complete verse (Matthew 15:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 15:8:

  • Uma: “God says: ‘Those people just honor me in their lips, their hearts are far from Me.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘These people, they honor me with their mouths but in their liver they do not follow me.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘These people, says God, they say that they respect me, but there is no belief that has entered into their breath.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘These people, they worship me with their words, but their thoughts/minds are far from me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘The serving and worshipping of me by these people is only superficial (lit. on the beak), there being no truth to their holding dear of me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “‘These people, when they speak, really seem to respect me. But it is not true that with their hearts they worship me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Matthew 15:8

This people (singular in Greek) is altered to a plural form (“These people”) in Good News Translation and Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition in order to achieve a more natural usage.

“Says God” is introduced by Good News Translation and a number of other CLTs in order to indicate the speaker. Otherwise it is possible to conclude that Isaiah is the one speaking. In many languages the phrase “says God” will have to be at the beginning of the sentence, as in “God says.” Of course, translators who have rendered “prophesy” in verse 7 with an expression such as “speak God’s word” (see above) will probably not need to repeat “God” in this verse.

With their lips is a common Hebrew expression meaning “with their words” (Good News Translation) or “with words” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Both New Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible use the English idiom “lip-service.” Honors me with their lips may be translated “say great things about me,” “praise me,” “say how wonderful I am,” or “say things that honor me.” Direct discourse is possible: “say, ‘God is wonderful.’ ”

Far from: Good News Translation adds the intensifier “really” to help draw the contrast between this and the previous clause. One may translate “but they do not really care about me,” “but they do not honor me with their thoughts,” or “but they do not mean what they say.” Their heart can refer to the thinking of the people or to their innermost feelings. “They don’t really hold me dear” or “In their hearts they don’t think of me very much” are other ways this phrase can be expressed.

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 15:8



15:8a

These people: When Isaiah originally spoke these words, the phrase This people referred to the Jewish people of that time. Jesus said that the Pharisees were also the people whom Isaiah had spoken about.

In some languages it may be natural to translate this phrase as:

You (plur.) people
-or-
All of you (Contemporary English Version)

honor Me with their lips: The phrase honor Me with their lips is a figure of speech called a metonymy. In this figure of speech, the phrase their lips stands for “their words.” This means that the Pharisees honored/praised God with their words.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

• Substitute a similar figure of speech. For example:

praise me with their mouths

• Omit the figure of speech and express the meaning directly. For example:

honor me when they talk
-or-
show honor to me with words (New Century Version)

This clause indicates that the honor is hypocritical. If people in your area will think that the honor is real, you may want to add some implied information. For example:

⌊pretend to⌋ honor me with their words

me: Jesus was quoting from the book of Isaiah, which was quoting the words of God. So the pronoun me refers to God. In some languages it may be necessary to use indirect speech in order to make this clear. For example:

⌊in which God⌋ said that those people honored him with their lips/words

15:8b

their hearts: In the New Testament, the word heart refers to the mind, emotions, and will of a person. It refers to the part of a person that he uses to think, feel, and make decisions.

In some languages people refer to this part of a person as the thoughts, mind, throat, liver, or stomach. They are not referring literally to that physical part of the body.

Your language may use a word other than the heart to talk about the center of emotions. In that case, you should use that word instead of “heart.”

are far from Me: The words far from me are a figurative expression that means that the people had turned away from God. They had turned away in the following ways:

(a) They turned away with their minds and so they did not think of God.

(b) They turned away with their will and so they did not obey God.

(c) They turned away with their emotions and so they did not love God.

In your translation, try to find an expression that implies or suggests all of these things.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

but their minds/livers/stomachs are far from me
-or-
but in their hearts/throats/thoughts, they have turned away from me

-or-

but they do not mean what they say

If one term expresses only part of the meaning, you may be able to use a combination of terms. For example:

they do not truly love me or think about me

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