complete verse (Luke 19:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 19:13:

  • Noongar: “Before going, he called his ten servants and gave every person one gold coin. He said to them, ‘See what you can do with this money while I am away’.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “So, before he left, he called ten servants and gave them each one gold money/coin. That nobleman said: ‘Trade/merchant with that money that I gave you while I am gone.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When he was soon going to leave, he called first ten of his servants and each one of them was given a dublun (gold coin). He said to them, ‘Trade with this until I arrive.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when he was about to leave, going to the other kingdom, he called ten of his servants and gave each of them money. The money that he gave to each one of them was just the same. And he said to them, ‘Now, as for this money that I’m having you keep — you are the ones who know how to increase it until the time when I return here,’ he said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Before he went, he called ten of his servants and gave them one-gold money -each saying, ‘Invest (lit. cause-to-become-many) that money until I return.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Before he left, he assembled ten of his slaves. He gave each of them the sum of one hundred in their money, and said to them, ‘Use-this -to-make-income till I come.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 19:13

Exegesis:

kalesas de deka doulous heautou lit. ‘after calling ten slaves of his,’ i.e. ‘ten of his slaves.’

edōken autois deka mnas ‘he gave them ten minas,’ i.e. one each.

mna ‘mina,’ a Greek monetary unit of about eighteen to twenty dollars.

pragmateusasthe en hō erchomai ‘do business until I come back.’

pragmateuomai ‘to conduct business,’ ‘to trade.’

en hō lit. ‘during (the time) which,’ ‘while,’ here equivalent to heōs ‘until.’

Translation:

Calling…, he gave, or, “he summoned … and gave” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). To call is used here in the sense of, ‘to order to appear before one.’

He gave them ten pounds, preferably, “he … gave them a pound each” (New English Bible). Pound. One may transliterate the Greek word, or the Hebrew word it represents (maneh); or one may translate it by an expression built on the rendering of Gr. dēnarion (cf. on 10.35), e.g. ‘hundred pieces of silver.’ Some other renderings are, ‘a sum of money’ (Navajo), ‘a gold piece of money’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘silver money one catty’ (cf. Balinese).

Trade with these, i.e. use this to trade/do-business. Most languages possess a specific word for ‘to trade with,’ which in Batak Toba is a causative derivation of ‘market’; some other renderings used are, ‘to work with’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘to buy and sell’ (cf. Javanese).

Till I come (i.e. come back), or, “while I am away” (New English Bible).

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.