your Father

The Greek that is translated as “your Father” in English (when Jesus refers to the God as the Father of his followers) is rendered as “our Father” in Tzotzil “so as to not exclude Jesus.” (Source: Marin Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff.)

See also Father (address for God).

Japanese honorifics (Matthew 10:20)

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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.” If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific.

Other uses of honorifics in this verse include:

  • In the case of the (Holy) Spirit, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used, as here in mi-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God).”
  • The choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms). 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).
  • The usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, hanas-are-ru (話される) or “speak” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

complete verse (Matthew 10:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:20:

  • Uma: “So, what you say at that time, is not from your own thinking. Your words will come/issue/appear from the Holy Spirit that your Father who is in heaven gave to you. He is the one who will make-clear-to you what you will say when you speak.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For what you will say is not from you but-rather the Spirit of your Father God who is there in your bodies/in you is the one speaking.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “What you say will not be words which come from your thinking, but rather it will come from the Holy Spirit whom our Father God sent. He will be the one to open your mouth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because it will not be yours whose words they are but rather the Spirit of God our Father.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because it won’t be you who will speak by yourselves, but on the contrary the Espiritu Santo who will be sent by your Father in heaven, he will be the one to put in your minds what you are to say.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Because the Holy Spirit will put in your minds the word which you will speak to the judge. It won’t be your own thoughts you figure out to speak.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 Translator 2002, 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.

Translation commentary on Matthew 10:20

For it is not you who speak is usually translated literally, but a literal translation may be misleading, since it could imply that the disciples themselves were not actually speaking. That is, the implication could be that something magical was happening, which would do injustice to the text. But the meaning is that, though the disciples themselves will perform the physical act of speaking, the inspiration for their words will in reality come from God and not from themselves. Among the modern English translations, only Phillips is helpful in this regard: “For it will not be really you who are speaking….”

The Spirit of your Father is an extremely difficult phrase. This is the only place in the New Testament where it occurs, and in every translation consulted it is reproduced literally. If the noun Spirit is problematic in the receptor language, then the phrase may be rendered “your Father himself” or “your heavenly Father himself.” It is also common for translators to identify the Spirit of your Father as the Holy Spirit, as in “the Spirit of God your Father in heaven” or “the Holy Spirit sent by God your Father (in heaven).”

The entire verse may be translated as follows: “You will speak, but the words you speak will come from your Father in heaven. He will give you the words to say, and when you speak, it will be as though he were speaking through you.”

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 .