Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Luke — A Closer Reading

Translating the Angelic Encounters

Weymouth's treatment of the annunciation scenes reveals his balancing act between fidelity and readability. In Luke 1:13, the angel tells Zechariah, 'your petition has been heard: and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call his name John.' The phrasing 'petition has been heard' avoids the more literal 'prayer is heard' (KJV) and instead uses a legalistic term that aligns with the Gospel's emphasis on divine response. When Gabriel identifies himself in 1:19, Weymouth writes, 'I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God,' a slight shift from the KJV's 'I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God'—the removal of 'that' makes the clause more conversational. Yet the angel's rebuke to Zechariah retains its force: 'you will be dumb and unable to speak until the day when this has taken place; because you did not believe my words' (1:20). The word 'dumb' (now archaic) is kept, perhaps for its directness, while 'unable to speak' clarifies the condition.

Parables and Pronouncements in Modern Dress

The translation of Jesus' teaching in chapter 12 shows Weymouth's handling of metaphor and imperative. In 12:49, 'I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is my desire? Oh that it were even now kindled!'—the exclamatory 'Oh that it were even now kindled!' conveys urgency more vividly than the KJV's 'and what will I, if it be already kindled?' The subsequent verse about baptism (12:50) uses 'pent up' for the Greek synechomai, meaning 'constrained,' a choice that suggests emotional pressure rather than physical confinement. The parable of the fig tree (13:6-9) is rendered with direct speech: 'Cut it down. Why should so much ground be actually wasted?' The gardener's plea, 'Leave it, Sir, this year also, till I have dug round it and manured it,' uses 'manured'—a concrete, agricultural term that the KJV avoids with 'dung it.' Such choices ground the parable in everyday labor.

Narrative Cohesion and Editorial Choices

Weymouth's translation consistently adds connective tissue absent from the Greek. In 13:1, 'Just at that time people came to tell Him about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices'—the phrase 'Just at that time' links the episode to the preceding discourse, a temporal marker not explicit in the original. Similarly, the healing of the bent woman (13:10-13) is introduced with 'Once He was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the synagogues,' where 'Once' softens the narrative transition. Weymouth also clarifies ambiguous pronouns: in 13:2, 'Do you suppose,' He asked in reply, 'that those Galilaeans were worse sinners...'—the insertion of 'He asked in reply' makes the dialogue attribution explicit. These small additions create a smoother reading experience but occasionally impose an interpretation on the text's original parataxis.

Readers comparing this edition with the King James Version will notice Weymouth's preference for concrete verbs and explanatory phrases, yet his translation remains conservative in theological vocabulary—'Holy Spirit,' 'repent,' and 'sin' are retained. The digital text includes the translator's preface and notes, which clarify his textual basis (the 1881 Greek text of Westcott and Hort). For those interested in the history of English Bible translation, this Luke offers a early 20th-century attempt to balance scholarly accuracy with idiomatic clarity, predating the more radical paraphrases of later decades.

That afternoon, the rain kept time with Weymouth’s Luke, his “connected account” softening familiar parables into something almost spoken. I remember pausing at the storm being stilled, and wondering what that quieting looked like from the shore. Later, idly, I reached for Our Day In the Light of Prophecy — Inside the Classic, and found the same patient calm—restraint, not rhetoric, guiding every page.