New Testament Greek is by Balinese standards an extremely impolite language. Consider, for example, the second person pronoun. When speaking to God, to a nobleman, to a friend, to a pupil, or to a slave, the same word is used. In Balinese this is completely different. In the above examples one would differentiate various social ranks and use terms which, more or less freely translated, mean “adored one” or “he who is borne on the head”, “feet of Your Highness”, “older (or younger) brother”, “little one”, and “you”. (…) In Balinese one has to cope with three vocabularies within the language, each of which, at a moderate estimate, includes some hundreds of words. One employs the ordinary common language (“Low Balinese”) when speaking with intimates, equals, or inferiors; polite terms must, however, be used as soon as one begins to speak to one’s superiors or to strangers; and “deferential” terms are obligatory in all cases when one is so bold as to speak of parts of the body, or the acts, possessions, and qualities of important people. The Balinese sums up the two last named vocabularies under the term alus (“fine”, or “noble”): we say “High Balinese”. (…)
Joseph and Mary are spoken of as Jesus’ parents, and here the familiar words for “father” and “mother” are appropriate. But when Jesus speaks of being “about my Father’s business” (vs. 49), thus indicating who His true Father is, He uses the High Balinese word adji “father”.
There are three different levels of speech in Burmese: common language, religious language (addressing and honoring monks, etc.), and royal language (which is not in active use anymore). Earliest Bible translations used exclusively royal and religious language (in the way Jesus is addressed by others and in the way Jesus is referred to via pronouns), which results in Jesus being divine and not human. Later editions try to make distinctions.
In the Common Language Version (publ. 2005) the human face of Jesus appears in the narrative of the angel’s message to Joseph and what Joseph did in response (Matthew 1:21-25). The angel told Joseph that Mary was going to give birth to a son, not a prince.
Likewise in Luke 2:6-7 the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is told simply using the Common language. Again in the description of the shepherds’ visit to the baby Jesus (Mark 1:21-25), in the story of Jesus’ circumcision (Luke 2:6-2:7), and in the narrative of the child Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem (Luke 2:46-51), the human face of Jesus comes to the forefront.
On the other hand, the child Jesus is clearly depicted as a royal or a divine child in the story of the wise men (Matthew 2:9-12), the story of the flight to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14), and the return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-21).
(Source: Gam Seng Shae, The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:49:
Noongar: “Jesus said to them both, ‘Why must you two come to this place, looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be here, in my father’s house?'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “He said to them: ‘Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in the house of my Father!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Why did you search for me?’ said Isa. ‘Didn’t you know that I have to be here in the house of my father?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary that I would be here in the house of my father?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘How come? Why were you looking-and-looking-for-me? You should have known that I needed to be here in my Father’s house,’ Jesus said in reply.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus replied, saying, ‘Mother, why were you looking for me? Didn’t you (pl.) know that I have to be here in this house of my Father?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
ti hoti ezēteite me ‘why is it that you were looking for me?’; ti hoti, with ellipsis of estin ‘is,’ ‘why (is it) that?,’ stronger than a simple ti, or dia ti ‘why’ (cf. Acts 5.4, 9 with Lk. 5.30; 19.23, 31, 33; 22.46), here expresses surprise because Jesus’ parents did not know where to find him.
ouk ēdeite ‘did you not know.’
oida ‘to know’; when used with an object, person or thing, synonymous with ginōskō (cf. Moulton-Milligan 439).
hoti en tois tou patros mou dei einai me ‘that it is necessary that I am in my Father’s house,’ or ‘engaged in my Father’s business.’ The context requires us to interpret ta tou patros mou (lit. ‘the (things) of my father’) as ‘my father’s house,’ for which a sufficient number of parallels may be quoted; the place of en tois tou patros mou at the beginning of the clause indicates emphasis.
dei impersonal ‘it is necessary,’ here followed by an accusative and infinitive. Here it expresses a compulsion of duty.
Translation:
How is it that you sought me, or, ‘how did you come (or, need) to look for me’ (An American Translation, Batak Toba). The point of the question is that, as Joseph and Mary should have expected Jesus to be in the temple, there was no reason for them to run about seeking him. To make this clear Tboli has, ‘why did you look in a different place for me?’— You here may have to be specified, e.g. ‘mother and father’ (Balinese, where the use of the pronoun would be unnatural and impolite from a son addressing his parents). Elsewhere the pronoun is omitted, ‘why seek me’ (Sundanese, probably for similar reasons).
I must, or, ‘I have to,’ ‘it is proper that I,’ or, ‘as to me, not I not’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), which often can also be used in cases like 4.43 and 9.22.
In my Father’s house, or, ‘at my father’s’ (Balinese, expressing the meaning of the phrase without using a term for ‘house,’ as the Greek does). When ‘house’ must be added, the rendering will usually coincide with that of “(my Father’s/thy) house” in John 2.16f, cf. also “house (of God)” in Lk. 6.4. Yet it can be argued that the expression in the present verse is more intimate. For this reason, probably, Javanese here uses the normal word for the house of a person of rank, but in Lk. 6.4, John 2.16f the more literary ‘mansion’ (also part of its rendering of “temple”). A rendering like ‘in that which is my Father’s,’ is an attempt to imitate the vagueness, which the Greek phrase has in our ears (but probably had not for Luke’s readers or hearers); usually it implies the use of an expression that is uncommon or will not easily be understood in the right sense by the hearer or reader. My Father, here referring not to a human father but to the heavenly Father. In languages that differentiate according to rank the fact that both Jesus and the persons he addresses, his parents (here), or his followers (22.29; 24.49), acknowledge this heavenly Father as their God, usually leads to the use of an honorific term. Balinese, for instance, employs the term by which a prince would refer to his royal father in a conversation with his father’s subjects. Other occurrences of Father in this meaning: 6.36; 9.26; 10.21f; 11.2, 13; 12.30; 22.42; 23.34, 46.
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.
kai emnēsthēsan tōn rēmatōn autou ‘and (indeed) they remembered his words.’
(V. 9) hupostrepsasai apo tou mnēmeiou ‘after returning from the tomb,’ i.e. to the city.
apēggeilan tauta panta tois hendeka kai pasin tois loipois ‘they reported all this to the eleven and to all the others.’ For apaggellō cf. on 7.18. tauta panta refers to what they had seen and heard. The relationship of ‘all the others’ to the eleven is not stated but presumably the phrase refers to disciples, or followers of Jesus in the wider sense.
Translation:
(V. 9) Returning, or, ‘after they had come back.’
The eleven, or, ‘the eleven disciples.’
All the rest, or, ‘all the remaining (ones)’ (Marathi), ‘all the other followers (of Jesus)’; or again, ‘all their (referring to the eleven) associates/companions’ (Javanese, Batak Toba), ‘all those with them.’
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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