truly truly - I tell you

The Greek that is often translated in English as “truly, truly, I tell you” or similar is translated in the Russian BTI translation (publ. 2015) as Поверьте Мне (Pover’te Mne) or “trust me.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Amen.

complete verse (John 13:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 13:20:

  • Uma: “These my words are very true: whoever receives my messenger, it is like he receives me myself. So also, whoever receives me, it is like he receives my Father himself, because He is the one who sent me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Truly I tell you,’ said Isa, ‘that whoever honors the people I am sending/people in my command, it is as if they are honoring me. And whoever honors me, it is as if he is honoring the one who sent me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It is very true what I am saying to you that if there is a person who receives the one whom I sent, he receives me also. And the one who receives me, he receives also my Father who sent me.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “This that I tell you is true. Whoever receives the one I send, he receives me and likewise also the one who sent me.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “This which I am saying to you really is the truth. That one who receives the one whom I send, I am the one he is receiving. And that one who receives me, he is also receiving the one who sent me.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Truly I tell you that he who gives a welcome to one whom I send, it is like as if he gave me a welcome. He who gives me a welcome, it is like as if he gave a welcome to the one who sent me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

the last supper (image)

Click here to see the image in higher resolution.

Willy Wiedmann, the artist, commented on this picture: “In spite of some difficulty, and unlike Leonardo da Vinci [see here ] I did not set my last supper in a theatrical scene with Jesus in the center behind an elongated table with all the disciples, with two at each end so that that there are 11 seated behind the table. And not like the panel by Juan de Juanes (1623-79) [see here ] in which the six disciples left and right are very dynamic figures. And also not like Martin Schongauer’s Last Supper [see here ] with a slightly shorter table (also incidentally very similar to Juanes in the attitudes of the figures) and two figures seen from the back in the foreground of the panel. Instead I have given the Master the middle place to the foreground, with his back to us to finally leave the controversial Jesus-existential questions unanswered. Slightly symbolically it means that he is leaving his world. The iris color is meant to transfer the rainbow to Jesus, that God once linked to Noah (my kingdom is not of this world). I attempted to present answers that correspond to the characters of each individual.”

Image and text taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .

For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

 

Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China.

Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English:

Beginning of the Holy Communion
You have this as food and this is my body.

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

the last supper (icon)

Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of the last supper by Ulyana Tomkevych.

 

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on John 13:20

I am telling you the truth is the same expression used in verse 16. (On the meaning of this expression, see 1.51.)

This verse, like many other passages in the Gospel of John, affirms the unity of Jesus with God the Father. At the same time, it affirms the unity of Jesus and his disciples, so that whoever accepts his followers accepts him and so accepts God. In this context receives may be understood in the sense of “to welcome.” In some languages one may even say “welcomes into his heart.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .