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OET (OET-LV) And on_coming_in of_him into a_certain village, met ten leprous men, who stood from_afar.
In this section Jesus and his disciples were continuing to travel to Jerusalem. As they approached a village on the way, ten men with leprosy or another serious skin disease begged Jesus to help them. People with this disease were outcasts and were not allowed to live in a village with healthy people. They were also considered to be ritually unclean or impure. They were not allowed to worship God with healthy people.
Jesus healed all ten men, and they became ritually pure. However, only one of them thanked Jesus for healing him. This man was a Samaritan, and Jews usually despised Samaritans. However, Jesus often showed that he did not despise them. In the parable that Jesus told in 10:25–37, he used a Samaritan as the example of a person who loved his neighbor.
Notice the contrast in the way “thanks” is used here and in 17:10. In 17:10, Jesus implied that servants of God often feel that they deserve special thanks or reward for simply doing their duty. In this section, when Jesus did something that deserved much thanks and praise, only one of ten people thanked him.
Some other ideas for this section heading are:
Jesus heals ten lepers
Jesus cleanses ten men
The book of Luke is the only gospel that tells about this event.
As He entered one of the villages, He was met by ten lepers. They stood at a distance: In this verse Jesus was approaching a village to enter it. The context implies that he had not yet entered the village, because ten lepers came toward him. Lepers were not allowed to enter villages where healthy people lived. They also were not allowed to come near healthy people.
The lepers in this verse were probably living some distance from the village. They were not coming out of the village to meet Jesus.A number of English versions have “As he entered a village,” which could imply that Jesus was actually in the village when the lepers met him. However, the Greek construction can be translated just as accurately with an expression that shows that Jesus was still in the process of entering the village. He was probably on the outskirts of the village where the lepers were allowed to approach. Marshall says, “The reference to the village entered by Jesus is vague….It also places the incident on the outskirts of habitation where a group of lepers might be found” (p. 650). In some languages a phrase like He was met may not fit with the phrase stood at a distance. When you translate this verse, be sure that the phrases you use fit the situation and do not contradict each other. One way to do this in English is:
As he approached a village, ten lepers came toward him and stood some distance from him.
…as he was approaching a village, ten lepers met him. They kept their distance (JBP)
As He entered one of the villages,
When he arrived at a certain village,
As he was about to enter one of the villages with his disciples,
As He entered one of the villages: Jesus was going toward a village to enter it. Here is another way to translate this:
as he was approaching a village (JBP)
He: The focus is on Jesus here, but the disciples were still following him. Consider how to imply that in your language while keeping the focus on Jesus.
He was met by ten lepers.
ten men with leprosy sickness came to meet him.
ten men came toward him. They were sick with a terrible skin disease called leprosy.
lepers: The Greek word that the BSB translates as lepers refers to people afflicted with several different skin diseases. Scholars disagree as to whether these diseases included modern-day leprosy (Hansen’s disease). They agree that in New Testament times the Greek word referred to dreaded skin diseases.
People believed that these diseases were spread by contact with someone who had the disease. A person who had one of these diseases was also considered ritually unclean. Some ways to translate this word are:
Use a general phrase that describes the nature or significance of the disease. For example:
a skin disease (GW)
a dreaded skin disease (GNT)
a contagious skin disease
Use a term that refers specifically to leprosy. For example:
leprosy
something like leprosy
A term that refers specifically to leprosy may be appropriate in areas where readers are already familiar with the term “leprosy.” If you decide to use a word meaning “leprosy,” it is recommended that you add a footnote to give more information. For example:
The disease that is mentioned here refers to various contagious and dreaded skin diseases. A person who had one of these diseases was considered ritually unclean. According to the Jewish law, he was not allowed to associate with other people or to worship in the Temple.
This word also occurred in 7:22.
They stood at a distance
They stood some distance away from Jesus,
They did not come near Jesus, but stopped a short distance away.
They stood at a distance: The phrase stood at a distance indicates that they did not come near Jesus. Some other ways to translate this are:
They did not come close to Jesus (NCV)
They stood apart from Jesus
In some languages it may be natural to combine the phrases “met him” and “they stood at a distance.” For example:
ten lepers stood at a distance (NLT)
ten lepers stopped a short distance away
Note 1 topic: writing-participants
ἀπήντησαν δέκα λεπροὶ ἄνδρες, οἳ ἔστησαν πόρρωθεν
met ten (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἰσερχομένου αὐτοῦ εἰς τινά κώμην ἀπήντησαν δέκα λεπροί ἄνδρες οἵ ἔστησαν πόρρωθεν)
Luke uses this phrase to introduce these new characters into the story. Alternate translation: [ten men who were lepers came out to meet him, standing far away]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἀπήντησαν δέκα λεπροὶ ἄνδρες, οἳ ἔστησαν πόρρωθεν
met ten (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί εἰσερχομένου αὐτοῦ εἰς τινά κώμην ἀπήντησαν δέκα λεπροί ἄνδρες οἵ ἔστησαν πόρρωθεν)
The lepers were not reluctant to engage Jesus. Rather, this was a respectful gesture, since they were not allowed to approach other people. According to the law of Moses, they were ceremonially unclean for as long as they had a skin disease. Luke assumes that his readers will know that, but if it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate it explicitly. It may be helpful to make who stood at a distance a separate sentence. Alternate translation: [ten leprous men met him. They stood at a distance, as they were required to do because they were ceremonially unclean]
17:12 ten men with leprosy stood at a distance: See study note on 5:12. Lepers were required to keep their distance and cry out, “Unclean!” (Lev 13:45-46).
OET (OET-LV) And on_coming_in of_him into a_certain village, met ten leprous men, who stood from_afar.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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