complete verse (Luke 14:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 14:28:

  • Noongar: “If one of you plans to build a very big, tall house, first he will sit and think how much money he will need, and see if he has enough money for building the house.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘If someone wants to build a big house, he sits down first to count-up the cost of building, whether his money will be sufficient or not.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If any of you (pl.) want to erect a big house, you (pl.) first sit down figuring/calculating as to how much your (pl.) expenses will be so that you (pl.) will know if you (pl.) will be able to meet the expenses until it is finished or not.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For example, if there’s one of you who’s building a very high house, there at the time before he begins, he calculates the money that he will have to spend so that he might know whether he can afford to set up that house or not.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘It is necessary then that you think first about the difficulty of becoming my disciple. For-example, if one of you builds a large house, he first calculates its value whether his money will suffice for what he will spend until it is completed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For supposing there is one of you who is planning to build a big house, isn’t it so that he will first count what it will cost him, whether the money he has put away is just right to be able to complete it?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Noongar: “‘This I will do’, he said to himself, ‘I will break down my grain houses and make bigger houses for keeping everything, my grain and all my other things.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)

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 Luke 14:28

Exegesis:

tis gar ex humōn ‘for who of you…?’ gar connects what follows with the preceding statements. This connexion is that the very requirements for discipleship make a conscious decision necessary. tis introduces a rhetoric question, the obvious answer being: no one.

thelōn purgon oikodomēsai ‘planning to build a tower.’ thelō implies here purpose. purgos may refer to a tower of a vineyard (cf. Grundmann).

ouchi prōton kathisas psēphizei tēn dapanēn ‘does not first sit down and calculate the cost.’ For ouchi cf. on 4.22; for prōton cf. on 6.42. kathisas goes with psēphizei and suggests serious and prolonged consideration.

psēphizō ‘to count,’ ‘to calculate.’

dapanē ‘cost,’ ‘expenses.’

ei echei eis apartismon ‘(to see) if he has (enough) for completion (of the building).’

apartismos ‘completion.’ eis apartismon is virtually equivalent to final apartizein ‘to complete.’

Translation:

For shifts to a suppositional or conditional clause, or to second person forms, cf. on 11.5.

Tower. The reference is to something relatively big; other semantic components of the term e.g. that a tower is high, or serves as a look-out, are not specially relevant in this context. Therefore a generic rendering, such as ‘big building,’ may be preferable in cases where the rendering used in 13.4 does not fit.

Count the cost (i.e. the building cost), or, ‘calculate what it will cost,’ ‘considers what he must pay’ (Sranan Tongo).

To connect the clause whether he … complete it with what precedes one may have to insert, ‘asking himself,’ ‘in order to know’ (Kituba), ‘to see’ (Thai 1967, similarly Lomwe, one West Nyanja version). Whether may have to be rendered by a positive-negative expression, ‘whether or not’ (Shona, similarly Pohnpeian). In some cases a shift to a direct question will be preferable.

He has enough to complete it, or, ‘he has what is needed to finish it,’ ‘he has that which will finish building it’ (Zarma), ‘he is with all the money that-will-be-required’ (one West Nyanja version).

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.