked Simon to come and put his boat completely into the water. Then Jesus wanted Simon to move it out into the lake a short distance from the beach. Simon could have moved the boat either by pushing it or by using the oars.

Some other ways to translate this are:

asked him to row it out a little way from the shore (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water (New Living Translation (2004))

The reason why Jesus asked Simon to do this was so that he could teach the people from the boat. The people would be able to see and hear him better. You may need to make this reason explicit in your translation. For example, you could say:

he asked him to put out a little from shore ⌊so that the crowd could hear him better⌋

Jesus did not get into the boat to flee from the people. But he may have wanted to escape from the people “pressing in on him.”

In some languages it may be natural to translate this using direct speech. For example:

Jesus told Simon, “Push the boat out a little away from the land.”

5:3c

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces what happens next in the story. For this reason, some versions, such as the New International Version and NET Bible, translate it as “then.”

sitting down, He taught the people from the boat: The text implies that Simon obeyed Jesus and pushed the boat into the water. In some languages it may be necessary to include this implied information. For example:

⌊Simon obeyed and pushed the boat away from the land.⌋ Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat.

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