Pick up your Bible.
Flip to Luke 22:43-44.
Interesting, huh?
What you might be surprised to know is that this is not recorded in any of the other three gospels.
Even more, these two verses are not included in many of the ancient manuscripts. Your Bible probably even has a footnote stating this.
Regardless, let's focus on this phrase in verse 44b...
NIV - "...and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."
NIV - "...and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."
NASB - "...and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground."
NLT - "...his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood."
KJV - "...and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
NKJV & ESV - "...and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
CEV - "...his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood."
TEV & NCV - "His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."
The Message - "Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face."
Growing up, I've heard more than two or three sermons on how Jesus actually sweated blood while he prayed in the garden, complete with in depth scientific explanations on how you can be so distressed that your blood vessels can break and you can literally sweat blood. Now, scientifically, that very well may be true! But, as we're translating through this passage with the Kenyan SL team, I had to ask if that's really what it's saying or not. And, quite frankly, I'm leaning towards not. In the Greek, it's in the form of a metaphor. But, the question is, what is the point of comparison??
There are a few possibilities as to what this meant...
The Message - "Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face."
Growing up, I've heard more than two or three sermons on how Jesus actually sweated blood while he prayed in the garden, complete with in depth scientific explanations on how you can be so distressed that your blood vessels can break and you can literally sweat blood. Now, scientifically, that very well may be true! But, as we're translating through this passage with the Kenyan SL team, I had to ask if that's really what it's saying or not. And, quite frankly, I'm leaning towards not. In the Greek, it's in the form of a metaphor. But, the question is, what is the point of comparison??
There are a few possibilities as to what this meant...
a) it was a rhetorical expression -- similar to 'tears of blood'
b) his sweat was falling like blood (the flow of blood vs. the drip of sweat)
c) his sweat was like the colour of blood
If we were translating into a spoken language, this may not pose such a big issue. We would have to find out how that language uses metaphors. However, we actually have to know what it looks like. So, with that in mind... how would you have me answer our Deaf artist team whose responsibility is to illustrate each Bible story in pictures that are exegetically sound?
b) his sweat was falling like blood (the flow of blood vs. the drip of sweat)
c) his sweat was like the colour of blood
If we were translating into a spoken language, this may not pose such a big issue. We would have to find out how that language uses metaphors. However, we actually have to know what it looks like. So, with that in mind... how would you have me answer our Deaf artist team whose responsibility is to illustrate each Bible story in pictures that are exegetically sound?
2 comments:
I believe it really means he sweated blood, and should be signed that way. It is likely written as a metaphor because sweating blood is uncommon, so the disciples wouldn't know how else to describe what was happening.
Looking at the Greek text I see the following - "...καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἱδρὼς αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος καταβαίνοντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν." The key in determining the meaning here is that Luke writes "καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἱδρὼς αὐτοῦ ... καταβαίνοντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν." This means that "his sweat was falling on the ground". The phrase "ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος" describes some feature of his sweat. In some way his sweat was similar to blood. It might have been that it was
the colour of blood
the thickness of blood
flowing the way blood flows
I agree with I. Howard Marshall (NIGTC) the emphasis is on the word καταβαίνοντες 'flowing'. This means that the comparison likely has to do with the way blood flows.
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