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 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.

See also formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese).

complete verse (Matthew 11:22)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 11:22:

  • Uma: “So, so that you know: on the Kiama Day God’s punishment on you will be greater than his punishment on the Tirus and Sidon people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I tell you, when the day is reached when God judges mankind, the judgment for you will be much heavier than the judgment for the people of Tiros and Sidon.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Don’t you forget that in the future on the day when God sees to mankind, his punishment on you will be greater than on the people there in Tyre and Sidon.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore I say to you that the punishment of those-from-Tiro and from-Sidon will be less-severe than yours on the day that God judges people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “This which I will say to you really is true, that at the day of judging, really much heavier will be the judgment you are sentenced to, more so than that of the taga Tiro and taga Sidon.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “I tell you that on the day when people are judged, these people who have rejected the word will suffer greater punishment than will be suffered by the people who lived in the town of Tyre and in the town of Sidon.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Matthew 11:22

But I tell you (Good News Translation “I assure you”) functions to make emphatic the statement which follows. New English Bible has the same rendering as Revised Standard Version; Phillips “Yet I tell you this”; An American Translation “But I tell you.” Elsewhere in the Gospel this formula is used only in verse 24 and in 26.64; it is equivalent in emphasis to “Truly, I say to you” (see comments at 5.18). Translators are referred to 10.15, where the language is almost exactly the same. But I tell you in this verse can be rendered the same as “Truly, I say to you” in 10.15, with the sole difference being the But. This marks a slight contrast, and most translators do retain it, either with a word or with some construction.

Good News Translation restructures the impersonal passive construction of the Greek (it shall be more tolerable) as an active formation with God as the subject: “God will show more mercy to.” Bible en français courant has “the punishment will be less for … than for you,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the people of … will fare better than you.” It shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment is the same as in 10.15. Here it is Tyre and Sidon, there “the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.” A good rendering is “the people of (the towns of) Tyre and Sidon.”

The contrast in 10.15 is “than for that town”; here the punishment will be easier than for you. Keeping these differences in mind, translators will be able to render this verse very much as they did in 10.15.

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 11:22

11:22a

But: There is a contrast here. The contrast is between the Jews’ thinking and Jesus’ thinking. The Jews thought that the Gentile people of Tyre and Sidon were evil, but Jesus indicated that the Jews were worse. The Greek indicates this contrast with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But.

Here are some other ways to translate this conjunction:

But ⌊even though they were bad⌋
-or-
But ⌊even though they never repented⌋
-or-

⌊You may think that they were very evil people⌋ but

I tell you: The words I tell you emphasize the following words. This expression is less strong than “Truly, I tell you” (in 8:10c).

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

I say to you that
-or-
think about this
-or-
listen

This phrase also occurs in 11:9c and 8:11a. You should translate it here as you did there.

11:22b

it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you: This clause compares the suffering of two groups of people. The Gentiles of the towns of Tyre and Sidon will suffer. And the Jews of the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida will suffer. But the suffering of the Gentile people from Tyre and Sidon will be more bearable than the suffering of the Jews from Chorazin and Bethsaida. This means that the Gentiles from those towns will suffer less than the Jews. God will punish them less than he will punish the Jews from those two towns.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

on the Judgment Day it will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you (New Century Version)
-or-
on Judgment Day, ⌊God⌋ will punish ⌊the people of⌋ Tyre and Sidon less than he will punish you
-or-
on Judgment Day, the punishment that ⌊God⌋ will give you will surpass the punishment of Tyre and Sidon

the day of judgment: This phrase refers to the time when God will judge all people for the things they have said and done on earth.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the Judgment Day (Good News Translation)
-or-
the day that ⌊God⌋ judges ⌊all people⌋

-or-

at the time when ⌊God⌋ judges ⌊everyone⌋

This phrase also occurs in 10:15b. You should translate it the same in both places.

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