19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
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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 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, meiji-rare-ru (命じられる) or “order/command” is used.
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
Ordered the crowds to sit down should not be translated in such a manner as to indicate that Jesus is giving a harsh command. It may be better to translate “told the people to sit down” or “said to the people, ‘Sit down….’ ” Note that this can be either direct speech or indirect, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.
Sit down literally means “lie down” or “recline” (at a meal), which was the normal position assumed for a meal in the Palestinian setting. In 8.11 the same verb is used of the Messianic banquet.
Taking the five loaves may be misleading to many readers. The meaning is not that Jesus took the bread from his disciples, but rather that he took (better “held”) the bread in his hands (while giving thanks to God). In fact, it may be assumed upon the basis of verse 18 that the disciples had already given the loaves and the fish to Jesus. The sequence of events may then be spelled out as follows: “After the disciples had brought the bread to Jesus, he ordered the people to sit on the grass. Then he held the five loaves and the two fish in his hands….”
The Greek noun rendered heaven may also mean “sky.” Here the meaning is heaven, the place of God’s abode. Thus the translation may be “looked up at the sky” or simply “looked up.”
Blessed may be understood to mean either “thanked God for them” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition) or “asked God’s blessing upon them.” Since “them” has reference to the bread and fish, one may also translate “… the bread and fish” or “… the food.” Translators do need to be careful with blessed, since in many societies only people can be blessed, and then only by God; all a person can do is ask God to bless someone. In other cases the word means that Jesus was asking God to make the food holy. In situations like these, “thanked” is the only appropriate translation.
The Greek verb rendered broke is used in the New Testament and in the Septuagint only of the breaking of bread. In a Jewish household this was done by the father as the signal to begin the meal. It may be better to render “broke … in pieces” (An American Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
Many translators will begin a new sentence here at the verb broke, as Good News Translation has done.
Note that Jesus broke the bread. The text does not indicate that he broke the fish into pieces, and in fact he probably did not, since it was the breaking of bread that was symbolic of the beginning of a meal, as we indicated above.
The text does not specify into how many pieces he broke the bread, nor what size they were. Translators can say “little pieces” but should be sure that readers won’t think of crumbs. They would have to be pieces of a size that could be distributed.
In some languages, once the loaves were broken into pieces, one would have to say that Jesus distributed the pieces, not the loaves.
And the disciples gave them to the crowds is literally “And the disciples to the crowd,” in which the verb gave is carried over in Greek from the previous clause. But most languages, as English, will require the inclusion of the verb in both clauses. Jesus gave the pieces of bread to the disciples who in turn gave them to the crowds. Instead of repeating the verb gave, some translators will have something like “… gave them to the disciples for them to distribute to the crowd.”
Nothing is said of the distribution of the fish, though some languages may require that this action be specified. But if this is done, it should be handled in such a manner as to keep the bread in focus. This is extremely important, for Matthew intends his readers to see reflections of the Lord’s Supper in this feeding miracle. If specific mention of the fish is required, one may add at the end of the verse “He also gave his disciples the fish, and they gave them to the people.”
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 .
And He directed the crowds: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as directed means “commanded” or “urged.”
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Then he commanded the people
-or-
Then he told the people to (New Living Translation (2004))
This word does not imply that Jesus shouted angrily or harshly at the crowd.
the crowds: As mentioned in 14:13c, the plural word crowds refers to different groups of people. They were all gathered together in one place.
Here is another way to translate this word:
the people
to sit down: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as to sit down is more literally “to recline.” This is the word used to describe the position that people at that time got in for eating. So Jesus implied that the people were supposed to get into a position to eat a meal. In some languages, it may be natural to make this explicit. For example:
to sit down ⌊to eat⌋
When he told the people to sit down, the text implies that they did what he said. In some languages, it may be natural to make this information explicit. For example:
Then he told the people to sit down…, ⌊and they did.⌋
on the grass: According to the parallel passage in Mark 6:39, the grass was green grass. This means that it was fresh grass. It was not dried, brown grass. The grass in that area was relatively short and comfortable to sit on.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
on the ⌊fresh/young⌋ grass
If people in your area will think of grass that is meters tall and not comfortable to sit on, you can say:
on the ground
You may then want to explain it in a footnote. For example:
Literally “on the grass.” The area there was grassy hills.
14:19b
Taking: In this context, the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Taking also means “held.” Jesus prayed as he held the bread and fish in his hands.
14:19c
and looking up to heaven: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heaven here refers to the sky as a symbol of God’s dwelling place. Jesus looked up toward the sky/heaven because he was about to thank God. Jewish people commonly looked upward toward heaven while they prayed. Since Jesus literally looked upward at the sky, you could translate the word heaven here with the usual word for sky. You do not have to use a special term that refers to the place where God lives.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
he looked up toward the sky
-or-
he looked upwards
He spoke a blessing: There are two ways to interpret the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as spoke a blessing:
(1) It refers to thanking God for the food. For example:
he thanked God for the food (New Century Version)
(New International Version, Good News Translation, NET Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version)
(2) It refers to blessing the food. For example:
blessed them (New Living Translation (2004))
(Berean Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), New American Standard Bible, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). As a custom, Jews praised God and thanked him for the food that he provided for them.
In some languages the meaning of He spoke a blessing needs to be expressed with a direct quote. For example:
He said, “Thank you.”
14:19d
He broke the loaves: This clause means that Jesus broke/tore the bread into smaller pieces. This was the normal way a meal was begun. You should use the normal verb in your language for dividing bread. For example:
he tore the breads ⌊in pieces⌋
-or-
Jesus divided the bread (New Century Version)
and gave them: The pronoun them refers to the pieces of bread.
14:19e
the disciples gave them to the people: The clause means that the disciples distributed the pieces of bread to the people. For example:
who distributed it to the people (New Living Translation (2004))
Matthew did not mention the fish, but Jesus certainly divided the fish into pieces as well and gave them to his disciples. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this information explicit. For example:
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