complete verse (Luke 8:47)

Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 8:47:

  • Noongar: “The woman saw that Jesus knew she had touched him, so she came trembling and she fell down at the feet of Jesus. In front of all the people she told Jesus why she had touched him and how she had been healed at that moment.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Uma: “That woman knew that her doing/what she had done was not hidden. So she came shaking/shivering to kneel in front of Yesus. She confessed to the people that she was the one who touched the shirt/clothes of Yesus and that she was healed from her disease.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When the woman knew that she could not hide what she had done, she came close shaking and prostrated at Isa’s feet. And she told Isa in the hearing of the people as to why she had touched him and she also told that she was healed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then when the woman understood that Jesus knew what she had done, she came up to Jesus, shaking because she was very much afraid. She knelt down to Jesus, there in front of all the people, and she told the reason why she had taken hold of the shirt of Jesus, and she told also that immediately at that time, her disease was healed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That woman realized that she was found-out, so she approached Jesus trembling and knelt face-down in front of him. Then she told Jesus in the sight of the many-people the reason that she had touched his clothes and the instantaneous removal of her sickness.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When that woman realized that apparently what she had done wasn’t hidden from Jesus, she approached trembling and kneeled down in front of Jesus. She related in the hearing of the crowd why she had touched Jesus and how suddenly/unexpectedly the blood which was abnormal had stopped.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Luke 8:47

Exegesis:

idousa … tremousa ēlthen kai prospesousa … apēggeilen ‘seeing…, she came trembling and after falling down … she told….’ The first participle idousa denotes an event which precedes and determines all subsequent events; tremousa refers to an experience which occurs together with the event denoted by ēlthen; prospesousa describes an event which precedes that of the main verb apēggeilen.

hoti ouk elathen ‘that she had not escaped notice,’ i.e. Jesus’ notice.

lanthanō ‘to be hidden,’ ‘to escape notice.’

tremousa ēlthen ‘trembling she came (forward),’ i.e. to Jesus; hence “she approached” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). tremō.

prospesousa autō ‘after falling down before him,’ or using a finite verbal form ‘she fell down before him.’ For the idiom cf. on 5.8 and 8.41.

di’ hēn aitian hēpsato autou ‘why she had touched him.’ The aorist tense has here the force of a pluperfect. di’ hēn aitian (aitia †) lit. ‘for which reason,’ hence ‘why.’ The clause is dependent upon apēggeilen.

apēggeilen enōpion pantos tou laou ‘she told before all the people,’ i.e. so that all people could hear. For apaggellō cf. on 7.18; for enōpion on 1.15; for pas ho laos on 3.21.

kai hōs iathē parachrēma ‘and how she had been cured at once.’ hōs is rendered ‘that’ by some translations (cf. Translator’s New Testament, Nieuwe Vertaling). This is possible though less probable. This clause is also dependent upon apēggeilen. This order of one dependent clause of indirect speech before, and one after the modifying verb is a characteristic of literary Greek.

Translation:

For the “when”-clause see on v. 34.

Saw, or, ‘realized,’ ‘became aware,’ ‘perceived.’

She was not hidden, or, ‘she could not keep herself concealed,’ ‘she could not keep concealed her deed (or, what she had done)’ (cf. Balinese, Tae,’ Batak Toba); or with a further shift, “she had been found out” (Good News Translation).

Trembling, or, ‘with trembling body,’ ‘her body trembling’ (Balinese); where ‘trembling’ does not indicate fear one may add a qualifying term, e.g. ‘trembling with fear/terror,’ or shift to, ‘very much afraid.’

Falling down before him may better become an independent clause, cf. Good News Translation; for to fall down before cf. on “fell down at Jesus’ knees” in 5.8.

Declared, or, ‘told him.’

In the presence of all the people, or, ‘before the ears of all the people,’ ‘so that all the people could hear it.’ For all the people see on 3.21.

Why she had touched him, or, “her reason for touching him” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). ‘what had led/caused her to touch him.’

How she had been immediately healed, or (where necessary to avoid a rendering that would suggest an exact description), ‘that she had been … healed,’ cf. also, ‘her-being-healed at-once’ (Batak Toba), ‘about the-being-cured of her-illness at that very moment’ (Tae’). Where a shift to active form is necessary one should use ‘how/that she had … recovered (or, become well) immediately, or, as soon as she had touched Jesus,’ rather than ‘how/that Jesus had healed her….’

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.