The Greek that is translated in English “housetops” or similar in English is translated in Central Mazahua as “where you meet your fellowmen,” in Sranan Tongo as “street corners,” and in Batak Toba as “the place under the tree” (i.e. a place outside the village, where people gather to discuss public matters.) (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Enlhet, “shouting from the housetops” “does not mean ‘a public announcement’ but rather ‘an omen announcing an evil spirit attack upon the village.’ The public announcement is expressed with a different form to announce in front of the house.” (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 169ff. )
In French, the phrase criez-le sur les toits or “shout it from the rooftops” is today used as an idiom for “to tell everyone” (source: Muller 1991, p. 16). It is also used in German (Etwas von den (or: allen) Dächern rufen), Dutch (Van de daken schreeuwen), and of course English.
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 Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:27:
Uma: “‘What I say to you that other people do not listen to, you must speak/tell to all people. What I just whisper to you in your ear, say clearly in the ears of the people/crowd.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Whatever I tell you at night, tell it in daytime, and whatever you hear when it is you only/in private, spread it to the people in the market.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The things which I say which you alone have heard, tell them to everybody. That which I whisper to you, spread it to all people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “What I have been saying to you that no one (else) was able-to-hear, it is necessary that you make-known to the many-people. What moreover I have been whispering to you, it is necessary that you shout it so that many-people will hear it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The things I am saying to you when you are the only ones I am teaching, you must make them known to all people. My teachings that only you heard, you are to teach them to everyone.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “These words I tell alone to you, you must tell to all the people. These words I whisper in your ears will be heard in all the towns.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Amele: “(What) I tell you secretly in the dark tell in daylight before the eyes of men. (What) I whisper to you and you hear tell all people while standing on the house ridgepole.” (Source: John Roberts in this article )
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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).
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
What I tell you may be “the things I am telling you.”
Dark may be “in secret” or “in private.” To say “in the night” would probably not reflect the meaning of Jesus here.
Light is translated “broad daylight” by Good News Translation and New English Bible, while New Jerusalem Bible has “daylight.” Light can also be understood to mean “publicly,” “where everyone can hear you.”
The order of the sentence may have to be reversed, as in “You must repeat in daylight (or, in public) the things I am telling you privately.”
What you hear whispered is literally “what you hear in the ears”; Good News Translation has “what you have heard in private.” To avoid a passive sentence, this sentence can also be rendered “what I have told you in private” or “what things we have talked about just among us.”
The (flat) housetops were frequently used as a place from which public announcements were made, and so the contrast in this part of the verse is also evident. What Jesus tells his disciples in private is to be made known in the most public way possible. Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition translates “and what is whispered in your ears, you must make known to all the world.” Another possible model is “… you must announce to all the world.”
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 .
Verse 10:27a–b is also a parallelism. In this particular parallelism, the ideas in 10:27a are repeated in 10:27b using different words.
The parallel parts in 10:27a–b that are similar in meaning are shown here:
27a What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight;
27b what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.
In some languages, people will think that the parallel parts in 10:27a–b describe different events. In other words, they will think that “What I tell you in the dark” and “what is whispered” describe different events. And they will think that “speak in the light” and “proclaim from the housetops” also describe different events.
If that is true in your language, you should:
• Indicate that both parts of the clause refer to the same thing. For example:
27aWhat I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight.
27b
⌊I repeat,⌋ what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.
• Combine the parallel parts and emphasize it in some way. For example:
What I have told you in secret, you must now tell people publicly.
10:27a
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight: Here, the words in the dark figuratively refer to “in private” or “in secret.” The words in the daylight figuratively refer to “in public.” Jesus told his disciples to announce publicly the things that he had taught them in private.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
• Keep the figurative language. For example:
the things I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight
• Translate the meaning directly without using any figurative speech. For example:
The things I tell you privately, tell them publicly.
• Explain the meaning in a footnote. Here is a sample footnote:
Jesus figuratively used the word dark for “privately,” and the word daylight for “publicly.”
10:27b
The Greek of 10:27b begins with a conjunction that is often translated as “and.” It is the same conjunction that is used in 10:26c to connect that verse with 10:26b. It indicates that 10:27a and 10:27b have similar meanings. The Berean Standard Bible omits this conjunction, but implies the connection between 10:27a and 10:27b by using a semicolon (;) at the end of 10:27a. Other English versions translate the conjunction. For example:
and (English Standard Version)
Another way to show this is:
I repeat
what is whispered in your ear: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as what is whispered in your ear is literally “what you hear in the ear” (as in the King James Version). This clause has a similar meaning to “what I tell you in the dark” in 10:27a. It refers to the things that Jesus has told his disciples alone in private.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
what is whispered in your ear (New International Version)
• Use an active verb. For example:
What I whisper in your ear (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
what you have heard in private (Good News Translation)
proclaim from the housetops: This clause has a similar meaning to the clause “speak in the daylight” in 10:27a. It refers to announcing something publicly.
Jewish houses of that time had flat roofs. People often went up and stood on these flat roofs to announce important messages.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
• Keep the cultural information and include some implied information. For example:
announce it ⌊publicly⌋ from ⌊your flat⌋ rooftops
• Translate the meaning without mentioning the place. For example:
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