The Greek that is translated as “sinner” in English is translated as “people with bad hearts” (“it is not enough to call them ‘people who do bad things,’ for though actions do reflect the heart, yet it is the hearts with which God is primarily concerned — see Matt. 15:19”) in Western Kanjobal, “people who are doing wrong things in their hearts” in San Blas Kuna (source: Nida 1952, p. 148), “people with bad stomachs” in Q’anjob’al (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ), “those others who don’t fully obey our laws” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), or “people with dirty hearts” or “people who are called ‘bad'” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004).
In Central Mazahua and Teutila Cuicatec it is translated as “(person who) owes sin.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 13:2:
Noongar: “Jesus asked them, ‘What do you say? Those Galileean people, Herod killed them there. You say this happened because they were sinning much more than other Galileeans, do you? You think that, do you?” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “Answering that word/speech, Yesus said: ‘Do you really think thus, that the deaths of those Galilea people were like that, because their sins were greater than all the other Galilea people?” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa answered them, he said, ‘Do you think-mistakenly that those people had more/greater sins than all the people in Jalil because that happened to them?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said to them, ‘Perhaps you are thinking mistakenly that those Galilee people are greater sinners than their other companions from Galilee, and because of this, God permitted that they be killed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus said, ‘You probably think that the manner-of-death of those from-Galilea-folks shows that their sin was heavier than (that of) all their companions from-Galilea.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When Jesus heard, he said to them, ‘Probably in your mind is that those taga Galilea were more sinful than their fellow countrymen, that’s why like that happened to them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
kai apokritheis eipen autois ‘and answering he said to them.’ apokritheis implies that the story about the killing had intimated some question or statement about the sinfulness of the people who had been killed.
dokeite hoti hoi Galilaioi houtoi hamartōloi para pantas tous Galilaious egenonto ‘do you think that these Galileans were sinners, more than all (other) Galileans,’ i.e. greater sinners than all other Galileans. For dokeō cf. on 8.18. For hamartōlos cf. on 5.8. For para with accusative meaning ‘beyond,’ ‘more than.’ egenonto is equivalent to the (non-existing) aorist of eimi.
hoti tauta peponthasin ‘because they suffered these things.’ tauta is pronominal accusative of content. The perfect tense refers to an event which was irrevocable.
Translation:
Do you think, see 12.51.
Were worse sinners than …, or, ‘were more sinful than…,’ ‘sinned more (gravely) than….’
Because they suffered thus gives the reason of what Jesus understands the people to be thinking. To bring this out it is sometimes sufficient to place the phrase nearer to ‘do you think’ (cf. An American Translation, The Four Gospels – a New Translation), but often further adjustment is required, e.g. ‘is it because these men suffered thus that you think they are worse…,’ ‘do you think: that these men suffered thus (or, what these men suffered) proves that (or, is because) they are worse….’ The verb to suffer here means, ‘to experience (or, to be subjected to) something bad,’ ‘have something bad happen to one,’ hence, “because this happened to them” (An American Translation); the thing suffered was death, cf. “because these G. were killed” (Good News Translation), ‘their death’ (Tae’ 1933).
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.
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