back-translation of Luke 7:1-10 in Finnish Sign Language

Following is the back-translation of Luke 7:1-10 from Finnish Sign Language (FiSL). One of the ways that distinguishes FiSL is by an intense way of using a spatial component via a signing space. Click or tap here to see more.

(Note: For a video of this passage in Finnish Sign Language, see below.)

Numbers attached with glosses refer to locations in signing space.

The English text gives a rough back translation of the FiSL behind the glosses.

Luke 7:1

JESUS TELL HUMAN GROUP HEAR>5
Jesus spoke and people listen

READY JESUS GO-1>2 CAPERNAUM INDEX>6
After he had finished Jesus went to Capernaum

(break)

Luke 7:2

ONE SOLDER LEADER OWN>6 SERVANT SICK NEARLY DIE
A servant of a military leader was sick and dying

LEADER INDEX>6 SERVANT PERSON-1 RESPECT
That leader respected his servant

(break)

Luke 7:3

INDEX>6 HEAR>5 JESUS
He heard about Jesus

PERSONx>5 ASK JEW HIGH-POSITION HUMANx-6 BRING-5>1 JESUS
He asked the respected Jewish men to bring Jesus to him

SERVANT PERSON-6 SAVE
to save the servant

(break)

Luke 7:4

JEW HIGH-POSITION HUMANx-6 JESUS MEET>5
The respected Jewish men met Jesus

BEG>5 SAY>5
Begging and asking:

(break)

ASK MALE INDEX>6 NEED OWN>5 HELP
Please, that man needs your help

(break)

Luke 7:5

WE HUMAN GROUP INDEX>6 LOVE
He loves our people

ALSO WE OWN>1 JEW CONGREGATION
For our Jewish congregation
INDEX>6 ALREADY BUILD HOUSE
He has built a house [= synagogue]

(break)

Luke 7:6

JESUS WITH TOGETHER-3>6 HOUSE-6 NEAR-3>6
Jesus approached the house together with others

LEADER SEND-4>5 OWN>6 FEW FRIENDx
The leader sent some of his friends

MEET-4>5
To meet Jesus:

(break)

LEADER INDEX>6 SAY
This leader says:
LORD INDEX>5 TROUBLE CLOSE-5>1 DO-NOT>5
Lord, do not trouble to come to me

Luke 7:7 (no break)

ALSO INDEX>1 CLOSE-1>5 CANNOT
As I did not come to you

(break)

[the rest of the verse moved to the end of verse 8]

Luke 7:8

COMMAND INDEX-h3>1 INDEX>1 OBEY
I am subject to command from above

ALSO SOLDER INDEX>2 INDEX>1 COMMAND INDEX-1>2
And I command solders

INDEX-2 OBEY
And they obey

(break)

OWN-1 SOLDER INDEX-2 INDEX-1 SAY
If I say to this solder of mine:

INDEX-2 GO>2
Go!

COMPLETE LEAVE-1>2
He will leave

INDEX-5 COME-5>1
Or to another: Come!

COMPLETE COME-5>1
He will come

(break)

ALSO SERVANT PERSON-2 INDEX-1 SAY
And if I say to this servant:

DO INDEXx-2
Do this!

COMPLETE DO
He will do it.

(break)

ANDx ALSO OWN>1 SERVANT PERSON-6 INDEX-5 ORDER-5>6
So, please, order this servant of mine

HEAL
And heal him.

(break)

LEADER INDEX-6 WELCOME-6>5
The leader asked Jesus to do this to him

Luke 7:9

JESUS SURPRISE>6
Jesus was surprised

TURN-6>5 HUMAN GROUP
He turned to people

SAY
And said:

LEADER OWN>6 FAITH COMPARE SAME JEW HUMAN GROUP INDEX-1 NEVER SEE-1>d
I have never seen the same faith among Jews than this leader has

(break)

Luke 7:10

FRIEND INDEXx-2 BACK-1>2>1 HOUSE-6 NEAR>6
When the friends returned to the house of the leader

SERVANT PERSON-6 ALREADY HEAL
That servant was already healthy.

Source and further explanation in Signs for words – the possibilities for the literal
translation in Finnish Sign Language by Seppo Sipilä, 2008


Luke 7:1-10 in Finnish Sign Language (source )

formal pronoun: common people addressing Jesus

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, the crowd (or individuals within the crowd) addresses Jesus with the formal pronoun, expressing respect.

complete verse (Luke 7:7)

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

  • Noongar: “and I know, I am not good enough to come to you. Only speak, and my man will be healed.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “That is why I am not brave to go to You, Father, because I am not worthy to meet you (sing.). Even if you (sing.) just say one word, my slave will definitely be healed.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For you are really great, therefore I thought myself not worthy to come out to you. But just speak and my servant will be well.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For your rank is very great, and I’m not even worthy to come out and meet you. Your power is very great, and even if you just say, ‘May he be cured,’ my servant will be healed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Moreover he is reportedly not worthy to go appear to you (sing.). Therefore your (sing.) words reportedly would suffice to heal his servant.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And well, it isn’t possible/acceptable either that I approach you for you really surpass me. I am sure that if you just speak, this servant of mine will really get better.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 7:7

Exegesis:

dio oude emauton ēxiōsa pros se elthein ‘nor, therefore, did I consider myself worthy to come to you.’ For dio cf. on 1.35. oude is a continuation of ou in the preceding clause and goes with ēxiōsa. elthein means here implicitly ‘to come in person’ (cf. New English Bible).

axioō ‘to consider worthy.’

alla eipe logō lit. ‘but say, or, command with (only) a word,’ hence ‘say (only) a word,’ or ‘just say the word,’ or “just give the order” (Phillips). For eipe meaning ‘command.’ The clause implies that Jesus’ personal presence is not necessary to heal the slave. It is sufficient when he speaks a word from a distance.

kai iathētō ho pais mou ‘and let my slave be healed’ (imperative, third person). This imperative is the word which the centurion wants Jesus to speak and, by saying it himself, he, as it were, anticipates Jesus’ saying it. For pais cf. on 1.54; here it is synonymous with doulos (vv. 2, 10), though it sounds slightly more friendly.

Translation:

Therefore I did not, preferably, ‘therefore also I did not…,’ ‘that also caused me not to….’

Come to you, or, “approach you” (New English Bible), or very humbly, ‘show myself in your presence (lit. approach the dust on your feet)’ (Balinese).

And let my servant be healed. This difficult form may be rendered as a request, ‘and, please, heal my servant,’ or as an utterance of confidence, cf. “and my servant will be cured” (New English Bible); the former is preferable though the latter is acceptable also. Or again, making explicit the implied direct discourse, one may use something like, ‘and, please, say, “I want your servant to be well (again)” .’

Servant, see on 12.37. Sometimes differentiation from ‘slave’ in v. 2 is possible, e.g. ‘boy’ (Sranan Tongo, similarly Bahasa Indonesia KB), but often the two renderings have to coincide.

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.