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OET (OET-LV) But the Haʸrōdaʸs the quarter_ruler, being_rebuked by him concerning Haʸrōidias, the wife of_the brother of_him, and concerning all evil which the Haʸrōdaʸs did,
OET (OET-RV) He scolded King Herod (who was the ruler of the Galilean quarter) about marrying his own brother Philip’s wife Herodias. Herod had also been scolded by him about many other evil things that he’d done,
The last event in Luke 2 describes Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old. This section begins about eighteen years later. At the beginning of chapter 3, both Jesus and John the Baptizer were about thirty years old. Both men were ready to begin public ministry.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it. Some other possible headings for this section are:
The Preaching of John (NCV)
John the Baptist and Jesus (REB)
John the Baptizer tells people to prepare themselves for the Messiah
Parts of Luke 3:1–20 are basically the same as verses in Matthew 3:1–12. But Luke 3:1–2, 10–14, and 19–20 are not in Matthew.
In the next two paragraphs Luke did not tell the events in the order in which they happened. Paragraph 3:19–20 tells about something that would happen after John baptized Jesus in 3:21–22.Luke may have used this order because John’s imprisonment was the end of his public ministry (3:19–20) and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (3:21–22). In some languages, it will be more natural to put these events in the order in which they actually happened. For example:
21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
19 Sometime after this John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done. 20Then Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
But when he rebuked Herod the tetrarch
¶ During this time John denounced/criticized Governor Herod
¶ But Herod the ruler caused trouble for John because John said that Herod had sinned
¶ At a certain time John said, “Herod has sinned.”
he rebuked Herod the tetrarch: The Greek word that the BSB translates as rebuked here means “to say that what someone did was wrong.” John said that what Herod did was wrong. It was sinful. John could have said this directly to Herod or he could have said it about him to other people.
In some languages it may be more natural to translate this as direct speech. In that case it is possible to say either:
John said about Herod the tetrarch, “He has done wrong….”
John told Herod the tetrarch, “You have done wrong….”
Herod the tetrarch: Herod was the name of the government leader of the district of Galilee.
Some ways to translate Herod the tetrarch are:
Herod the ruler (CEV)
the ruler Herod (GW)
Herod the leader
This same phrase also occurs in 3:1c. See 3:1c for more details about the meaning of tetrarch.
regarding his brother’s wife Herodias
for marrying his brother’s wife, whose name was Herodias.
by marrying Herodias, who was the wife of his own half-brother.
He said this because Herod had married the wife of his own brother.
regarding his brother’s wife Herodias: There is a textual issue here. Some manuscripts have “his brother Philip’s wife.” However, the earliest manuscripts have only “his brother’s wife.” It is recommended that you follow these earliest manuscripts, which do not include Philip’s name here. This recommendation based on Swanson, p. 42, and Exegetical Summaries on TW. Herod had divorced his own wife and had married Herodias. Herodias had earlier been married to one of Herod’s half-brothers. It was against God’s law for Herod to marry her. Herod had sinned. For the whole story, see Mark 6:14–29.
In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:
because he had married Herodias, his brother’s wife
brother’s: In this context the word “brother” refers to an older half-brother. The two men had different mothers. (This half-brother, Herod Philip, is not the same as the half-brother named Philip who was mentioned in 3:1.The mother of Herod Philip (the husband of Herodias) was Mariamne.)
and all the evils he had done,
John also rebuked Herod for all the other sins that Herod had done.
John also criticized Herod for all the other evil things that he had done.
John also said, “Herod has done many other evil things.”
all the evils he had done: The phrase all the evils he had done indicates that John also rebuked Herod because of other ways that Herod had sinned.
In some languages it may be natural to reorder this verse and put it in chronological order. For example:
19bHerod the tetrarch had married his brother’s wife Herodias 19cand had done many other evil things, 19aso John rebuked him.
Note 1 topic: writing-background
δὲ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ Ἡρῴδης ὁ τετράρχης ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ περί Ἡρῳδιάδος τῆς γυναικός τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καί περί πάντων ὧν ἐποίησεν πονηρῶν ὁ Ἡρῴδης)
Luke uses the term But to introduce some background information to the story. In this verse and the next one, he tells what later happened to John. This had not yet happened at this time. When Luke says in [3:21](../03/21.md) that Jesus was baptized, he means that John was still there and that John baptized Jesus.
Note 2 topic: translate-unknown
ὁ & Ἡρῴδης ὁ τετράρχης
¬the & Herod the tetrarch
See how you translated the term tetrarch in [3:1](../03/01.md) Alternate translation: [Herod, who ruled the region of Galilee]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ περὶ Ἡρῳδιάδος, τῆς γυναικὸς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ
˓being˒_rebuked by him (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ Ἡρῴδης ὁ τετράρχης ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ περί Ἡρῳδιάδος τῆς γυναικός τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καί περί πάντων ὧν ἐποίησεν πονηρῶν ὁ Ἡρῴδης)
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form, and you could make clear who did the action. Alternate translation: [because John had rebuked him for marrying Herodias, his brother’s former wife]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ περὶ Ἡρῳδιάδος, τῆς γυναικὸς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ
˓being˒_rebuked by him (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ Ἡρῴδης ὁ τετράρχης ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ περί Ἡρῳδιάδος τῆς γυναικός τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καί περί πάντων ὧν ἐποίησεν πονηρῶν ὁ Ἡρῴδης)
The implication is that Herod’s brother was still alive. That made this marriage a violation of the law of Moses. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [because John had rebuked him for marrying Herodias, his brother’s former wife, while his brother was still alive. That was something which the law of Moses forbade]
3:19-20 Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, divorced his first wife and married Herodias, the wife of his half brother Herod Philip. When John publicly criticized Herod for this sin, Herod imprisoned and later executed him (cp. 9:9; Mark 6:16-29). Herod’s execution of John is also recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 18.5.2).
OET (OET-LV) But the Haʸrōdaʸs the quarter_ruler, being_rebuked by him concerning Haʸrōidias, the wife of_the brother of_him, and concerning all evil which the Haʸrōdaʸs did,
OET (OET-RV) He scolded King Herod (who was the ruler of the Galilean quarter) about marrying his own brother Philip’s wife Herodias. Herod had also been scolded by him about many other evil things that he’d done,
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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