housetops

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. )

shout from the rooftop

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.

complete verse (Matthew 10:27)

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 )

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.

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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 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).

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

Translation commentary on Matthew 10:27

This verse forms a parallel to verse 26.

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 .