41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous,
The Greek that is typically translated with a generic expressions such as “he who,” “whoever,” or “if anyone” in English is translated with the plural form (“they”) in Daga. “A literal translation of these conveys the idea that one specific unnamed individual is being discussed. Thus, for instance, in John 5:24 ‘he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life’ meant in Daga that there was one fortunate individual to whom it applied.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:41:
Uma: “Whoever receives a messenger of God because he really is a messenger of God, they will receive a reward/return like they rewarded/returned to the person who was sent [messengered] by God. Whoever receives a person who is straight [upright] because he really is straight, they will receive a reward/return like what they rewarded/returned to the straight person.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If someone treats-according-to-custom a person who spreads the word of God because he hep spreads the word of God, he will be rewarded like the one who spreads the word of God is rewarded. If someone treats-according-to-custom a righteous/straight person because he is a righteous/straight person, he will be rewarded like the righteous person is rewarded.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If there is a person who receives an inspired one of God because God is the one who inspired that one, that person will share in the reward which God gives to the one he inspired. And if there is a person who receives a righteous person because of his righteousness, the one who receives him will share in the reward which God gives to the righteous person.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “If someone shows-hospitality-to a spokesman of God because he is God’s spokesman, the reward he will receive is the same as God’s spokesman’s reward. And if someone also shows-hospitality-to a righteous person because that is the kind-of-person he is, the reward he will receive is the same as the righteous person’s reward.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The one who will receive a teacher of the word of God because he acknowledges that the Lord indeed is the one who sent him to teach, he certainly will be rewarded with the same as is given-in-reward to that teacher. And the one also who receives a person with good ways and welcomes/treats him well because he acknowledges that this person is wanting to be obedient to the will of God, it’s certain that he will be rewarded with the same as is given in reward to the person with good ways.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The person who pays respect to a spokesman for God because the person knows that he is a messenger from God will be given wages just like the wages given to the spokesman for God. Also the person who pays respect to a good man because he knows that this man walks good will be given wages just like the wages given to the good man.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)
Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:
Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
(San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Prophet: Good News Translation, Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition, and Bijbel in Gewone Taal have “God’s messenger,” since the primary work of New Testament prophets was that of speaking God’s message. Matthew has earlier used this word of the Old Testament prophets (1.22; 2.5, 15, 17, 23; 3.3; 4.14; 5.12; 8.17).
Because he is a prophet (so also New Jerusalem Bible, Phillips) is literally “in the name of a prophet.” New English Bible has “whoever receives a prophet as a prophet,” and Barclay “the man who recognizes a prophet and welcomes him as such.” One may even translate “because he proclaims God’s message.” This can also be “Whoever receives hospitably one of God’s spokesmen because he recognizes that is what the person is.”
Shall receive a prophet’s reward may be translated “he shall also be rewarded as a messenger of God” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition) or “he will receive the same reward that a messenger of God receives.” It is possible also to shift to an active construction and reverse the order of the two clauses: “God will reward anyone who welcomes his messengers. He will give them the same reward that he gives his messengers.”
A reward is a recompense, what a person receives for having done some good thing. It is not “money” here. “The gift that God gives to someone who does well” is a possibility if a language has no word for reward.
Righteous man (see 1.19) is translated “good man” by Good News Translation, New English Bible, Phillips, Barclay, and Moffatt. Both New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible have “holy man,” while An American Translation translates “upright man.” Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition has “religious (or, devout) man.” Here the reference may be either to a category of especially faithful Christians, or else to a special group of teachers within the church. Note that in 13.17 and 23.29 “righteous men” and “prophets” are also linked. One may translate “If you welcome a man because he is good, God will give you the same reward that he will give the good man.”
As in 1.19, a righteous man can also be rendered as “a man who does God’s will” or “a man who does what God requires.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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