complete verse (Matthew 17:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 17:11:

  • Uma: “Yesus said: ‘That is very true, Elia must come/arrive first, because he is the one who gets everything ready.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa answered, he said, ‘That is true. Eliyas comes ahead of the Almasi to prepare everything.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘It’s really true that Elijah will come first, because he will prepare everything.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘That-aforementioned which they teach is (empathy particle) true,’ said Jesus answering.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus replied saying, ‘It’s true that Elias is to come here first to prepare all things.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Jesus said to them: ‘It is true that Elijah comes first, telling the people to prepare.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Elijah

The name that is transliterated as “Elijah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “whirlwind” (according to 2 Kings 2:11) (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Elijah” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

Click or tap here to see how other sign languages are translating “Elijah”

In American Sign Language it is translated with a depiction of being taken up to heaven with a chariot of fire. (Source: ASL Sign Language Directory )


“Elijah” in American Sign Language (source )

Likewise in Estonian Sign Language, but with a different sign (source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff.)


“Elijah” in Estonian Sign Language (source )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “fire” (referring to 1 Kings 18:38). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Elijah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Following is a Russian Orthodox icon of Elijah from the late 13h century.

 
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

The following is a stained glass window depicting Elijah by Endre Odon Hevezi and Gyula Bajo from 1965 for the Debre Libanos Monastery, Oromia, Ethiopia:

Photo by Timothy A. Gonsalves, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Elijah .

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“answer”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 rare (られ) 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, kotae-rare-ru (答えられる) or “answer” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Matthew 17:11

The statement Elijah does come has been rendered by Barclay as “It is quite true … that Elijah is to come.” The implication is that he will precede the coming of the Messiah, so some have said “Elijah will come back first.” Come may be rendered as in verse 10.

Restore all things (New American Bible “restore everything”) is translated “set everything in order” by Barclay, “get everything ready” by Good News Translation, and “restore the whole people of God” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Elsewhere Matthew uses the verb restore only in 12.13 in connection with the healing of a man’s crippled hand: “and it was restored, whole like the other.” The reference to Elijah is perhaps best understood as that of Malachi 4.5-6, where it is promised that Elijah will come before the day of the LORD to reconcile parents and children with one another.

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 .