The Greek that is translated “scripture” or “scriptures” in English is translated as “God’s word which people wrote” in Guerrero Amuzgo (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125) and “paper writings” in Copainalá Zoque (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.).
While the term “Bible,” often used as a synonym, does not appear in the Bible itself, there’s an interesting translation of that word in Dehu. Missionaries had translated “Bible” as “Container of the Word” until they realized that this was also used for “penis sheath.” (Source: Clifford 1992, p. 87)
“Only qualified, trained leaders know the dharma (truth) yet Jesus made claims that threatened the establishment. He is being chased out of the temple because his people thought him merely a carpenter. They intended to throw him down the cliff but he just passed by.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 4:21:
Noongar: “He said to them, ‘This part of Scripture truly happened this day, now as you hear the words.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “He said to them: ‘Today those words of the Holy Book were fulfilled, when you heard what I read earlier.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then he began to speak to them. He said, ‘This day the verses I have read have been fulfilled/come true while you were listening.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And He said, ‘This prophesy written in the word of God, which I read, it has now been fulfilled in your presence.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He said to them, ‘That-aforementioned which God caused-to-be-written, it has been fulfilled today right-as you were listening.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then Jesus spoke, saying to that crowd, ‘Today this has been fulfilled which was said in the writing, this which you heard me read.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff.) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
See also this chapter in the World Atlas of Language Structures on different approaches to personal pronouns.
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.
ērxato de legein pros autous ‘then he began to say to them.’
archomai ‘to begin,’ with following infinitive occurs 27 times in Luke. In some places it clearly refers to the beginning of an act, or event (e.g. 7.15; 9.12; 14.30). In others, however, the idea of beginning is almost completely absent, and archomai apparently has only the function of an auxiliary verb; or it has no specific meaning at all and may go untranslated. In a number of cases it appears to lend special emphasis to the main verb, or indicate a change in the situation. In every occurrence the context must determine in what sense it is used. Here it refers to a turning point in the situation.
hoti has the function of a semi colon.
sēmeron peplērōtai hē graphē hautē en tois ōsin humōn ‘today this scripture passage has been fulfilled in your ears.’ For peplērōtai cf. on 1.20. Here the verb indicates that what the scripture passage says has come true and is happening now. en tois ōsin humōn may be taken (1) with hē graphē hautē ‘this scripture,’ which results in ‘the scripture in your ears,’ i.e. “the Scripture which you have heard” (Torrey, cf. Knox, Russian Synodal Bible, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Menge, Bruns, Willibrord), or (2) with peplērōtai ‘is fulfilled,’ which results in ‘this scripture is fulfilled in your ears’ i.e. “this Scripture has been fulfilled while you have been listening to it” (Phillips). The latter is preferable.
graphē ‘scripture passage,’ in plural ‘the scriptures.’
Translation:
This is the first passage in the Gospel where Luke records a public speech of Jesus. The translator may have to decide here what honorifics to use in rendering the speech (cf. on 1.5). Since Jesus’ general behaviour seems not to have been markedly different from that of the teachers of the law, it may be advisable to model his use of honorifics on what a religious teacher would use when speaking on an official occasion in a public place to persons of varying position, some socially his equals, some not. This may imply his using polite forms, in contrast at with what he would use in private conversation in the circle of friends or disciples. That he just has referred to his being anointed by the Spirit does not seem to be a reason for departing from this general rule.
And he began to say, or, ‘thereupon (or, and then) he said.’
This scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, or, “this passage of scripture has come true…, as you heard it being read” (Good News Translation), ‘you have heard these words completely confirmed’ (Kele). This scripture, or, ‘this text,’ ‘this wording of scripture’ (Balinese), ‘these matters that have been written in the Holy Book’ (Kituba); and cf. on “the place where it was written” in v. 17. To be fulfilled, or, ‘to reach-its-goal’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘to come to realization’ (Kituba), ‘to come right’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘to hit the very spot’ (Shilluk, for John 17.12), ‘to happen really/truly.’
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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