And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. John 2:3-4 CDR
During a recent meeting of our weekly Catholic Study Group, one member mentioned that he found that the Revised Standard Version (RSV) translation of this verse to be very strange:
“O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” John 2:4 RSV
The King James Version also translates the words of Our Lord in a very similar way. Why on earth would Our Lord be asking His Mother “what have I to do with thee”?
Many other English translations generally agree with the Challoner Douay Rheims (CDR) version of John 2:4 however: “Woman, what is that to me and to thee?”
The Koine Greek expression used in John 2:4 is “τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί”, which literally means “who/what to me and to you” (Hahn and Mitch 164). This expression represents the Semitic idiom לִּ֥י וָלָ֖ךְ (ma-li walak) which conveys a refusal or unwillingness to get involved in the matter requested (Perkins 954)(The NET Bible, Full Notes Edition 1998,C)(Hahn and Mitch 164). Like idioms in general, ““τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί” has a meaning not [completely] deducible from the meanings of the individual words” (“idiom, n. meanings, etymology and more”).
The same Koine Greek phrase is found in five Old Testament (Septuagint) verses (Judges 11:12; 1 Kings 17:18; 2 Kings 3:13; 2 Chronicles 35:21, Hosea 14:8(9)) and once in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 5:7). (Greek Septuagint)
In the Book of Judges, it is translated in the CDR as “What hast thou to do with me”. This, in fact, is the same phrase the RSV uses in John 2:4! In 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles and the Gospel of Mark it is translated as “What have I to do with thee”, which semantically the same as the RSV’s John 2:4. In Hosea it is translated by the CDR as “What have I to do any more with idols?”.
The RSV this case is merely translating this Semitic idiom as it is commonly translated in other parts of the Bible by other translations, which of course causes some confusion and highlights the challenge in translating idiomatic expressions from one language to another, especially from an ancient language to a modern one. Fortunately, the confusion can be easily cleared up by a set of good, orthodox Bible study notes or by a good Bible commentary.
Works Cited
“Greek Septuagint.” Kata Biblon, https://en.katabiblon.com/us/?text=LXX. Accessed 1 February 2025.
Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The New Testament. Edited by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, Ignatius Press, 2010.
“idiom, n. meanings, etymology and more.” Oxford English Dictionary, https://www.oed.com/dictionary/idiom_n?tab=meaning_and_use#909611. Accessed 1 February 2025.
The NET Bible, New English Translation. Full Notes Edition. Thomas Nelson, 1996.
Perkins, Pheme. “The Gospel According to John.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, edited by Raymond Edward Brown, et al., Prentice-Hall, 1990, pp. 942-985.
