cover us

The Greek that is translated as “they will begin to say … to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” in English is translated into Pwo Eastern Karen as “they will beg … the cliffs, ‘Please cover us with landslide.'” (Just one verb in Pwo Eastern Karen to say “cover with landslide.”)

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Luke 23:30)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the mountains and the hills).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Luke 23:30)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 23:30:

  • Noongar: “These days, people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “At that time, people will speak to the hills like this: ‘Fall on us, hills! Cover us, stones!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And the people will curse themselves/wish bad for themselves they will say, ‘Why doesn’t this mountain cover me. Why doesn’t this hill cover me up.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because at that time, the people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall down on us.’ And they will say also to the hill, ‘Cover us up.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because at that time, people will plead that the mountains will landslide in order to bury/cover them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because on that day, people will be ordering the mountains and hills, saying, ‘Go ahead, cave-in/landslide on us now so that we will be covered over!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 23:30

Exegesis:

tote arxontai legein ‘then they will begin to say,’ cf. on 4.21. arxontai has here no meaning of its own and may go untranslated.

tois oresin … kai tois bounois ‘to the mountains … and to the hills,’ often occurring together as in 3.5, here, however, also personified. This personification is poetic and not mythical.

pesete eph’ hēmas … kalupsate hēmas ‘fall on us … cover us up,’ expressing either a request for protection, or the wish to be killed in order to miss the imminent terror. The latter is preferable, cf. Plummer. kaluptō, cf. on 8.16.

Translation:

If addressing mountains and hills as though they were persons is unacceptable in the receptor language, even in poetical passages, one may have to shift to something like, ‘then they will begin to say, “We should be better as dead as people are when mountains have fallen upon them and hills are covering them” .’

For mountains and hills see on 3.5.

Fall on. A literal rendering may not fit this context; hence e.g. ‘collapse-on’ (Javanese), ‘crash-down hitting’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC), ‘lie-down-on-top-of’ (Tae’), ‘press-down-upon’ (Toraja-Sa’dan); or shifting from the process to its result, ‘put an end to’ (Tzeltal).

Cover, here in the sense of, ‘pile up over,’ ‘form a heap over,’ ‘bury.’

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.