envy / envious

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is translated as “envy” or “envious” in most English translations is, according to Nida (1952, p. 134), translated into Tzeltal and Tabasco Chontal in the following manner:

“Envy is bred of covetousness and self-centeredness. The Tzeltals, who recognize a covetous man as having a ‘small heart,’ say that an envious person has ‘a greedy heart.’ ‘Small hearts’ and ‘greedy hearts’ go together, and the soul shrinks in direct proportion to its greediness. The envious person is never satisfied, for he can never keep step with his own insatiable ego.

“The Chontal Indians, living in the low, swampy delta land of Tabasco in southern Mexico, regard envy in a more subtle way. They say of the man who is envious of his neighbor, ‘He did not want to see his neighbor.’ This describes the end result of envy. People cannot bear to see others enjoying the privileges which they insist should be their own. The envious man has acquired such a self-directed stare that he cannot take his eyes off self to see another’s enjoyment.”

In Central Mazahua is is translated as “jealous of each other, their fellow people,” in Sayula Popoluca as “hate those who have something” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), in Matumbi as sukya, which means “envy” but also “hate” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext), and in Kupsabiny as “blackstomached” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation).

complete verse (Matthew 27:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 27:18:

  • Uma: “Pilatus said like that because he knew that Yesus wasn’t guilty; the Yahudi leaders had turned Yesus over to him just because they were jealous.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He asked them like this because he knew, that the leaders of the Yahudi had handed Isa over to him because they were jealous of Isa.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because Pilate knew that the reason that the leaders had accused Jesus was their jealousy of him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That’s what he inquired, because he knew that the leaders of the Jews had handed-over Jesus to him because of their envy.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because Pilato was already aware that envy was the reason for which they had brought Jesus to him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Pilate said this because he wanted to release Jesus. For he knew that it was from jealousy that the priests had delivered Jesus to him.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 27:18

In this concluding verse of the second scene, Good News Translation has done considerable restructuring:
(1) Knew is given the English idiomatic equivalent “knew very well” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant).
(2) They are fully identified as “the Jewish authorities,” (Good News Translation) though on the basis of verse 12 it is also possible to render “the chief priests and the elders.” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch retains the impersonal force of the Greek by translating they as “one.”)
(3) “To him,” though not in the Greek text, is introduced for the sake of clarity; it will be required in some languages.
(4) The noun construction out of envy (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible “out of jealousy”) is altered to a verb construction, “because they were jealous.” But even this may have to be expanded in some languages to “because they were jealous of Jesus.”

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 .