betray

The Greek that is translated as “betray” in English does not have an immediately corresponding term in Tado. The term that was chosen there was “sell.” (Source: Budy Karmoy in this blog post )

complete verse (Matthew 10:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:21:

  • Uma: “‘The time will come, all people will hate you because of your following of Me. There will be people who will give their own relatives or children to be killed because of their following of Me. There will also be children who oppose their parents and kill them. But people who are faithful believing in Me until the end [lit., all], they will receive goodness/salvation in the future.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘In the future there will be people who hand their siblings over and command them to be killed. There will also be children whose fathers will hand them over to be killed. And the children will be the enemies of their parents and they will command their parents to be killed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “At that time there will be people who will cause their siblings to be killed. There will also be fathers who will cause their children to be killed. There will be people who will be against and will cause their parents to be killed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘At that time, there will be those who betray a brother to the rulers in order that they will kill them. The same with fathers who will betray their children to the rulers in order that they will kill them. The children also, they will oppose their fathers and mothers and have-them-killed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really because of me, a brother who has believed will be caused to be killed by his brother who has no belief. Like that indeed will be done by a father to his own child. And a child will fight/go-against his parent who has believed. He won’t just fight/go-against him but will cause him to be killed too.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Men who believe in me will be accused by their brothers who do not believe in me, that they will be killed. Fathers, when their children believe in me, will deliver up their children to be killed. Children, when their parents believe in me, will deliver up their parents to be killed.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 10:21

Deliver up: see verses 17, 19; the verb is discussed in 4.12. Here the brothers are to be delivered up to death, so it can be rendered “will hand over their brothers to the authorities to be killed.”

Instead of Brother … brother, many translations will have “Men (or, Some men) … their brothers,” as Good News Translation has. Other languages will render the sentence “It will happen that men will hand over their own brothers to the authorities to be killed.”

The father his child is problematic for at least two reasons: (1) the inclusion of the definite article the in a context that is unnatural in English and (2) the omission of the understood verb. Moffatt resolves the second of these problems by translating “the father will betray his child”; Good News Translation deals with both difficulties: “and fathers will do the same to their children.” However, in some languages to mention both “fathers” and “children” would be unnecessarily redundant, so that “men … their own children” would be better. Again, there are languages where it will be necessary to say “some men” or “some fathers.”

It may be necessary to repeat the verb “deliver up to death” or use a form such as “will do the same thing.”

Children will rise against parents and have them put to death represents a fairly literal rendering of the Greek text. In place of rise against (Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible), a number of translators prefer “turn against” (Good News Translation, An American Translation, New English Bible, New American Bible, Phillips); Barclay has “attack (and murder).” Elsewhere in the New Testament the verb is used only in Mark 13.12; the root meaning is “rise in rebellion” (see its usage in the Septuagint of Deut 33.11). For this reason, rise against can also be rendered as “rebel against.”

Have them put to death means the children will have the authorities kill the parents, or that they will turn them over to the authorities who will kill them, very much as men will do with their brothers at the beginning of the verse. As with brothers and fathers, “some children … their parents” or “some people … their parents” will be clearer than a translation that can be understood to mean all children.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 10:21

Paragraph 10:21–23

10:21a

Brother will betray brother to death: This clause indicates that siblings will betray one another. In some languages, it will be more natural to use the plural “Brothers” here.

The word Brother can refer to any older or younger brother. If your language has specific words for older brother and younger brother, you can translate Brother and brother in one of the following ways:

An older brother will deliver over his younger brother
-or-
A younger brother will deliver over his older brother
-or-

⌊Some⌋ people will deliver over their younger brothers and older brothers

will betray…to death: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as betray…to is the same Greek word that occurs in 10:19a. Someone who does not believe in Jesus will hand over his believing brother to people who will kill him.

Here are some other ways to translate this entire clause:

People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death (Good News Translation)
-or-
A brother will give his brother ⌊who believes in me⌋ ⌊to those who will put him⌋ to death
-or-
People will betray their siblings ⌊who believe in me⌋ to those who will kill them

10:21b

and a father his child: Some words from the previous clause are implied but not repeated here. You may need to repeat some of those words here. Or you may need to use words that indicate the same action as the previous clause. For example:

and a father ⌊will hand over his⌋ child ⌊to be put to death⌋
-or-
and fathers ⌊will give⌋ their children ⌊to those who will kill them⌋
-or-
and men ⌊will betray⌋ their own children

In this context, the father is not a believer, and the child is a believer. In some languages, it may be necessary to include some of this implied information. For example:

a father ⌊who does not believe⌋ ⌊will hand over⌋ his child ⌊who believes⌋ ⌊to be put to death⌋

10:21c

children will rise against their parents: The verb rise against means “oppose or fight against people in power.”

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

oppose
-or-
turn against (Good News Translation)
-or-
rebel against (New International Version)

In this context, the children are older children, not infants. If the word children in your language only indicates young children, you may have to use another word. For example:

people will rebel against their parents

These children are not believers, and the parents are believers. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:

children will oppose their parents ⌊who believe in me⌋
-or-

⌊non-believing⌋ people will rebel against their ⌊believing⌋ parents

have them put to death: This phrase indicates that children will give their parents to authorities who will judge them guilty and cause them to be killed.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

cause them to be killed (New Living Translation (2004))

-or-

and have them killed (Contemporary English Version)

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