Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 16:11:
Uma: “Why do you still not understand that it is not real bread that I am talking about! Watch out for the yeast of the Parisi and Saduki people.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I wonder why you do not understand that what I said there was not about bread. Stay away from the yeast/for-rising of the Pariseo and Sadduseo.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Why is it that you didn’t understand that it is not bread that I was talking about? Be on your guard so that you might avoid the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “So why do you still not understand that it was not bread that I was speaking-about to you a little-while-ago? What I said was to beware of the yeast/baking powder of the Pharisees and Saducees!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Why can’t you understand that it wasn’t about bread that I said to you to be careful of the raising-agent of the Pariseo and Saduceo?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “How come you do not understand that it isn’t bread I am talking about when I tell you to be careful of the leaven which is given by the Pharisees and also the Saducees?'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
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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.
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®).
Both the question form and the negative relative clause (that I did not …) within another negative relative clause (that you fail …) may cause some difficulty for some readers. But these potential problems can be resolved; for example, “By now you should have realized that I was not talking to you about bread.” In some West African languages the most natural way to render this will be “I wasn’t talking about bread. Can’t you see that?”
Beware of translates the same verb used in verse 6; it was first used in 6.1 (see comments there).
In translation it may be beneficial for the reader if a clear tie is made between the two statements of this verse; for example, “Don’t you understand that when I told you to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees I wasn’t talking about bread?” or “I told you to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. I wasn’t talking about bread. Can’t you understand that?”
The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees may wrongly be interpreted to mean either “the yeast which the Pharisees and Sadducees own” or “… which the Pharisees and Sadducees are selling (or, distributing).” However, the difficulty is not too severe, since an explanation is given in the next verse. Nevertheless, it is possible to be more specific, even here: “… from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is like yeast (that spreads throughout a lump of dough).”
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 .
How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread?: This is another rhetorical question. It is a rebuke. Jesus rebuked the disciples for not understanding what he was talking about in 16:6. When he referred to the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” he was not talking about bread. The disciples should have understood that.
Here are some other ways to translate this rebuke:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
How could you even think I was talking about food? (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
Why don’t you understand that I wasn’t talking to you about bread? (God’s Word)
• As a statement followed by a rhetorical question. For example:
I was not talking to you about bread. Why don’t you understand that? (New Century Version)
• As a statement. For example:
You should have understood that I was not talking about bread
Translate this rebuke in a way that is natural in your language.
16:11b
But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees: This clause is almost the same clause as in 16:6. The only difference is that the phrase “Watch out” is not repeated here. Translate this clause the same way you did in 16:6 without including that word.
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