grain

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “corn”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).

Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

complete verse (Matthew 13:29)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 13:29:

  • Uma: “‘The owner of the garden said: ‘Don’t, because if you pull up the grass, you will end up pulling out the rice as well.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘Don’t,’ he said, ‘because if you pull out the weeds perhaps you will also pull out the plants.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘Don’t you yet, because the good plants might be included.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “”No,’ he said, ‘because the rice will be uprooted-with.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘Don’t do it yet,’ he answered, ‘for maybe even the wheat will get included in what you weed out.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But the boss said: ‘No. Don’t pull up the weeds which are with the wheat, because when you pull them, you will also pull out the wheat.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

wheat

Two kinds of wild wheat have grown in the open deciduous oak woodland in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent for several thousand years: Einkorn Wheat Triticum monococcum and Emmer Wheat Triticum dicoccum. Both came into cultivation together with barley. Just before the time of the Romans, the Naked Bread Wheat or Hard Wheat Triticum durum started replacing the hulled varieties. This then became the favorite type of wheat for bread and macaroni. Spelt is a sub-member of the Triticum aestivum species.

In New Revised Standard Version, updated edition and some other versions, the generic Hebrew word bar has been rendered “wheat” in Jeremiah 23:28 et al. This is legitimate, since the grain referred to by bar was probably wheat. However, it might be better to say “grain” in these passages.

The most important early wheat for the Israelites was emmer, probably the only wheat known in Egypt, and referred to in Hebrew as chittah. However, according to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992), the seven-headed wheat of the Egyptian king’s dream (Genesis 41:5ff.) suggests that there may also have been Triticum turgidum (rivet wheat) in the emmer group. The Hebrew word kusemeth probably refers to a type of emmer wheat that the Egyptians called swt.

Wheat is a type of grass like rice and barley, growing to around 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in height and having a head with many small grains in rows.

Bread made from wheat was the staple food for the people of ancient Israel, so God punished them by breaking “the staff of bread” (see, for example, Ezekiel 4:16).

If wheat is unfamiliar, translators can transliterate from a major language in non-rhetorical contexts (for example, English witi, Portuguese trigo, French ble or froment, Swahili ngano, Arabic kama/alkama). The transliteration may add a generic tag such as “grain.” The New Testament passages are mostly rhetorical, opening the possibility for a metaphorical equivalent.

Wheat head, photo by Gloria Suess

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Translation commentary on Matthew 13:29

Gathering … root up: in some languages it may be that gathering will not include pulling up the roots. One may then translate “because as you pull up the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them.” As in other occurrences of wheat, in cases where it is not known, “grain” or “crops” may be used.

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 13:29

13:29a

Verse 13:29 is the owner’s refusal to allow the servants to pull out the weeds. Some English versions introduce this refusal with the conjunction “But.” Other English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, do not have a conjunction here. In some languages, it will not be necessary to have a conjunction here either.

if you pull the weeds now: The Greek phrase the Berean Standard Bible translates as if you pull the weeds now is more literally “lest, gathering the weeds,….” The word “lest” expresses negative purpose: It means “in order not to.” (This same word occurs in 13:15d.) The owner told the servant not to pull out the weeds so that they would not also pull out the wheat.

Here are some other ways to translate these words:

No, ⌊do not do that,⌋ so that you don’t also
-or-
No, ⌊do not pull them out,⌋ because you might also
-or-
No. If you pull out the weeds, you may (God’s Word)

13:29b

you might uproot the wheat with them: The verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as uproot means to pull out a plant along with its roots. The roots of the weeds and the roots of the wheat were growing together in the ground. So if the servants pulled out the weeds and their roots, they might also cause the roots of the wheat to come out, and the wheat plants would die.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

you may uproot the wheat with them (NET Bible)
-or-
you might also pull up the wheat (New Century Version)

-or-

you might ⌊accidentally⌋ uproot the wheat with them

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