The Greek and Hebrew terms that are translated as “hypocrite” in English typically have a counterpart in most languages. According to Bratcher / Nida (1961, p. 225), they can be categorized into the following categories:
those which employ some concept of “two” or “double”
those which make use of some expression of “mouth” or “speaking”
those which are based upon some special cultural feature
those which employ a non-metaphorical phrase
Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:
Mazahua: “have a swollen mouth” (from too much speaking)
Tai Dam: “have a straight mouth and a crooked heart”
Kongo: “the bitterness of white” (an idiom based on the fact that white-wash looks nice but tastes bitter)
Merina Malagasy: “spread a clean carpet” (an expression used in Madagascar to describe one who covers up the dirt of an unswept floor just before the arrival of guests)
Zanaki: “those who make themselves out to be good”
Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “those who deceive” (this and all examples above acc. to Bratcher / Nida 1961, p. 225)
Kafa: “one who makes as if his belly is clean” (source: Loren Bliese)
Bauzi: “good on top person” (source: David Briley in Kroneman (2004), p. 502)
Tibetan: kha chos pa (ཁ་ཆོས་པ།), lit. “mouth + religion + person” (used for instance in Matt. 7:5) or sgyu zog can (སྒྱུ་ཟོག་ཅན།), lit. “deception + fraud + person” (used for instance in Matt. 24:51) (source: gSungrab website )
Low German: “actor in a comedy” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
Lélé: ne kub so or “make mouth two” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Latvian term liekulis was likely coined by the Bible translation of Ernst Glück (1654–1705) in the late 17th century and is still being used today (source ).
The English version of Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “play-actor.” She explains (p. li): “A hupokrites is fundamentally an actor. The word has deep negativity in the Gospels on two counts: professional actors were not respectable people in the ancient world, and traditional Judaism did not countenance any kind of playacting. I write ‘play-actor’ throughout.”
The name that is transliterated as “Isaiah” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the signs signifying “save + prophet” (referring to Genesis 2:21). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following is a Russian Orthodox icon of Isaiah from the 18th century (found in the Transfiguration Church, Kizhi Monastery, Karelia, Russia). The text in the scrollis from Isaiah 2:2: “In the last days […] shall be established.”
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 )
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 15:7:
Uma: “Your following of God is just on the outside! Very true the words of the prophet Yesaya long ago that foretold of you, like this its sound:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “You pretend to follow God but you don’t. It is really true what was written by Nabi Isaya about you, it says,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Your belief in God is only deceit. How true is the word of God written by the former prophet of God, Isaiah. He prophesied about you for he said,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You hypocrites! This that God said is true that Isaias prophesied concerning you saying,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “You are just pretending to believe-in/obey God. Really true is what was spoken by the prophet Isaias in the past about you, which was the word of God saying,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “It is not true that you obey God. What you do is to do like the word written by the spokesman Isaiah when God said:” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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.
In verses 7-9 Jesus characterizes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by means of a quotation from Isaiah 29.13. The quotation agrees quite closely with the Septuagint, which is significantly different from the wording of the Hebrew.
Hypocrites was first used in 6.2. The important thing here is to use a word or expression that is terse and forcible, something that can be said to someone to accuse them. “You people who pretend to be one thing but are really another” simply would be too awkward in this context. “You pretenders!” or “You fakers!” is better, although if necessary translators can use two phrases, such as “You people! You pretend one thing and do the opposite!”
Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said is translated in Jerusalem Bible as “It was you Isaiah meant when he so rightly prophesied”; New English Bible has “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.”
Prophesy is the verb related to “prophet,” which we discussed at 1.22. “To speak God’s message” or “speak for God” are common ways of translating it. In this verse translators can say “Isaiah was right when he gave God’s word about you” or “When Isaiah gave this message from God, he was certainly talking about you. He said….”
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 .
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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English). (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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