καὶ πεσοῦνται στόματι μαχαίρης καὶ αἰχμαλωτισθήσονται εἰς τὰ ἔθνη πάντα, καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἔσται πατουμένη ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν, ἄχρι οὗ πληρωθῶσιν καιροὶ ἐθνῶν.
24they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the times of the nations are fulfilled.
the Hebrew and Greek that is translated with “sword” in English is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “machete that is sharp on two sides,” in Lalana Chinantec as “machete” and in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “knife.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
See also two-edged sword.
The Greek that is translated as “all the gentiles” or “all nations” in English is translated as “all people” in Tzeltal, as “all mankind” in Highland Totonac, or “the peoples who are everywhere” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Greek that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
See also nations.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 21:24:
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
“Jerusalem” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Exegesis:
pesountai stomati machairēs ‘they will fall by the edge of the sword.’ The subject of pesountai is best interpreted as the members of the Jewish people.
piptō ‘to fall,’ here, ‘to be slain,’ ‘to be killed.’
stoma lit. ‘mouth,’ here, ‘point,’ or, ‘edge.’
aichmalōtisthēsontai eis ta ethnē panta ‘they will be scattered as prisoners over all the peoples,’ ethnē may refer here to ‘nations’ or ‘peoples’ in a neutral sense, or, like in hupo ethnōn in the same verse, to ‘gentile people’ or ‘Gentiles.’ The former appears to be preferable.
aichmalōtizō ‘to take captive,’ here in the passive with eis ta ethnē panta to denote the scattering of the captives over the earth.
Ierousalēm estai patoumenē hupo ethnōn ‘Jerusalem will be trampled over by Gentiles,’ not denoting an event but a situation in the future. For the periphrasis of the future cf. on v. 17. For pateō cf. on 10.19.
achri hou plērōthōsin kairoi ethnōn ‘till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’
achri hou ‘till the time when,’ with chronou understood.
kairoi ethnōn ‘the times of the Gentiles,’ probably referring to the time in which the Gentiles exercise judgment, though the exact meaning of the phrase is very uncertain, cf. commentaries.
Translation:
Fall by the edge of the sword, or, ‘fall, being cut down by the sword’ (Ekari), or, ‘sharp choppers will cut them down (lit. cut-and-kill them)’ (Sranan Tongo); or simply, “be killed by the sword” (Good News Translation, similarly Tae’), ‘the enemy will kill them with the sword,’ ‘perish in war.’ Some idiomatic phrases used are, ‘die eaten by the sword’ (Malay), ‘be passed along the thread of the sword’ (Bible de Jérusalem). Sword, cf. below on 22.36.
And introduces an alternative future event here; hence ‘or’ may be preferable.
Be led captive among all nations, or, “carried off as prisoners among all nations” (An American Translation), ‘be taken captive and led away among all nations’; if an active construction is required, ‘the enemy’ is best taken as agent. Among all nations, or more explicitly locative, ‘everywhere among the nations,’ “into all countries” (New English Bible), ‘all over the earth.’ For captive see on 4.18.
Trodden down, or non-figuratively, ‘utterly destroyed’ (cf. Bahasa Indonesia RC).
Gentiles, see on 2.32.
Until, or, ‘(and this will go on) up to the moment that,’ ‘and this will not end before.’
Times of the Gentiles. If the connexion between the two nouns must be specified, one may say, ‘the period the Gentiles (or, they) (still) have power,’ ‘the time it is in the hands of people-from-other-places’ (Tzeltal), ‘time-of those governments-of men Gentile’ (Trukese).
Are fulfilled, or, ‘have run their full course,’ ‘has come to an end’ (cf. Balinese), ‘is complete’ (Bahasa Indonesia).
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.
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