Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 22:26:
Noongar: “But you must not behave the same way. No! The greatest person among you must become low, like the lowest person, and the boss must become the servant.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “But you, don’t be like that! Just the opposite. Whoever of you is of highest rank must behave like one whose life is very small [unimportant]. And the person who commands must behave like a servant.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But you should not be like that. The greatest among you his conduct should be as if he were the youngest. And the leader should think of himself as if he is the servant.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But as for you by contrast,’ said Jesus, ‘your activity cannot be like this. For the one who is the greatest among you, he must regard himself as the least of all. And the one who is the master should think of himself as the servant of everybody.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But that isn’t the way you should be, because the most-important among you, he must consider himself as if he is the youngest, and the leader should become like a servant.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But as for you, not like that. On the contrary the most important must consider himself as only ordinary/low-class, and the one in charge, servant of his companions.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Willy Wiedmann, the artist, commented on this picture: “In spite of some difficulty, and unlike Leonardo da Vinci [see here ] I did not set my last supper in a theatrical scene with Jesus in the center behind an elongated table with all the disciples, with two at each end so that that there are 11 seated behind the table. And not like the panel by Juan de Juanes (1623-79) [see here ] in which the six disciples left and right are very dynamic figures. And also not like Martin Schongauer’s Last Supper [see here ] with a slightly shorter table (also incidentally very similar to Juanes in the attitudes of the figures) and two figures seen from the back in the foreground of the panel. Instead I have given the Master the middle place to the foreground, with his back to us to finally leave the controversial Jesus-existential questions unanswered. Slightly symbolically it means that he is leaving his world. The iris color is meant to transfer the rainbow to Jesus, that God once linked to Noah (my kingdom is not of this world). I attempted to present answers that correspond to the characters of each individual.”
Image and text taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .
For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China.
Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English:
Beginning of the Holy Communion
You have this as food and this is my body.
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
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.
humeis de ouch houtōs ‘but you (should) not (be) like this,’ hence, ‘it should not be so with you.’ With this clause may be understood an indicative (cf. Translator’s New Testament), or an imperative, preferably the latter.
ho meizōn en humin ginesthō hōs ho neōteros ‘the greatest among you must become like the youngest.’ ho meizōn takes up meizōn in v. 24. ginesthō may be rendered ‘be,’ or, ‘become,’ preferably the latter. ho neōteros may be understood in terms of rank, or age, preferably the former. For the meaning of the comparative cf. on meizōn in v. 24.
ho hēgoumenos hōs ho diakonōn ‘the one who leads (must be) like the one who serves.’ hēgoumenos is best understood as referring to leadership in the community of believers, cf. Hebr. 13.7, 17, 24. In the same way diakonōn refers to service in the community in general though in v. 27 the role of the servant is illustrated from table service.
Translation:
Rather, or, “on the contrary” (New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem); or as an separate exclamation, “far from it” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation).
Greatest … youngest, both referring to position and honour. It may be preferable to use a pair of more directly opposite words, e.g. ‘greatest–smallest,’ ‘highest–lowest,’ ‘most in-front–most at-the-end’ (Balinese), or, if age and rank are closely associated, ‘senior–junior.’
Let … become, or, “must become” (Phillips), “must take the … role” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘must start to behave as.’
Leader … one who serves, again a pair of terms that are not each other’s exact opposite. Leader, or, ‘the one who governs’ (Bible de Jérusalem), ‘the one who orders/commands’ (Balinese). One who serves (here and in the second occurrence in v. 27 referring to service in general), cf. the verbs mentioned in the note on “servant” in 12.37, but one may also consider a rendering that is a more direct opposite of the word for “leader”, e.g. ‘one who follows/obeys’ (Batak Toba, Tae’ 1933), ‘one who is-subordinate’ (Sundanese).
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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