Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“say”)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 13:31

Another parable he put before them, saying is a word-for-word repetition of the introduction to the preceding parable (see verse 24).

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed is the Greek translation of an Aramaic formula which means “It is the case with the kingdom of heaven as with a mustard seed” (see verse 24). As in verse 24, one way to begin the parable is to say “God’s rule is like this: a man took a mustard seed….” Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition renders “When God accomplishes his work, it will be as with a mustard seed which someone planted in a field.” INCL (“When God rules, the situation will be as in this parable: …”) and Malay common language version (“When God establishes his rule, the situation will be the same as with a mustard seed which the man took and planted in his garden”) are similar to their restructurings of verse 24.

A grain of mustard seed perpetuates a Semitic idiom; most modern English translations have “a mustard seed,” as does Good News Translation.

Since the verb sows implies more than one seed as an object, one may need to translate “a man takes some mustard seeds and sows them in his field.”

Mustard may not be known, so translators may say “a seed of a tree called mustard,” borrowing the term from the text they are following. The exact product of a mustard tree is not relevant here, but there is some value in retaining mustard since the tree is referred to in several places in the New Testament.

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 .