The Greek that is translated into English as “(this) generation” is translated as “the people now” into Chol, “those who are in space now” into Tzeltal or “you people” into Tlahuitoltepec Mixe. (Source: Bratcher / Nida; Mixe: Robert Bascom)
Generic terms for the Greek that is translated as “generation” include “(people of one) layer” (Ekari, Toraja-Sa’dan, Batak Toba), or “one storey of growing” (Highland Totonac, using a term also denoting a storey or floor of a building). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
The Greek that is typically translated in English as “sign” is translated in Huehuetla Tepehua as “thing to be marveled at” (source: Larson 1889, p. 279) and in Mairasi as “big work” (source: Enggavoter 2004).
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “swallow (by a large fish).” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 12:39:
Uma: “Yesus said: ‘No kidding the evil of all of you there! You always circumvent/wander-from God! You ask that I show you miracles. But no miracle will be shown to you. The only thing that will be shown to you will be a sign like what happened to the prophet Yunus long ago.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But he answered them he said, ‘You people living today you are bad and you are not following God. You are asking for a sign, surprise. But you will be shown no sign except only the sign of Nabi Yunus of old.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘You people today, your customs are very bad. Love for God is no longer in your breaths. Why do you want to see a sign? The only sign that will be shown to you is like the sign which was performed long ago on the prophet Jonah.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Oh you (expression of rebuke/frustration)!’ said Jesus answering. ‘The people now are very-bad, because they have turned-their -backs-on the true God. They insist that I show them an amazing sign, but nothing will-be-shown except (lit. if not) only the sign that is like what happened to Jonas the prophet back-before.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus replied saying, ‘As for all of you, your nature/ways are evil. You are like a married woman who is habitually-immoral who doesn’t have any concern for her marriage, for like that is what you are doing to God. You say you are asking for a sign, but nothing will be shown to you except that sign which was illustrated by what was experienced by the prophet of long ago who was Jonas.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When Jesus answered, he said: ‘Concerning the people who live at this time, they have sins and do not know God, but first they must ask for miracles before they believe in me. Yet I will not do any miracle for people to see. What will take the place of a sign for the people is what happened to the prophet Jonah.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, kotae-rare-ru (答えられる) or “answer” is used.
An evil and adulterous generation is translated in the form of an exclamation by Good News Translation: “How evil and godless are the people of this day!” But the problem is that for English speakers “How…” is normally heard to introduce a question. It will be more natural to translate “You people are evil and godless!” or “Only evil and godless people (like you) would look for a sign.”
Adulterous is here used of unfaithfulness to God, thus the reason for “godless” of Good News Translation and New English Bible; New American Bible has “unfaithful,” and Barclay “apostate.” Other ways to render it include “not faithful to God” and “disobedient to God.” A literal translation may make readers think of people who were guilty of physical adultery.
An evil … generation means “evil people” or “people who are doing evil (things).” Generation refers to the people of a certain era. Here Jesus obviously is referring to “the people of this time” or “people today.” Hence common translations are “the evil people of today who are unfaithful to God” or “these evil and disobedient people of today.”
Generation seeks for a sign is altered to a second-person reference by Good News Translation and translated “You ask me for a miracle.” It may be more accurate to translate “You ask God to show you a special miracle.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch retains the third-person reference and translates “They don’t want to know anything about God, but they want to see a miracle.”
Some translators understand Jesus’ words to contain a certain amount of irony or even bitterness, as in “So, the evil and unfaithful want a sign from God, do they?” or “These evil and unfaithful people of our day think God should give them a sign.” Another rendering is “You want some visible action of God? You, who are evil and unfaithful to God?”
Notice that in some of these examples it is explicit that the real source of the sign is God. The use of the passive shall be given suggests that God is the intended agent, and so supports the interpretation proposed for “seeks a sign.” One may then translate “The only miracle God will give you is….”
The sign of the prophet Jonah is ambiguous. The most natural conclusion is that the sign receives its interpretation from the following verse, which speaks of what happened to Jonah. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes this connection explicit: “The only proof they will receive is that which corresponds to what the prophet Jonah experienced.” The sign of the prophet Jonah does not refer to a miracle Jonah performed but to the sign God gave him. Thus another rendering can be “the only visible action God will do for you is the same one he did for the prophet Jonah.”
For comments on prophet, see 1.22.
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 .
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