complete verse (Luke 14:31)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 14:31:

  • Noongar: “‘A king has 10,000 men. If this king goes out fighting, but the other king comes, and that king has 20,000 men, he will sit first and think whether he has enough strength to fight that other king.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘So also, if a king with ten thousand soldiers fights with a king who has twenty thousand soldiers, he must think first, whether he is able to oppose him or not.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Or if there is for example a king who is going to fight with another king, he sits down first and thinks if in his estimation he and his ten thousand adherents/disciples can challenge the king with twenty thousand adherents.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said, ‘It’s the same way with a certain king. For a king who wants to fight against another king, he must first decide whether his ten thousand soldiers can defeat the twenty thousand soldiers who are coming, sent by another king who is his enemy.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Another illustration/comparison of it, if there is a king who has ten thousand soldiers and he goes to war-with a king with twenty thousand soldiers, he will emphatically think first if he is able to defeat his opponent-in-war.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For it’s also like a king who wants to go-and-attack another king. Isn’t it so that he will first study well whether, with his ten thousand soldiers, he is able to come against the twenty thousand men of that one he wants to attack?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

Translation commentary on Luke 14:31

Exegesis:

ē tis basileus … ‘or what king?,’ another rhetoric question.

poreuomenos heterō basilei sumbalein eis polemon ‘going/setting out to wage war on another king.’ poreuomenos does not mean that he is already marching but intends do so. polemos also 21.9.

sumballō (cf. on 2.19) here intransitive ‘to meet,’ ‘to fall in with,’ for the purpose of war (eis polemon), i.e. ‘to wage war on.’

ouchi kathisas prōton bouleusetai ‘will not first sit down and consider,’ cf. on v. 28.

bouleuomai ‘to consider.’

ei dunatos estin ‘whether he is able,’ with infinitive (hupantēsai).

en deka chiliasin ‘with ten thousand (men).’

hupantēsai tō meta eikosi chiliadōn erchomenō ep’ auton ‘to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand (men),’ implying that ‘the other king’ is really the one who starts the war. For hupantaō cf. on 8.27. In ep’ auton the preposition epi is used in a hostile sense.

Translation:

Adjustments in v. 31, where required, will usually parallel those in v. 28.

Or does not introduce an alternative but a parallel example; hence e.g. ‘but listen again’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘so again’ (Javanese).

To go to encounter … in war, i.e. ‘to go/intend to fight against…,’ ‘to go war against…’ (Trukese), ‘to go meet to fight with…’ (Sranan Tongo). Some renderings are built on ‘enemy/adversary,’ e.g. in Toraja-Sa’dan, using a reciprocal verbal form.

Another king, i.e. distinct but of the same category; hence ‘a fellow king/chief’ (Javanese, one West Nyanja version), ‘one-who-is-chief-like-him’ (Tae’).

To take counsel, with oneself, hence, ‘to consider,’ ‘to think’ (Trukese, Pohnpeian), ‘to ask himself’ (Shona).

He is able with ten thousand to meet, or, ‘he is strong enough to meet with ten thousand (men),’ ‘he who has (or, he although he has) only 10,000 (men) is able to meet’; or changing the subject, ‘his 10,000 soldiers will be-able-to war against’ (Pohnpeian). Ten thousand may have to be rendered analytically, e.g. ‘100 companies,’ or generically, ‘very many soldiers,’ ‘large army,’ which will probably entail the use of ‘twice as many,’ ‘twice as large an army,’ or, ‘two such (large) armies’ in the subsequent clause. To meet here is virtually synonymous with ‘to encounter in war.’

To come against, or, ‘to come to fight,’ ‘to attack.’

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.