bed

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “bed” in English is translated in Noongar as maya-ngwoorndiny or “bark sleeping” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

See also mat, bed.

complete verse (Luke 17:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 17:34:

  • Noongar: “I tell you, that night, two people will be asleep in one bed; one person will be taken and the other person will remain.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “‘Truly I say to you: On the day of my return, two people who sleep together at night, one will be taken, the other will be left behind.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I tell you, when I come back here, there will be two lying together at night, one will be taken and the other left behind.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And at that time, if my return takes place at night and there are two people sleeping together, one will be able to go along with me and the other will be left behind.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “I tell you that if it is night when I come and there are two sleeping-together in one bed, one will be taken and one will be left.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “What I will say to you really is true that at my returning here, people will be divided up. If night is when I come, maybe there will be two persons sleeping together but if they are not the same in being my people, one will be left, only one taken.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

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 17:34

Exegesis:

legō humin ‘I tell you,’ cf. on 3.8.

tautē tē nukti ‘on that night.’ The shift from ‘that day’ in v. 31 to ‘that night’ here is due to the situation that is envisaged here and does not imply that the coming of the Son of man will take place during the night, cf. Plummer.

esontai duo epi klinēs mias ‘there will be two people in one bed,’ probably to be understood as two men, cf. ho heis and ho heteros. For klinē cf. on 8.16.

ho heis paralēmphthēsetai ‘one will be taken,’ probably to be understood as ‘taken along,’ i.e. by the angels who gather the elect.

ho heteros aphethēsetai ‘the other will be left (behind).’

Translation:

In that night, i.e. at that time, in the night. To avoid the implication rejected in Exegesis it may be wise to say something like, ‘then, or, at that time, there will be two men in one bed at night.’

There will be two men in one bed, or, ‘there will be two men lying/sleeping in one (or, in the same) bed’; or where this would have undesirable associations, ‘two men will both be lying/sleeping.’

One will be taken and the other left. Where no passive form can be used one may have to say, ‘the angels will take one (of them) and will leave behind the other,’ or, ‘God will choose one (of them), reject the other.’

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.