scribe

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The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”

Here are a number of its (back-) translations:

  • Yaka: “clerk in God’s house”
  • Amganad Ifugao: “man who wrote and taught in the synagogue”
  • Navajo: “teaching-writer” (“an attempt to emphasize their dual function”)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “book-wise person”
  • San Blas Kuna: “one who knew the Jews’ ways”
  • Loma: “educated one”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “one knowing holy paper”
  • Central Mazahua: “writer of holy words”
  • Indonesian: “expert in the Torah”
  • Pamona: “man skilled in the ordinances” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Sinhala: “bearer-of-the-law”
  • Marathi: “one-learned-in-the-Scriptures”
  • Shona (1966): “expert of the law”
  • Balinese: “expert of the books of Torah”
  • Ekari: “one knowing paper/book”
  • Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “teachers of law”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “writer”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “person who teaches the law which Moses wrote”
  • Alekano: “man who knows wisdom” (source for this and four above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Saint Lucian Creole French: titcha lwa sé Jwif-la (“teacher of the law of the Jews”) (source: David Frank in Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project, 1998)
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “one who teaches the holy writings”
  • Atatláhuca Mixtec: “teacher of the words of the law”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “teacher of the religious law”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian”
  • English translation by Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

parable

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The Greek that is usually translated as “parable” in English is translated in other languages in a number of ways:

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “tell-a-story” and “compare.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Parable” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as analogy because “the Greek word has the sense of tossing down something alongside something else. Hence an analogy.”

See also image and figures of speech.

complete verse (Luke 20:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 20:19:

  • Noongar: “The Law Men and the Chief Priests, they knew that Jesus told this parable to accuse them, so they wanted to seize Jesus now, but they feared the people.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “The religion teachers and leaders of the priests knew that they were the ones Yesus was aiming-towards with his parable earlier. That is why they wanted to arrest/catch him at that hour also. But they did not dare, because they were afraid of the people/crowd.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The teachers of the religious law and the chief priests wanted to catch Isa right away because they understood that he meant them in the parable about that vineyard. But they did not catch him because they were afraid of the crowds of people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then the teachers of the Law, and the chief priests of God, they understood that that parable was directed toward them. And they thought that they should at that time arrest Jesus but they were afraid of the many people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When the teachers of the law and the leaders of the priests heard this parable, they wanted to arrest Jesus immediately, because they knew that they were the ones Jesus was talking about. But they were afraid of the many-people,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, the explainers of law and the chiefs of the priests wanted to arrest Jesus at that time, for they understood that they were the ones he was alluding to in that illustration. But they were afraid of that crowd of people, therefore they didn’t dare.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 20:19

Exegesis:

ezētēsan ‘they tried,’ cf. 19.47, here in the aorist because v. 19 describes the immediate reaction upon Jesus’ words in v. 18 (cf. en autē tē hōra, see below).

hoi archiereis, cf. on 9.22.

epibalein ep’ auton tas cheiras ‘to lay/get their hands on him,’ cf. 9.62. Here it is used in a hostile sense.

en autē tē hōra ‘at that very time,’ hence by extension, ‘then and there.’

kai ephobēthēsan ton laon ‘and they were afraid of the people.’ kai is used here because the clause is more or less a parenthesis between what precedes and its explanation. egnōsan gar ‘for they perceived, or, understood.’

pros autous ‘with reference to them,’ cf. ibid.; emphatic.

Translation:

Tried, cf. on “sought” in 5.18.

To lay hands on, or, “to arrest” (Good News Translation), ‘to take-hold-of/seize’ (Balinese; similarly Sranan Tongo, lit. ‘stretch forth the hand and seize’), or, since they will not be agents but initiators, ‘to cause to be seized.’

They feared the people. For the position of the clause see next entry. People, cf. on 7.29.

For they perceived … This clause (c) goes with clause (a), “they tried to lay hands on”, not with (b), “they feared”. If such a sentence structure is unacceptable, (c) may have to come before (b) (as e.g. in New English Bible, Good News Translation, Thai Trukese, Tzeltal, Toraja-Sa’dan); or one may repeat part of (a) before (c) in order to help the reader to make the right connexion, e.g. ‘they tried that, or, they tried to do so, because they perceived….’

He had told this parable against them, or, ‘he had aimed this parable at them, or, at their behaviour’ (cf. Balinese, Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘he had spoken this parable touching (i.e. causing embarrassment to) them’ (Thai), ‘Jesus had exposed/unmasked them in the parable’ (Kele), ‘he had been speaking about them in telling this parable’ (Shona 1966). In Javanese, where the term for ‘parable’ also means ‘allusion,’ one can use here a related verb, ‘they-themselves were-parabled/alluded-to by these words.’

From this verse onward some versions in honorific languages (such as Bengali) no longer use honorifics with reference to the Jewish leaders, because their malevolence has now become manifest; often, however, linguistic etiquette is such that all leaders, even malevolent ones, are entitled to honorifics.

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.