complete verse (Luke 12:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:4:

  • Noongar: “‘I tell you my friends, do not fear people, those people who can kill your body, but afterwards, they can not do something worse.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘Relatives, listen well to my words: do not be afraid of people who want to kill you, because their ability ends right there.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘I tell you friends, don’t be afraid of those who can kill your body and after that can’t do anything more.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “As for you who are my friends, what I say to you is, don’t be afraid of just people because the only thing they can kill is your body, but your soul they cannot kill.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus also said to his disciples, ‘I tell you who are my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill only a person’s body, because that’s the limit of their power,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “I tell you, my dear friends, that you are not to fear your fellow man/human, for it’s only your body which they have ability/means to kill. After they have done that, there is nothing more they can do.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 12:4

Exegesis:

legō de humin tois philois mou ‘I tell you, my friends’ (cf. on 3.8), takes up emphatically pros tous mathētas autou prōton in v. 1.

mē phobēthēte apo tōn apokteinontōn to sōma ‘do not be afraid of those who kill the body.’ phobeomai apo tinos with genitive may imply the idea of turning away from the person one is afraid of. The participle tōn apokteinontōn refers to actual, not potential killing.

kai meta tauta mē echontōn perissoteron ti poiēsai ‘and after that cannot do anything more.’ meta tauta means ‘after they have actually killed the body.’

perissoteron ti ‘something more.’

Translation:

You, my friends, or, better to bring out that this is more than a mere form of address, “you who are my friends” (New English Bible).

The body may have to be possessed, ‘your body.’

And after that have no more that they can do, or, ‘but cannot afterward do (to you) anything worse (than that)’ (cf. Good News Translation, Willibrord).

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.