Translation commentary on Matthew 10:32

So every one who acknowledges me before men: Barclay translates “If anyone publicly acknowledges his loyalty to me in front of his fellow men,” and Jerusalem Bible “So if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men.” Since one’s acknowledgment of Jesus involves not only words but a direction of life, Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition translates, “Whoever holds to me in front of people.” The meaning may also be expressed “Whoever is willing to live his life for me in this world.” Other common renderings are “Whoever declares publicly that he is my follower” or “… that he belongs to me.”

I will also acknowledge (him) before my Father who is in heaven is in a balanced arrangement with the first half of the verse. Since this refers to the final judgment, when God sits on his throne to judge all people, the clause may be rendered “I will intercede for him on the day of final judgment, when my heavenly Father judges all people.”

Often translators try to make this second part of the verse use a similar form to that of the first: “I will also declare to my Father in heaven (on the Day of Judgment) that that person is my follower” or “… belongs to me.”

It may be better in some languages to use direct speech, as in “… declares ‘I follow Jesus’ ” and “… I will say to my Father, ‘That person follows me.’ ”

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 10:32

Paragraph 10:32–33

10:32a

Therefore: This paragraph is the conclusion to the previous verses about persecution. Jesus told his disciples not to be afraid of persecution. Therefore, they must not deny him in front of their persecutors.

Here are some other ways to introduce this conclusion:

So in conclusion
-or-
So (English Standard Version)

Introduce this conclusion in a natural way in your language.

everyone who confesses Me before men: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as confesses means “acknowledge,” “admit” or “declare publicly.” In this context, this clause refers to publicly declaring that Jesus is the Savior and that he believes in Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Those who declare publicly that they belong to me (Good News Translation)
-or-
If you tell others that you belong to me (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
All those who stand before others and say they believe in me (New Century Version)

men: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates men is general and refers to people.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

people
-or-
others

10:32b

I will also confess him: This clause refers to Jesus declaring that the person of 10:32a is his true follower. He belongs in heaven.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

I will do the same for them (Good News Translation)
-or-
I will tell my Father in heaven that you are my followers. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
I will say before my Father in heaven that they belong to me. (New Century Version)

before: In this context, the word before refers to being physically in front of God.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

in the presence of (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
in front of (God’s Word)

My Father in heaven: This phrase refers to God.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

my heavenly Father
-or-
my Father who ⌊lives⌋ in heaven

-or-

my Father ⌊God⌋ in heaven

© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.