complete verse (Matthew 21:30)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 21:30:

  • Uma: “‘From there, he went also to his younger child, he said to him: ‘Son/Boy, go work in the fields.’ ‘That child answered: ‘Yes, I’ll go, Dad.’ But in fact he did not go!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then the man also went to his younger son and told him also as he had told the older one. The younger one answered, he said, ‘Yes, Father, I will go.’ But he did not go.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the man went also to the younger, and he told him to do the same thing that he had told the other son to do. And the younger said, ‘Yes,’ but he didn’t do what he was told to do.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Then the father went to the younger-brother, and commanded him the same-thing. ‘Yes, indeed, Father, I will go,’ he said. But it-turned-out he didn’t go.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “He also instructed the next boy. ‘Yes,’ he answered, but he didn’t go and work at all.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Again the father tells his other son to go to work. This son agrees to go and says: ‘Yes, father, I am going then,’ he says. But he doesn’t really go.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

addressing the father intimately in Japanese

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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 important aspect of addressing someone else in one’s or someone else’s family is by selecting the correct word when referring to them.

One way to do this is through the usage of an appropriate title within a conversation. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, the father is addressed with o-tō-san (お父さん), a form that expresses the intimate father-son relationship in the verses referenced here. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also addressing one’s mother intimately in Japanese, addressing the father in the parable of the prodigal son in Japanese and Japanese honorifics.

Translation commentary on Matthew 21:30

And he went to the second and said the same is the third in a series of three events: (1) the father went to the first son and told him to work in the vineyard; (2) the first son went to work in the vineyard; and (3) the father went to the second son and told him to work in the vineyard. But the actual sequence of events would appear to be (1), (3), and then (2). That is, the father would apparently not have gone to the second son if he had known that the first son had already gone to work in the vineyard. If the father in the story somehow represents God, as one feels he does, then it must be concluded that both the narrator and the hearers would have assumed that the father would have known that the first son already went to work in the vineyard at the time that he went to the second son.

There have been translations which have tried to reflect this sequence of events by saying at the beginning of the verse “In the meantime” or “When the first son refused to go.” This is not necessary, however, since the context makes this point clear.

It may be necessary to replace he with “the father,” as in Good News Translation and Barclay.

And said the same may need to be spelled out in more detail, as in “and said the same thing he had to the first son” or even “and said, ‘Son, go and work in my vineyard today.’ ”

I go, sir (Good News Translation, Luther 1984 “Yes, sir”) translates what is a very polite affirmative answer in Greek (literally “I, sir”). A number of translations render “I will, sir” (New English Bible, New International Version, An American Translation), while Barclay and New Jerusalem Bible have “Certainly, sir.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reflects the politeness in the answer “Yes, father.” It may be necessary to give the answer in more complete form: “I am on my way, sir” (New American Bible).

But did not go means “but he did not go to work in the vineyard” or “… vineyard, as he said he would.”

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 .