Luke 14:26 "Hate your father and mother" - differences in translation

www.cronos.com ^ | 2 Aug 2017 | Cronos

[Cronos]

I was reading a debate on this and saw that in English the verse says "hate" (and this is in the KJV, NKJV, NIV, Douay-Rheims) and yet in other languages it does not. Isn't this strange? Does anyone know why?

In English 25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

But in Polish: Nikt nie może być moim uczniem, jeśli nie kocha Mnie bardziej niż swojego ojca, matkę, żonę, dzieci, braci czy siostry, a nawet bardziej niż samego siebie

That translates as “if you don’t love me more than your father, mother… and even more than you love yourself”

And in French quelqu’un vient à moi et n’est pas prêt à renoncer à son père, sa mère, sa femme, ses enfants, ses frères, ses sœurs, et même à sa propre vie, il ne peut être mon disciple.

If anyone comes to me and is not ready to give up his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers, his sisters, and even his own life, he can not be my disciple.

and in Spanish Si alguno viene a mí y no sacrifica el amor a su padre y a su madre, a su esposa y a sus hijos, a sus hermanos y a sus hermanas, y aun a su propia *vida, no puede ser mi discípulo

….And does not sacrifice love to his…

and in Arabic «عَلَى مَنْ يَأْتِي إلَيَّ أنْ يُحِبَّنِي أكثَرَ مِمّا يُحِبُّ أباهُ وَأُمَّهُ وَزَوجَتُهُ وَأبناءَهُ وَإخوَتَهُ وَأخَواتِهِ وَحَتَّى حَياتَهِ، وَإلّا فَإنَّهُ

… loves me more than….

And in Hindi “यदि मेरे पास कोई भी आता है और अपने पिता, माता, पत्नी और बच्चों अपने भाइयों और बहनों और यहाँ तक कि अपने जीवन तक से मुझ से अधिक प्रेम रखता है, वह मेरा शिष्य नहीं हो सकता!

"If anybody comes to me and loves my father, mother, wife and children more than me from my brothers and sisters and even my life, he can not be my disciple”

[Cronos]

Is this a fault in the English translations only?

[no-to-illegals]

Was there mentioned, in your reading, the ties to the wide path verses the eye of the needle?

[no-to-illegals]

How many Angels can dance on the point of a needle type questioning once more with sole purpose of modification to tagliine.

[Pollster1]

The original language for Luke was Greek, with all versions I know of, including my 1550 Stephanus and my modern Greek Orthodox using the word: "μισει" - "He hates". However, this word is also used in other Greek writings from the same period to mean "love less", which I consider a more precise translation.

Thus: "If anyone comes to me and does not love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even their own life — less, such a person cannot be my disciple."

[stockpirate]

The Word was corrupted to mislead people.

[maro]

Misein means to hate.

[Cronos]

What are you talking about? That translates the same way in different languages and its meaning is clear and the same.

[Cronos]

Thank you — that makes sense, so “hates” made sense at one point and the language evolved

[Cronos]

No, it was not corrupted. The Word was not and will never be corrupted. Language evolves — my point here was to understand how and to let people understand that God does not call on us to hate our parents, but rather to love Him more

[metmom]

Is this a fault in the English translations only?

It looks like it. It looks like it could have been translated better.

In the Greek.

http://biblehub.com/greek/3404.htm

Strong's Concordance miseó: to hate
Original Word: μισέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: miseó Phonetic Spelling: (mis-eh'-o)
Short Definition: I hate, detest
Definition: I hate, detest, love less, esteem less.

HELPS Word-studies

3404 miséō – properly, to detest (on a comparative basis); hence, denounce; to love someone or something less than someone (something) else, i.e. to renounce one choice in favor of another.

Lk 14:26: "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate (3404 /miséō, 'love less' than the Lord) his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (NASU).

[Note the comparative meaning of 3404 (miséō) which centers in moral choice, elevating one value over another.]

[metmom]

How many Angels can dance on the point of a needle type questioning once more with sole purpose of modification to tagliine.

No, it's not that kind of question.

It's proper understanding of Scripture, not a theological speculation that has no Scriptural basis.

[MosesKnows]

differences in translation

One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

In other words, the simplest answer is the correct answer.

Occam's razor (also Ockham's razor; Latin: lex parsimoniae "law of parsimony") is a problem-solving principle attributed to William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), who was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. His principle states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.

[mjp]

[Note the comparative meaning of 3404 (miséō) which centers in moral choice, elevating one value over another.]

Everyone has a hierarchy of values. One must adjust one's own ranking.

[Ezekiel]

27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Never mind the Greek, I wouldn't trust a "translation" that can't even use basic noun-pronoun agreement in the English.

[Jess Kitting]

That does it. The Bible is “hate speech.” The Leftists were right.

[Cronos]

Thanks metmom -- I was debating a Muslim who brought this up as "proof" that Jesus was telling us to hate people.

I was a bit lost at this and looked at the end of the verse where Jesus clearly defines it as meaning more about loving Him more than our attachments or ourselves

But then I pulled open a Polish Bible and it was not "hate". I then went to Biblegateway to look up different languages and saw that only English versions (ALL English versions - whether Catholic (Douay-Rheims) or Protestant (KJV, NIV)) had this phrasing -- while Bibles in other languages (again across denominations) had more clarity (about loving God more than ourselves)

I felt and feel it critical to share this information with everyone else in case you get this question or wonder it yourself.

[Cronos]

The leftists may use it — see my post above this.

[afsnco]

Christ tended to shock and focus the mind. In ancient Israel, they were commanded to honor their father and their mother. And then He comes along and tells them to “hate their fathers and mothers/love them less than Him.”

The underlying context is that we mustn’t let familial relations lead us into error. If our relatives are living in apostasy, we must love Christ more than them and not follow them into that apostasy. In a case like that, where we choose Christ over our relatives, they may well come to hate us for our separation from them. But that might be the price required of us for faithfulness.

[SaraJohnson]

This is an important question. I know Jesus would not tell people to hate their families. I told myself something was lost in translation. From the context I knew he said that we must place our love of Him above all others.

[Cronos]

A friend who knows Greek just told me mise/ein means “to hate” in classical Greek

In biblical Greek it has a wider meaning, to include “esteem less”

“hate your own life” (the climax of the text), cannot really mean “hate” in the classic sense.

In this usage, it really had to mean “esteem less”.

I think the best way to translate the word is in the obvious way it is being used, “to esteem less”.

So many other words had shifted their meanings from the original classical use.

Why the KJV et al decided to go with “hate” points to me that, in 1600s, “hate” could have also meant “to esteem less”.

We already know that the English words since 1600s have changed their meanings — best example that comes to mind is “suffer the little children to come unto me”.