16“And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
The Greek and Hebrew terms that are translated as “hypocrite” in English typically have a counterpart in most languages. According to Bratcher / Nida (1961, p. 225), they can be categorized into the following categories:
those which employ some concept of “two” or “double”
those which make use of some expression of “mouth” or “speaking”
those which are based upon some special cultural feature
those which employ a non-metaphorical phrase
Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:
Mazahua: “have a swollen mouth” (from too much speaking)
Tai Dam: “have a straight mouth and a crooked heart”
Kongo: “the bitterness of white” (an idiom based on the fact that white-wash looks nice but tastes bitter)
Merina Malagasy: “spread a clean carpet” (an expression used in Madagascar to describe one who covers up the dirt of an unswept floor just before the arrival of guests)
Zanaki: “those who make themselves out to be good”
Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “those who deceive” (this and all examples above acc. to Bratcher / Nida 1961, p. 225)
Kafa: “one who makes as if his belly is clean” (source: Loren Bliese)
Bauzi: “good on top person” (source: David Briley in Kroneman (2004), p. 502)
Tibetan: kha chos pa (ཁ་ཆོས་པ།), lit. “mouth + religion + person” (used for instance in Matt. 7:5) or sgyu zog can (སྒྱུ་ཟོག་ཅན།), lit. “deception + fraud + person” (used for instance in Matt. 24:51) (source: gSungrab website )
Low German: “actor in a comedy” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
Lélé: ne kub so or “make mouth two” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Latvian term liekulis was likely coined by the Bible translation of Ernst Glück (1654–1705) in the late 17th century and is still being used today (source ).
The English version of Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “play-actor.” She explains (p. li): “A hupokrites is fundamentally an actor. The word has deep negativity in the Gospels on two counts: professional actors were not respectable people in the ancient world, and traditional Judaism did not countenance any kind of playacting. I write ‘play-actor’ throughout.”
The Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “fast” in English is translated in Isthmus Mixe as “going without food to worship God,” in Lacandon as “leaving eating in order to talk to God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.), in Vidunda as “resting to eat” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), and in Kankanaey as “endure hunger” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation).
The Greek that is often translated in English as “truly, truly, I tell you” or similar is translated in the Russian BTI translation (publ. 2015) as Поверьте Мне (Pover’te Mne) or “trust me.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 6:16:
Uma: “‘When fasting, don’t act-glum like the people who are just good on the outside. When they fast, they act-glum and purposely do not wash-their-faces or comb-their-hair, so that others see that they are fasting. Remember: because they have already received the praise of others/companions, they will no longer receive anything from God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘When you fast do not give the appearance of being sad like the people who pretend. For when they fast they do not wash (their faces) or comb so that the people see that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, when the people praise them, they are already rewarded and that is their reward.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when you abstain from eating because you are praying to God, don’t let it be known through the appearance of your face like the people who want other people to praise them. They wander around and they don’t wash their face and they don’t comb their hair so that people might know they are abstaining from eating. I tell you that they have already received people’s praise of them, and there is no, other reward which they will receive from God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus continued saying, ‘In your fasting (lit. restraining your hunger), don’t show that (you) are sad like the hypocrites. Because they like people to know that they are fasting, therefore they don’t wash-their -faces and comb-their -hair. This that I tell you is true: they have already gained their reward.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Something else also that I will say to you (pl.) is, when you are fasting, don’t make your face like you are grieving, as is the custom of the people who are pretending that they are obeying the will of God. For what they do is, they don’t fix-up their bodies, so that others will know that they are fasting. It’s really true that they have already received their reward.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “when you want to fast, do not go about looking sad like the people do who do not do what they are doing from the heart. These appear to be sad while they fast, wanting people to see what they are doing. But truly I tell you that in that people look well on what they are doing, that is all the wages they get.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 6:16-18:
When worshiping God, don’t pretend to be pious!
No need to give up eating and inform others,
or leave your clothes unkept and your hair uncombed.
Your Father above sees through the veneer,
so be patient! Your reward is waiting for you!
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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