grain

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “corn”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).

Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

complete verse (Matthew 13:30)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 13:30:

  • Uma: “Just let the grass grow with the rice, until the time of harvest. Later I’ll order the harvesters to first pull up the grass, gather it, tie-it-in-bundles and burn it. After that, only then will they collect/harvest the rice, and store it in my storage bins.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Let both of them grow until harvest time. Then when harvest time has come I will say to those harvesting: Pull out those weeds first and bundle them and then burn them. And then harvest the fruit of the field and store it in the storehouse/barn.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “We will just let them alone until harvest, and then I will have the harvesters pull up the bad plants and tie them up to be burned. And as for the good plants, by contrast, we will put their fruit into the storehouse.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Leave-it-alone so that the weeds will grow-with until the harvest-season. Then I will tell the harvesters to first get the weeds so they will bundle them to be burned, then they will harvest the rice and bring it to my granary.’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Leave all alone to grow. Wait till harvest-time. For when it’s harvest-time, I will order the harvesters to go for those weeds first and tie them up to be burned. (They will) just get the wheat afterwards for that is what will be put there in my silo.”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Let it alone, let them grow together until all is ripe. I will tell the workers to pull out the weeds then, bundle them and burn them. Then the wheat will be stored in the wheat storer.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

wheat

Two kinds of wild wheat have grown in the open deciduous oak woodland in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent for several thousand years: Einkorn Wheat Triticum monococcum and Emmer Wheat Triticum dicoccum. Both came into cultivation together with barley. Just before the time of the Romans, the Naked Bread Wheat or Hard Wheat Triticum durum started replacing the hulled varieties. This then became the favorite type of wheat for bread and macaroni. Spelt is a sub-member of the Triticum aestivum species.

In NRSVue and some other versions, the generic Hebrew word bar has been rendered “wheat” in Jeremiah 23:28 et al. This is legitimate, since the grain referred to by bar was probably wheat. However, it might be better to say “grain” in these passages.

The most important early wheat for the Israelites was emmer, probably the only wheat known in Egypt, and referred to in Hebrew as chittah. However, according to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992), the seven-headed wheat of the Egyptian king’s dream (Genesis 41:5ff.) suggests that there may also have been Triticum turgidum (rivet wheat) in the emmer group. The Hebrew word kusemeth probably refers to a type of emmer wheat that the Egyptians called swt.

Wheat is a type of grass like rice and barley, growing to around 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in height and having a head with many small grains in rows.

Bread made from wheat was the staple food for the people of ancient Israel, so God punished them by breaking “the staff of bread” (see, for example, Ezekiel 4:16).

If wheat is unfamiliar, translators can transliterate from a major language in non-rhetorical contexts (for example, English witi, Portuguese trigo, French ble or froment, Swahili ngano, Arabic kama/alkama). The transliteration may add a generic tag such as “grain.” The New Testament passages are mostly rhetorical, opening the possibility for a metaphorical equivalent.

Wheat head, photo by Gloria Suess

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on Matthew 13:30

Both is clearly a reference to “the wheat and the weeds” (Good News Translation).

Until the harvest; and at harvest may be unnecessary repetition in some languages. Note Good News Translation: (“until harvest. Then…”), which drops at harvest of the second clause.

Harvest is generally known in languages, but “time of gathering the crops” is sometimes the way people speak of it.

Good News Translation has translated reapers as “harvest workers.” This can also be “people who work in the fields to gather the crops” or “workers who bring in the harvest.”

Gather the weeds … into my barn is direct discourse in the Greek text. Some languages, for stylistic reasons, may prefer indirect discourse as in Good News Translation.

Weeds … to be burned may reflect the custom of using dried weeds for fuel whenever there was a shortage of wood. However, in the context of the parable, the implication is that the weeds are burned immediately. This is probably because the parable has now become an allegory of the final judgment.

Gather the wheat into my barn: in many languages it will be necessary to specify both the action of gathering and that of storing with separate verbs, as Good News Translation has done (“gather in the wheat and put it in my barn”).

A barn is a “storage house” or “building for storing grain.” Some translators use “granary” here.

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 .