complete verse (Matthew 23:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 23:14:

  • Uma: “[[‘Disaster on you, you religious teachers and Parisi people! You are just good on the outside! You deceive widows and [forcibly-]take their houses. And you pray long-long prayers so that those evil deeds of yours are concealed. Your punishment will be very heavy.]]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “(‘You are to be pitied, teachers of the religious law and Pariseo for God will punish you. You only pretend to follow God. You cause difficulties to the widows so that you will get their houses and you make your worship long pretending that you are good people. Surely you will receive a great judgment in the hereafter.)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Pity you, teachers of the law, and you Pharisees, because your faith in God is a lie. You cheat widow women so that you might come to own their houses, and your praying is long, which is a means of covering up the bad thing you did. Because of this, God’s punishment on you will be very great.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Pitiful are you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! Because you deceive widows so that you will take their wealth and even their houses while-simultaneously you lengthen your prayers in the sight of the people. In-the-future indeed (prophetic formula) your punishment will be heavier!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really extremely hard is what is being reserved for you, you explainers of law and Pariseo. You pretend to believe/obey God. You exhaust the livelihood of widows through what you cause them to give. And because you want to cover up your evil natures/ways, you make your prayers long. That’s why much greater is the punishment which you will experience.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Listen, you teachers of the law and Pharisees, how great is the suffering you will have, for it is not true that you are good people. Because you take away the houses of widows. You deceive them saying that they will increase what they own. Yet in order to blind the eyes of the people, you pray very long. But now overflowing will be the punishment you pass through because of what you do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 23:14

This verse is not included in Revised Standard Version or in most other modern translations (New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Good News Translation, Luther 1984, New American Bible, New International Version), and TC-GNT believes that the evidence is positive that it was brought in from the parallels in Mark 12.40 and Luke 20.47. It does not appear in the best Greek manuscripts, and in the manuscripts in which it does appear its position varies (some place it before verse 13 and some after verse 13).

The first part of this verse is identical to verse 13. Even for can be handled exactly the same way as “because” was there. You devour widows’ houses is translated with the figure of speech removed by Good News Translation: “You take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes.” The reference is to the unethical way in which these leaders sometimes took advantage of the situation of widows and would take from them their homes and property. Translators in West Africa often do not have to remove the figurative language, because the word “eat” is frequently used to refer to stealing or misusing money or property. They can thus say “For you eat the houses (or, property) of widows.” But where such imagery would mean nothing, translators should do something similar to Good News Bible or have a clause such as “you take from widows everything they have.”

The noun construction for a pretense is translated as a verb phrase by Good News Translation: “make a show.” One may also translate “try to impress others” or “try to show off before others.” In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch the two clauses of this sentence are inverted and translated “You say long prayers in order to make a good impression, but in reality you are cheats, who deprive helpless widows of their possessions.” Some translators have structured the sentence like this: “For you take from widows everything they have and yet say long prayers in order to impress other people.” Or like this: “Although you take from widows all their property, you try to impress other people by saying long prayers.”

Therefore you will receive the greater condemnation translates a construction in which God is the implied agent of the verb phrase will receive … condemnation. Accordingly, it is permissible to translate “because of this God will punish you all the more!” Greater condemnation is in comparison to the condemnation (Good News Translation “punishment”) that God will inflict upon others. In some languages the persons involved in the comparison must be expressed: “God will punish you more severely than he will punish others.”

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 .