OET interlinear LUKE 7:24

7:24–26

In these verses Jesus talked to the people about John. He wanted them to think about what kind of person John was. Three times he asked the people similar rhetorical questions and suggested answers to these questions. Consider how to translate this rhetorical conversation in a natural way in your language.

All of the questions in 7:24–26 refer to the time when John was preaching and baptizing in the desert. Many people were going there to hear him preach then and to be baptized by him. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example, you could make this context clear in the first question of 7:24b:

When John was preaching/baptizing in the desert, what did you go out to see?

7:24a

After John’s messengers had left: The phrase John’s messengers refers to the two disciples whom John had sent to Jesus. In this part of the verse, they left Jesus to return to John.

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: In the previous paragraph Jesus was speaking to John’s disciples. In this paragraph he spoke to the crowd about John.

the crowds: The plural phrase that the BSB translates literally as the crowds has the same meaning here as the singular form “crowd.” It refers to a large group of people. Your translation should not imply that there were different groups of people there. Some other ways to translate this are:

the people (NCV)

the large crowd of people

the many people there

7:24b–c

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?: Scholars interpret the phrase A reed swaying in the wind in different ways. The interpretation you choose will also affect the way you translate the question What did you go out into the wilderness to see? The two main interpretations are:

1. It refers figuratively to a man who has a weak character. He often changes his opinions because he is influenced by what other people think of him. For example:

   What kind of person did you go out to the desert to see? Was he like tall grass blown about by the wind? (CEV) (CEV, LB, NLT; probably GNT)

2. It refers literally to the tall grass that is found in the desert of Judea. For example:

   Did you go out into the desert just to see tall grass that the wind blows around? (BSB, ESV, GW, NASB, NCV, NET, NIV, NJB, NRSV, REB, RSV)

Bible scholars are quite evenly divided between those who favor interpretations (1) and (2).This is true of commentaries on Luke where, for example, Bock, Green, Nolland, Stein, and the UBS Translator’s Handbook on Luke favor the literal interpretation while Arndt, Fitzmyer, Lenski, Marshall, and the UBS Translator’s Guide favor the figurative. However, the majority of Matthew commentaries favor the figurative interpretation for the parallel passage in Matthew 11:7. Many English versions translate the questions fairly literally. If you need to translate more explicitly, it is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).Both interpretations make sense in the context. Those who favor the figurative interpretation suggest that a “reed blown by the wind” is proverbial and describes someone who is weak and easily gives in to men’s opinions. There appears to be ample evidence that this was proverbial. See, for example:· “And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water.”· 3 Maccabees 2:22: “He shook him on this side and that as a reed is shaken by the wind, so that he lay helpless on the ground….”· “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”· “Man should strive to be tender like the reed and not hard like the cedar” (from B. Taan. 20a, in Manson, The Sayings of Jesus, p. 68, and cited by Marshall and Bock).· Lucian, Hermotimus 68: “You will be…indeed like a reed growing on a river bank, bending to every breath of wind, however slight the breeze that blows and shakes it.”If this was proverbial, it is hard to imagine that Jesus chose this expression and intended it to be taken literally.

Some ways to translate interpretation (1) are:

What kind of person did you go out to the desert to see? A man who is like a reed blown about by the wind?

What kind of person did you go out to the desert to see? A man as weak as a reed that is swayed by the wind?

What: If you have a question word that can be used with either people or things, it would be good to use it here. You can use the same word where the question is repeated in 7:25a and 7:26a. In some languages there may be different question words for people and things. For example:

what (for things)

whom (for people)

Consider which question word would be most natural in this context. As you translate, remember that the answer Jesus finally gave to the question “What did you go out into the desert to see?” was “A prophet” (7:26).

If you are following interpretation (1) above, you may want to say:

“What kind of person/man did you go out to the desert to see?”

7:24b

What did you go out into the wilderness to see?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used it to focus people’s attention on the topic of John the Baptizer. Jesus was asking the crowd to think about John.

Some ways to translate this rhetorical question are:

• As a question. For example:

  What did you go out into the desert to see?

  When you went into the desert to see John, what kind of person did you expect to see?

• As a polite instruction. For example:

  Think about what kind of man you went out into the desert to see.

wilderness: The Greek word that the BSB translates as wilderness refers to a wild area where few people lived. Some versions translate it as “desert” (CEV, GW). But while it was often a dry area, it was not just sand and barren ground. Some wild grasses and bushes grew there. Some languages have a special word to refer to such areas, such as “the bush” (Africa) or “steppes” (Asia). Other ways to translate this word are:

uninhabited place

wild, open area

You may use the same word or expression that you used in 1:80 and 3:2.

7:24c

A reed swaying in the wind?: This also is a rhetorical question. This question is an ellipsis. Its full form is “Did you go out into the desert to see a reed swaying in the wind?” Jesus asked this question to make people think about what John was like. There are two ways you could translate this:

• As a question. For example:

  Did you go to see a reed swayed by the wind?

  Was he like tall grass blown by the wind?

• As an emphatic statement. For example:

  You certainly did not go to see a reed swayed by the wind.

  Surely you did not go out just to see someone who was like tall grass that the wind blows.

The answer to this rhetorical question is “No.” In some languages it may be necessary to make the answer explicit:

A reed swayed by the wind? No, of course not!

The phrase that the BSB translates as A reed swaying in the wind is literally “a reed swayed by the wind” or “a reed shaken by the wind.” This phrase contains a passive verb. Another way to translate it is:

A reed that the wind can easily sway?

reed: A reed is a tall blade of wild grass.