we played the flute for you

The Greek that is translated in English as “we played the flute for you” is translated in Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) as tidaakuimbirani ng’oma yaukwati or “we played the wedding drum for you” to match the culturally relevant meaning. (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 74)

For the same reason, in Yakan and Kankanaey the musical instrument is translated as “gongs” (source: Yakan and Kankanaey Back Translations), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “drumming” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Tagbanwa as “stringed-instruments” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also flute and flute players.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Matt. 11:17 / Luke 7:32)

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 multitudes).

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

complete verse (Luke 7:32)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 7:32:

  • Noongar: “They are like children sitting in the market. One side calls to the other, ‘We sang for a wedding but you did not dance! We sang for a funeral and you didn’t weep.'” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “They are like children to sit at the edge of the main-road, who continually call-back-and-forth with their companions, they said: ‘We encourage you to play-the-flute, You do not want to be glad together-with us (excl.). We encourage you to weep, You also do not want to cry together-with us (excl.).'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They are like children sitting in the market playing wedding and funeral. They call to their companions, they say, ‘We beat the drums/rhythm for you, but you did not dance. We wailed but you did not weep.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “because the children sit in the market-place playing, and they call to each other saying, ‘We are beating the drum for you but you will not dance, and we are wailing, but you will not join in.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They are like children playing in the plaza who will absolutely not be satisfied. They say to their companions, ‘We (excl.) were certainly playing-the-gongs, but you refused to dance. So we sang-funeral-songs, but you still refused to join in.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They’re like children sitting at their playing-place and calling to their friends they play with. They’re saying, ‘Whatever we (excl.) do, it doesn’t suit you (pl.). We play stringed-instruments for you but you don’t dance. We sing songs sung at burials but you don’t cry.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

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 7:32

Exegesis:

homoioi eisin ‘they are like….’ The repetition of homoioi at the beginning of the clause strengthens the emphasis.

paidiois tois en agora kethēmenois kai prosphōnousin allelois ‘children sitting in the market place and calling out to one another.’ The article tois serves to define paidiois as an afterthought. This appears to be a literary mannerism. For the general interpretation of the parable see commentaries. For prosphōneō cf. on 6.13.

agora ‘market place,’ ‘bazaar,’ cf. IDB III, 278.

ha legei ‘which say’ referring back to paidiois and serving to introduce the words which the children call out to one another.

ēulēsamen humin kai ouk ōrchēsasthe ‘we played the flute for you and you did not dance.’

auleō lit. ‘to play the flute,’ is often used of making music to dance.

orcheomai ‘to dance,’ a very general term.

ethrēnēsamen kai ouk eklausate ‘we sang a dirge and you did not weep.’

thrēneō (also 23.27) lit. ‘to wail,’ here probably of singing a dirge at a funeral.

klauō ‘to weep,’ here probably ‘to mourn’ at a funeral (cf. the parallel text Mt. 11.17).

Translation:

Market place, or, ‘place where people buy and/or sell’ (cf. Pohnpeian, Ekari); in one of the Western Toradja languages the term lit. means, ‘meeting-place.’ Often such renderings have the connotation required here, i.e. place where the people of the village or town come together for social activities and amusements. Where this is not the case one must use another term, e.g. ‘cross-roads’ (as would be possible in Balinese, where the principal cross-roads in a village is its social centre), ‘wide place’ (in Chuukesethe common term for the central gathering place), ‘plaza’ (Latin America).

We piped to you, or, ‘for you’; or with a syntactic shift, ‘you heard us pipe.’ To pipe, or, ‘to play the flute,’ ‘to touch/beat the flute’ (as is idiomatic in Spanish and Batak Toba), or more generically, ‘to make music’ (Pohnpeian); or again, using a cultural equivalent, ‘to drum’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, Tboli). If it is necessary to be specific as to the occasion, a wedding is probably the most obvious opposite of the funeral implied in the next sentence (cf. Good News Translation, Marathi, Kituba).

Dance. Some versions have to use the name of a rather specific dance, e.g. Javanese, East and Toraja-Sa’dan, Batak Toba; if the dance in question is danced only by grown-up persons and/or on serious occasions, one may say ‘play at dancing the … (name) dance.’

We wailed, and you did not weep, or, ‘we wailed to/for you (or, you heard us wail), but you did not weep.’ Both verbs refer here to a public, collective demonstration of grief, as usual at funerals, the former indicating the loud, and probably rather ritualized lamentations of the leaders of the ceremony, the latter to some form of response of the followers. The playful character may again have to be made explicit, as done e.g. in Tae’ by using a reduplicated form of the first verb. To wail, or, ‘to lament,’ ‘to utter cries of grief, or, of mourning,’ ‘to sing funeral songs,’ ‘to sing songs that are sung at a death’ (Tboli). To weep. The rendering may refer to the shedding of tears, cf. e.g. ‘why didn’t your tears drop’ (Tboli), but it need not do so, since terms for another way of expressing grief may be a better cultural equivalent. If two appropriate terms for ‘to wail’ and ‘to weep’ are not available, the second may be rendered by, ‘to wail/lament (etc.) together with us,’ ‘to do the same,’ ‘to join us.’

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.