beget (was the father of)

The Greek that is translated as “beget” (or “begat” in the past tense) in older English versions and “was the father of” in more recent ones is translated into Latvian with dzemdināt: “make to give birth” (from dzemdēt “give birth”).

genealogy in Matthew 1

Genealogies play an important role among many of Indonesian language groups and it’s important to follow the right format to make them recognizable as such. Daniel Arichea explains (in The Bible Translator 1986. p. 232ff. ):

“In translating the genealogies, we need to pay attention to the standard form of genealogical lists in the language of translation. Among the Bataks, it was discovered after some research that the genealogies are recorded in the form of a list of ancestors. Furthermore, this list almost always starts from the ancestor and goes down to the descendants. This seems to be true also for many other Indonesian groups, although there are some variations. For the genealogies to have meaning among the Bataks and other groups of similar cultures, these genealogies must be in a form which is appropriate.

“In Matthew 1:2-16, the biblical form is strange to many Indonesians. (…) The second edition of the Common Language Indonesian New Testament (Alkitab dalam Bahasa Indonesia Masa Kini) discarded the biblical form and came out with a series of ancestral lists. (…) When this was tested, however, many Indonesians did not recognize these lists as genealogical lists, but saw them simply as a list of names. In the light of such reactions, the new edition which is included in the recently published common language Bible has printed these lists as genealogical lists moving downward from the ancestors to the descendants. Thus, verse 2 reads: “From Abraham until David, the names of the ancestors of Jesus are as follows” [which is then followed by a list].”

You can see this in the following screen capture (available right here ):



Similarly to that, Joanne Shetler (1992) describes the impact of the genealogy in the Balangao language of the Philippines:

“Then one day Ama [the co-translator and Christian leader] casually picked up an English New Testament from my shipping-crate desk. He opened it to the first page, Matthew 1, which is a list of names. He stood frozen, staring at it. Incredulous, he asked me, ‘You mean this has a genealogy in it?’

“I said, ‘Yeah, but just skip over that so you can get to the good part.’

“‘You mean this is true?’ he asked. Eyes riveted to the page, he struggled through the list of names.

“Something’s going on here! I got some shelf paper and made a genealogy from Adam to Jesus, from the ceiling clear down to the floor. Ama took it all over the village. He carefully explained, ‘We always thought it was the rock and the banana plant that gave birth to people. But we don’t have their names written down. Look, here are ALL the names—written down!’

“Balangaos had their own creation story, passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. Ama told me their story:

“Long ago, when there were no people yet on the earth, the rock and the banana plant argued as to which of them would give birth to people and populate the earth. In the course of events, it was the frail banana plant from whom all the people of the earth descended. After producing fruit, the banana plant dies and new shoots spring up for succeeding generations. People have inherited all the frailty of the banana plant and are susceptible to all kinds of dangers and inevitably, death.

“Although their story accounted for man’s frailty, it didn’t have their ancestors’ names written down. A genealogy written was powerful. Balangaos loved that genealogy from the Gospel of Matthew. It proved the Bible was true: for the first time they had the actual names from the beginning of the world — written down.

In the Kölsch translation (Boch 2017), the genealogy is summarized: “From Abraham to David there were fourteen generations. There were another fourteen generations from David until the Jews were deported to Babylon and from Babylon to Jesus there were yet another fourteen generations. This shows that Joseph (Jupp), Mary’s husband, was a descendant of Abraham and David.” (Translation: Jost Zetzsche)

complete verse (Matthew 1:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 1:11:

  • Uma: “Yosia was the progenitor of Yekhonya and his relatives/siblings. At that time the Yahudi people were taken-captive going to Babel.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his siblings. That was the time when the Babylonians carried the Israelites to Babylon.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And Josias was the father of Jeconias and his siblings at the time that the Jews had-been-forcibly taken to Babilonia.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Josias was the father of Jeconias and his brothers. At that time, the Israelita were captured/taken-prisoner by the taga Babilonia.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Josiah was the father of Jechoniah along with others of his brothers. This was at the time when the Jews were grabbed and taken to the land of Babylon.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 1:11

Jechoniah and “Jehoiachin” (Good News Translation) are the same person, but Good News Bible has adopted the principle of following the more familiar name of a person rather than maintaining both names for the same individual (see, for example, the following verses, where Jehoiachin is referred to as Jechoniah in the Old Testament: 1 Chr 3.16, 17; Est 2.6; Jer 24.1; 27.20; 28.4; 29.2). See the comments on names in 1.1.

The phrase and his brothers is perhaps based on the text of 1 Chronicles 3.15, where the names of Jechoniah’s brothers are listed. The brothers of Jechoniah are not as important in the tradition of the people of Israel as the brothers of Judah in verse 2. In languages that have one word for both brothers and sisters, translators should say “Jehoiachin and his male siblings” or “Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and other sons.”

At the time of the deportation to Babylon is rendered “when the people of Israel were taken into exile in Babylon” by Good News Translation and introduced earlier (verse 6b). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“This was at the time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were carried off to Babylon”) and Bible en français courant (“at the time when the Israelites were deported to Babylon”) provide a dynamic restructuring of the last part of this verse. The mention of the Babylonian exile closes the second division of the genealogical list.

Deportation is a concept many cultures understand far too readily and for which they have a way of speaking. In many cases the word for it is understood to mean “carried into slavery.” If possible the real emphasis should be on exile rather than on slavery. There are languages where the idea is expressed with two or more verbs, as in “At the time when the Israelites were conquered and forced to go live in Babylon” or “At that time, the Babylonians forced the Israelites to go live in their country.” Of course, translators must make sure that it does not sound as if the Israelites were literally picked up and carried to Babylon.

Most CLTs make it clear who was deported, that is, the people of Israel, and some languages also have to indicate who did it, by saying “the Babylonians forced….”

Babylon refers to both the city and the country around it. In modern writings the city is commonly referred to as “Babylon,” while the country of which it is the capital is called “Babylonia.” Translators should use terms that are consistent for their own languages. Since not all the Israelites were made to live in the city, it may be best to say “the country of Babylonia” or, as above, “in their country.”

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 .