complete verse (Matthew 17:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 17:21:

  • Uma: “[[But a demon like that earlier, he will only go away if/when you pray and fast.]]'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But that kind of demon cannot be driven out except only when you pray and fast.)'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However, this kind of demon, it can only be caused to go out by means of praying and by means of abstaining from food. There is no other way.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But evil-spirits like those, they don’t come-out if the one casting-out does not persist in praying to God.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But that kind of evil spirit can’t be driven out unless you persevere in prayer and fasting.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Concerning those like this evil spirit which walked with the boy, in order to separate them from the person they walk with, it is necessary to pray to God and fast.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 Translator 2002, 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 his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on Matthew 17:21

As footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation both indicate, some manuscripts add verse 21. It is the consensus of scholars that this verse was added to the Gospel at a later date, perhaps under the influence of the parallel in Mark 9.29. There are no apparent reasons why a scribe would have removed the verse, if it had been an original part of the text.

This kind … comes out … by prayer and fasting is semantically equivalent to “only prayer and fasting can drive this kind out” (Good News Translation). For some languages it may be necessary to translate the two nouns prayer and fasting as verbs: “Only if you pray and fast will you be able to drive this kind out” or “You can drive this kind out only as you pray and fast.” Since this kind is a reference to demons, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “… can such spirits be driven out.”

For a discussion of fasting, see comments at 6.16. The sentence can be “You can only drive out this kind of evil spirit by praying and worshiping God by not eating” or “This kind of evil spirit can only be driven out of a person when people have prayed and worshiped God by going without food.”

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 .