serve (Igede)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “serve,” “minister,” “walk with,” or “service” is translated in Igede as myị ẹrụ or “agree with message (of the one you’re serving).” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also serve.

complete verse (Luke 22:27)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 22:27:

  • Noongar: “Who is the greatest? The person sitting eating? Or the person giving him his food? Truly, the one sitting. But I sit among you like a person working for you.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “I ask you first: who is of highest rank? The one who sits eating, or the one who serves? Certainly the person who sits. But here am I in the midst of you like a person who serves you.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Who is greater, the one sitting down and eating or the one serving him? Is it not the one sitting and eating? But I am here with you like a servant.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now for example, who is the greatest? Is it the one who sits down to eat, or is it the servant who serves him? Well certainly the one who is greatest is the one who sits down; but in spite of that, I your master, I am like a person who serves you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Who perhaps is the higher, the one who sits to eat or the one who serves him? The one who is served who eats, is it not so? But here I am serving you like a servant.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For who is more important, the one sitting at the eating-place or the waiter? Isn’t it so that it’s the one being served? But I who am your Lord am here among you like your servant.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

the last supper (image)

Click here to see the image in higher resolution.

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.

the last supper (icon)

Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of the last supper by Ulyana Tomkevych.

 

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 )

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 22:27

Exegesis:

tis gar meizōn ‘for who is greater?’ As shown by what follows the standard by which to answer this question is that of the normal situation in life, to which the situation of Jesus is contrasted.

ho anakeimenos ē ho diakonōn ‘the one who reclines at table, or the one who serves (at table)?’ For anakeimai cf. on 5.25 (katakeimai with which it is synonymous).

ouchi ‘is it not?,’ interrogative particle suggesting an answer in the affirmative.

egō de ‘but I (who am your master).’

en mesō humōn ‘in your midst,’ ‘among you.’

eimi hōs ho diakonōn ‘I am like the one who serves,’ takes up ho diakonōn in the preceding clause but leads back to the general idea of service in v. 26.

Translation:

The structure of the first sentence may have to be recast, e.g. ‘when there is (or, when you compare) one who … and one who…, which of the two is greater (than the other), or, which of them is great, which is not great?’

Who serves (first occurrence), same term as used in vv. 26 and 27b, but with the more restricted meaning it has also in 12.37c, ‘who waits upon (him) at the meal,’ ‘who serves the meal, or, the food’ (Shona 1966).

Is it not?, or in the affirmative, “surely” (New English Bible), “of course” (Good News Translation)

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.