It may be necessary to start the verse with a phrase such as “This is what he was saying,” “He was telling the people,” or “He was preaching that….” What he was saying will be either in direct speech (as in Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version) or indirect, as in “He was preaching that people should repent.” It depends on what is more natural.
Repent: the root meaning of the Old Testament word for “repent” is “turn away from sin,” and so the basis for Good News Translation “Turn away from your sins.” New American Bible translates “Reform your lives!” which is similar to the rendering of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. When translating Repent, it is important to realize that it does not mean simply “to be sorry about” or “to regret,” but rather involves a change of both attitude (or heart) and of conduct. This is why translators have used expressions such as “Turn your back on your sinning,” “Change your way of living,” or “Turn away from your bad actions.”
Kingdom of heaven: most biblical scholars would agree with the statement in the new Oxford Annotated Bible: “The Kingdom of heaven is Matthew’s usual way of expressing the equivalent phrase, ‘the Kingdom of God,’ found in parallel accounts in the other Gospels.” Fortunately, as far as translation is concerned, it is not important to decide on which was the original term, so long as it can be agreed that the two terms are identical in meaning. A number of CLTs have already adopted the policy of rendering both phrases in the same way. New American Bible in a number of places translates “the Kingdom of Heaven” as “the Reign of God,” and here, at the first occurrence of the term in the New Testament, gives a note: “… literally, ‘the Kingdom of heaven.’ ‘Heaven’ is a conventional expression which avoids using the divine name. The term invokes God’s sovereign authority over the human race. It announces that a new intervention of God is beginning in history which invites Israel to accept the prophetic manifestation of his will through the baptizer.” The Dutch common language version (Bijbel in Gewone Taal) sometimes translates “Kingdom of God” instead of “Kingdom of heaven,” while still other translations utilize a glossary to make the identity clear: Bible en français courant, INCL, and Good News Translation.
It is also fairly well accepted among biblical scholars that the term “Kingdom of God,” both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, has as its primary meaning “God’s kingly rule.” That is, the basic emphasis is on the actual rule of God as an activity, rather than on the realm or territory over which he rules.
Although the central meaning of these two phrases is the kingly rule of God, the focus may be different in various contexts. For example, in the New Testament it is used in at least the following ways: (1) Focus on the activity of God in bringing about his rule in the world. An example of this is the present verse. Here the emphasis is on the fact that God will soon begin (or has already begun) his rule in this world. (2) Focus on the acceptance of God’s rule in one’s life. An illustration of this use is found in 19.23-26 (parallels Mark 10.23 and Luke 18.24), which Revised Standard Version translates “it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” The meaning of this passage is “it will be hard for a rich man to submit himself to God’s rule.” (3) Focus on the enjoyment of the blessings or quality of life experienced under God’s rule. Matthew 5.3 falls under this category. (4) Focus on the consummation of God’s activity in bringing about his rule in this world. (5) Focus on the idea of the community of God’s people, as in “enter the kingdom.”
Too often, translators have chosen a way of translating kingdom which emphasizes the territory of a king. If a word can be found which means “rule,” “reign,” or “kingship,” it will be better. Many translators have found it best to use a verb; for example, “God rules.” In these cases the translation of “Kingdom of God (or, of heaven)” varies greatly as translators construct different sentences for the various contexts of the phrase. We will discuss these as we come to them throughout the Gospel.
In most areas it will not be readily seen that “heaven” represents “God” in this expression. Further, it seems odd to speak of “the rule (or, reign) of heaven” or to say “heaven rules.” Therefore most translators will use “kingdom of God” or “rule of God,” and so forth, as in Mark and Luke.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand may be discussed together with 4.17 (parallel Mark 1.15), since the passages are identical and so present the same exegetical and translational problems. Matthew 4.17 repeats Matthew 3.2 word for word, and Mark 1.15 is the same except that it has “kingdom of God” in place of “kingdom of heaven.” The basic exegetical problem in this statement relates to the interpretation of the Greek verb is at hand (literally “has approached”); that is, whether it indicates that the Kingdom of God has already arrived or that it is soon to arrive. Most modern translations and commentators seem to prefer the second of these two alternatives, and it is the recommended meaning to accept (New English Bible “is upon you”; New Jerusalem Bible “is close at hand”; Moffatt “is near”; An American Translation “is coming”; Barclay “is almost here”). Revised Standard Version and New American Bible are ambiguous (“is at hand”), but Phillips follows the first exegesis (“has arrived”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch evidently also accepts the exegesis that God’s rule is imminent, though not yet present, and restructures the verse entirely: “God will now accomplish his work and establish his rule.” The Malay common language version has “God will soon establish his rule.” In cultures where the concept of a rule connotes something evil or oppressive, one may want to translate “the time is near when God will come to save his people,” since salvation, as opposed to judgment, is primary in the meaning of God’s kingly rule.
Some languages can leave the sentence abstract, as in “God’s reign will begin soon” or “God’s rule will soon be established.” Others will make “God” an active agent, as in the examples above from Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Malay common language version, “God will soon establish his reign (or, rule).” Other translations say “God will soon rule” or “The time is near when God will rule.”
In many languages, however, it is necessary to specify over who or what God will rule, as in “rule over the world,” “rule over us,” or “rule over people.”
The relationship between the two things John was saying is shown by the word for. John tells the people that the reason they should repent is that soon God’s rule will be established. Presumably, if they do not repent they will not be a part of that rule. Most translators will show this relation in a way similar to Good News Translation or Revised Standard Version, with “for” or “because.” Other languages, however, will more naturally say “God’s rule will soon be established. For that reason, you should repent.”
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 .