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interlinearVerse INT GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1SA 2SA PSA AMOS HOS 1KI 2KI 1CH 2CH PRO ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL JOB YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC GAL 1TH 2TH 1COR 2COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1TIM TIT 1PET 2PET 2TIM HEB YUD 1YHN 2YHN 3YHN REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
OET (OET-LV) Every valley will_be_being_filled, and every mountain and hill will_be_being_brought_low, and the crooked will_be into straight, and the rough ways into smooth,
OET (OET-RV) Every valley will be filled up,
⇔ and every mountain and hill will be levelled off.
⇔ What’s crooked will be made straight,
⇔ and the rough roads will be made smooth.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται
every valley /will_be_being/_filled and every mountain and hill /will_be_being/_brought_low
This is a continuation of the figurative description of making a good road that began in the previous verse. When people prepare the road for an important person who is coming, they make sure that the road is level by taking material from high places and using it to fill in low places. However, this is also a description of the effects that the coming of the Lord will have on people. It is a statement similar to the one Mary makes in 1:52, “He has thrown down rulers from their thrones and he has raised up the lowly.” Metaphors in Scripture can have more than one reference like this. So we recommend that you translate the words directly and not provide a plain explanation, even if your language does not customarily use such figures of speech. If you want to explain the meanings of the metaphor, we recommend that you do that in a footnote rather than in the Bible text.
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται
every valley /will_be_being/_filled
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form. Since people would be doing this action in one sense of the metaphor, but God would be doing the action in another sense of the metaphor, it might be best not to be specific about who will do the action. Alternate translation: “Someone will fill in every valley”
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται
and every mountain and hill /will_be_being/_brought_low
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form, following the same principle as for the previous phrase. Alternate translation: “and someone will make every mountain and hill low”
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἔσται τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθείαν, καὶ αἱ τραχεῖαι εἰς ὁδοὺς λείας
will_be the crooked into straight and the rough into ways smooth
This too is both a continuation of the figurative description of making a good road and a description of the effects that the coming of the Lord will have on people. Something that is crooked becoming straight and something that is rough becoming smooth can be seen as metaphors for repentance and a change in a person’s way of life. And so we recommend once again that you translate the words directly and not provide a plain explanation in the text of your translation.
3:4-6 The quotation is from Isa 40:3-5 (Greek version); it speaks of God’s delivering the Jews from exile in Babylon. After the Jews had returned from exile (Ezra 1–2), the passage became associated with God’s end-time salvation. John shouted in the wilderness to prepare God’s people for the Lord’s coming. God’s salvation is portrayed as a new exodus, bringing deliverance like the first exodus from Egypt.
• Clear the road for him! . . . the rough places made smooth: The image reflects the Middle Eastern practice of preparing a road at the approach of a king, something like “rolling out the red carpet” (cp. Luke 19:36-38).
OET (OET-LV) Every valley will_be_being_filled, and every mountain and hill will_be_being_brought_low, and the crooked will_be into straight, and the rough ways into smooth,
OET (OET-RV) Every valley will be filled up,
⇔ and every mountain and hill will be levelled off.
⇔ What’s crooked will be made straight,
⇔ and the rough roads will be made smooth.
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 SR-GNT.