In Greek and in European languages such as Dutch and English the third person pronoun does not present much difficulty. In Balinese the situation becomes more complicated, for one has at least four pronouns for the third person: two to indicate important and very important persons {dané and ida), one to speak of a person of lower standing but in a familiar manner, and one to speak of such a person in a polite manner (ia and ipun). Dané, the pronoun of the slightly less important person of the third caste, is also in use for people of lower caste who through their official position, age, or ability have a right to be respected or with whom one is trying to ingratiate oneself. (…)
These differences in the third person pronouns sometimes make it difficult to translate the plural “they.” [So the Greek what is translated as] “When they were come down from the hill” [in English] must be translated: “When He (ida) came down, followed by His disciples.”
Balinese uses four different third-person pronouns: two to indicate important and very important persons (dane and ida), one to speak of a person of lower standing but in a familiar manner, and one to speak of such a person in a polite manner (ia and ipun). In the case of the Greek in Luke 9:37 that is translated into English as “they had come down,” the Balinese translators translated rikala Ida sareng sisian Idane sane tetiga punika tedun saking gununge punika, akeh anake pada rauh nangkilin Ida: “when He (Ida) came down, followed by his three disciples” because Jesus could not be mentioned with the same pronoun as the disciples.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 9:37:
Noongar: “Next day, Jesus and the three disciples went down the mountain and many people came to Jesus.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “The next day they descended from the top of the mountain, and many people met Yesus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The next day when they had come down from the mountain, great crowds of people came to meet Isa.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “On the next day, they went down the mountain and there were very many people who came to meet Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “On the next day, plural Jesus descended the mountain, and many people met him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Next morning, Jesus and company went down (the mountain). They were met by very many people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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®).
katelthontōn autōn ‘when they had come down,’ genitive absolute, serving as a complementary indication of time after tē hexēs hēmera. For katerchomai cf. on 4.31.
apo tou orous ‘from the mountain,’ cf. v. 28.
sunēntēsen autō ochlos polus ‘a great crowd met him,’ i.e. came to meet him. sunantaō also 22.10.
Translation:
On the next day, or, ‘on its to-morrow’ (Bahasa Indonesia). An expression for ‘dawn’ is sometimes idiomatically used to indicate ‘the next morning, or, day,’ cf. e.g. ‘(when) the sun (is) big’ (Tae’), ‘when day(light) broke’ (Sranan Tongo).
They had come down. The pronoun may have to be specified, ‘Jesus and those (or, the/his three) disciples.’ In a language like Balinese on must say, ‘when He descended (honorific) … accompanied by the disciples.’
For met him see on 8.27.
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.
Earlier Jesus had given power to his twelve apostles to cast out demons (9:1). However, after Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, and John, he heard that the other disciples had not been able to make an evil spirit leave a man’s son. When the boy approached Jesus, the unclean spirit caused the boy to convulse violently. Then Jesus cast out the unclean spirit, and the people were filled with awe.
Some other examples of headings for this section are:
The Healing of a Boy with an Evil Spirit (New International Version) -or-
Jesus Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit (Good News Translation)
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 17:14–21 and Mark 9:14–29.
Paragraph 9:37–40
9:37a
In Greek, 9:37 starts with the phrase “And it happened that.” While versions such as the New Jerusalem Bible include this phrase, most English versions omit it. Luke used this phrase to introduce a new event that took place the day after the events in the previous section.
The next day, when they came down from the mountain: Apparently Jesus and the three disciples spent the night on the mountain. In the morning, they went down. Since a new section begins here, consider whether it is natural in your language to make explicit to whom the word they refers. For example:
The next day Jesus and his three disciples came down from the mountain (Contemporary English Version)
In the next clause (9:37b), the focus is on Jesus, not on the three disciples. In some languages it may be more natural to keep Jesus as the subject of 9:37a. For example:
On the following day, Jesus descended the mountain along with his three disciples.
9:37b
Jesus was met by a large crowd: In order to introduce the action in the following verses, Luke describes here how many people came to meet Jesus at the bottom of the mountain. While the Berean Standard Bible translates this as a passive clause, in Greek it is active, literally “a large crowd met him.” The other English versions translate this as an active clause, and it may be natural for you to translate it that way in your language.
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