lame

The Greek that is translated as “lame” in English is translated in various ways:

leprosy, leprous

Click here to view graphically

The Greek and Hebrew terms that are often translated as “leprosy (or: defiling/skin disease)” or “leprous (person)” in English is translated in Mairasi as “the bad sickness,” since “leprosy is very common in the Mairasi area” (source: Enggavoter 2004).

Following are various other translations:

  • Shilluk: “disease of animals”
  • San Mateo Del Mar Huave: “devil sore” (this and the above are indigenous expressions)
  • Inupiaq: “decaying sores”
  • Kaqchikel: “skin-rotting disease” (source for this and three above: Eugene Nida in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 34f. )
  • Noongar: “bad skin disease” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Usila Chinantec “sickness like mal de pinta” (a skin disease involving discoloration by loss of pigment) (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Hiligaynon: “dangerous skin disease” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “fearful skin disease” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “terrible rotting” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Newari: “infectious skin disease” (source: Newari Back Translation)

Targumim (or: Targums) are translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic. They were translated and used when Jewish congregations increasingly could not understand the biblical Hebrew anymore. Targum Onqelos (also: Onkelos) is the name of the Aramaic translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) probably composed in Israel/Palestine in the 1st or 2nd century CE and later edited in Babylon in the 4th or 5th century, making it reflect Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. It is the most famous Aramaic translation and was widely used throughout the Jewish communities. In Leviticus 13 and 14 it translates tzaraat as a “quarantining affliction” — focusing “on what occurs to individuals after they suffer the affliction; the person is isolated from the community.” (Source: Israel Drazin in this article ). Similarly, the English Jewish Orthodox ArtScroll Tanach translation (publ. 2011) transliterates it as tzaraat affliction.

See also stricken and leprosy healed.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Leprosy (Word Study) and Bible Translations Are for People .

complete verse (Matthew 11:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 11:5:

  • Uma: “The blind see, the lame walk straight, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead people I made live again, and the Good News I announce to people whose lives are pitiful.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Tell him that the blind see already/now, the crippled walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead live again and the good news are proclaimed to the people who are to be pitied.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘Go back to John and tell him what you’ve seen that I have done and what you’ve heard that I have spoken. What you should tell him is that because of me the blind can already see, the lame can already walk, lepers are cured, and deaf people are now able to hear. I have raised the dead, and I have caused the Good News to be understood by poor people. Far better off is the person who does not doubt that I am the one God sent.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “that the blind, they are-able-to-see, the lame, they can-walk, those who have a fearful skin disease, they have-become-well, the deaf, they can-hear, the dead, they have-lived again, and the good news, it is being preached to the poor.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “that the blind can now see, the lame can now walk, the leprosy of the lepers has now stopped, the deaf can now hear, and even those already dead are living again, and the Good News is being taught to the low-class/insignificant.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Tell him that the blind now see. The lame now walk. The people whose bodies were rotting now have been healed. The deaf now hear. The dead now have been resurrected. The poor have been told the good news.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 11:5

Both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version end verse 4 with a colon to indicate that the list in verse 5 is what John’s disciples are seeing and hearing. In many languages the normal way to show this relation is to begin the verse with a phrase such as “These things are…” or “The things you see and hear are that the blind people are made to see….”

Traduction œcuménique de la Bible indicates that Jesus is quoting Isaiah here by putting the verse in italics. However, because the list is only partially from Isaiah, and from different places in Isaiah (as we point out above), then it is probably not necessary to do this. A footnote will be helpful, however.

The phrase the blind receive their sight may be rendered “people who are blind can see” or “… are made to see.” However, some languages prefer to indicate the agent, as in “I make blind people see.”

Actually it may be necessary to indicate the agent throughout this verse, as in “I make lame people walk, I make lepers clean, I make deaf people hear, I raise people to life, and I am preaching the Good News to the poor.” However, the focus as it stands in the text is on these unfortunate people who are having something good done to them, and the rendering as above will result in some loss of this. So a translation such as “the blind people can see, crippled people can now walk … and poor people can now listen to the proclamation of the Good News” will be better.

Note that the blind does not mean all the blind people, but rather those who came to Jesus for help. “People who are blind” or “blind people” will be good translations. This is also the case with the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor.

It may also be necessary to put the blindness in the past tense, as “people who were blind can now see.” This will be equally true for the lame walk. “People who were crippled can now walk” will be a good rendering. Similarly, lepers can be “those who were lepers,” the deaf can be “those who were deaf,” and the dead is translated “people who had died.” Presumably, however, the poor remain poor.

Lepers are cleansed: see comments on 8.2.

Poor translates the same word discussed in 5.3. In this context it should be translated simply as “poor people,” that is, people who are destitute. It is not referring to spiritual poverty here.

Have good news preached (literally “are evangelized”) translates a verb which occurs more than twenty-five times in Luke–Acts, but only here in Matthew.

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 11:5

11:5

In 11:5 Jesus referred to the prophecies in Isaiah 35:5–6 and 61:1. These verses in Isaiah tell about things that would happen when the Christ, the Messiah, came. Jesus was doing these things. So he mentioned them to answer the disciples of John and to show them that he was the Christ.

11:5a

The blind receive sight: This clause refers to blind people whom Jesus healed and so they began seeing.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

The blind are seeing
-or-
People who were blind can now see
-or-

⌊I heal⌋ the blind ⌊and so⌋ now they are able to see

the lame walk: The word lame refers to those who could not walk or use their legs properly.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

the crippled are walking
-or-
people who had crippled legs can now walk
-or-

⌊I heal⌋ those with bad legs ⌊and so⌋ now they are able to walk

11:5b

the lepers are cleansed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as cleansed means “healed” in this context. For example:

People with leprosy are being healed (Contemporary English Version)

This clause is passive. Here are some other ways to translate it:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

the lepers are cured (New Living Translation (2004))

• Use another type of verb. For example:

⌊I⌋ heal people who have leprosy
-or-
People with leprosy are well again

the lepers: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the lepers refers to people who have various kinds of infectious skin diseases. It probably included the disease that we call leprosy today. Leprosy turns the skin white and the affected skin eventually dies.

Here is another way to translate this word:

those who have leprosy (New International Version)

If you are in an area where leprosy is not known, you can:

• Use a general term for a skin disease. For example:

⌊dreaded/serious⌋ skin disease

• Use a term for another specific type of serious skin disease. For example:

skin fungus

11:5c

the deaf hear: This clause refers to deaf people whom Jesus healed and so they began hearing.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

the deaf are hearing
-or-

⌊I heal⌋ deaf people ⌊and so⌋ now they are able to hear

the dead are raised: In this context, the word raised refers to causing a dead person to “live again.”

This clause is passive. Here are some other ways to translate it:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

dead people are brought back to life (God’s Word)

• Use a verb that is not passive. For example:

Dead people are living again
-or-

⌊I⌋ make dead people alive again

General Comment on 11:5a–c

The healing in 11:5a–c refers to miracles of healing. These clauses do not refer to healing as a doctor heals people through medicine or surgery.

If people in your area will think that the healing refers to the way a doctor heals, you may want to:

• Include some implied information. For example:

The blind ⌊miraculously⌋ receive sight, the lame ⌊are miraculously cured and⌋ walk, those who have leprosy are ⌊miraculously⌋ cured, the deaf ⌊are miraculously cured and⌋ hear, the dead are ⌊miraculously⌋ raised ⌊and live again⌋.

• Include a footnote. For example:

All these healings are miracles that Jesus did.

11:5d

the good news is preached to the poor: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as good news is preached refers to the gospel. This is the good news that God has made a way to save sinful people through Jesus.

This verb is passive. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

the Good News is being preached to the poor (New Living Translation (2004))

• Use an active verb. For example:

and poor people hear the Good News (God’s Word)
-or-

⌊I⌋ am preaching the Good News to the poor

the poor: This phrase refers to people who are in poverty. They have little money and other physical things. Here this phrase does not refer to those who are “poor in spirit.”

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

poor people (God’s Word)

General Comment on 11:5a–d

If it is not clear in your language that Jesus’ answer showed that he was the one who was to come (11:3), you may want to explain it in a footnote at the end of 11:5. Here is a sample footnote:

The deeds spoken of in 11:5 are deeds that Jesus had been doing. These deeds matched the prophecies in the Old Testament about the Christ/Messiah. The Christ/Messiah was the special person whom the Jews were expecting to come from God to save them. These deeds showed that Jesus was this special person.

© 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.