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 10:40:
Uma: “‘Whoever receives you, it is the same as receiving Me. Whoever receives me, it is the same as receiving God, because He is the one who sent me.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘If a person treats you according-to-custom, I am being treated-according-to-custom. And if someone treats me according-to-custom, he also treats God according-to-custom, the one who sent me to the world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The person who receives you receives also me. And the one who receives me receives also God who sent me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Whoever receives you, I am the one he received, and the one who receives me, he also received the one who sent me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As the last part of this which Jesus was teaching, he said, ‘Really the one who receives and welcomes/treats you well, he is also receiving me. And the one who receives me, he is also receiving God who sent me to come here.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The one who will pay respect to you is the person who has done as though he paid respect to me. He who pays respect to me has done as though he paid respect to the one who sent me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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.
Japanese also uses a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms). Here, 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).
And lastly, Japanese uses an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” is used.
The Greek that is typically translated with a generic expressions such as “he who,” “whoever,” or “if anyone” in English is translated with the plural form (“they”) in Daga. “A literal translation of these conveys the idea that one specific unnamed individual is being discussed. Thus, for instance, in John 5:24 ‘he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life’ meant in Daga that there was one fortunate individual to whom it applied.”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
He who can be “The person who” or “Anyone who,” “Whoever,” or similar.
Receives (so also New English Bible) may be better translated “welcomes” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Phillips, Barclay); the verb was previously used in verse 14. Elsewhere in the New Testament it also has the meaning “receive in a hospitable manner” or “welcome as a guest.” See Mark 6.11; Luke 9.5, 53; 10.8, 10; John 4.45; Colossians 4.10; Hebrews 11.31.
Him who sent me is a reference to God, and so it may be translated “God who sent me” or “the Father who sent 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 .
He who receives you receives Me: In this context, the word receives refers to giving hospitality to someone. It refers to taking people into one’s house and caring for them by feeding them or helping them as they need it.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
Whoever accepts you also accepts me (New Century Version)
The words receives Me are somewhat figurative in meaning. The disciples were messengers of Jesus. So when someone received one of them into his house, it was as if this person received Jesus into his house. If people in your area will understand the words receives Me only in the sense of Jesus physically entering the house, you may want to make some changes. For example:
The person who takes care of you, it is as if he takes care of me.
10:40b
he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me: The phrase the One who sent Me refers to God the Father. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:
he who receives me receives ⌊the father⌋, who sent me
-or-
he who welcomes me welcomes ⌊God the Father⌋. He sent me.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.