The Greek that is translated as “teacher” (also: “master”) in English is translated in the 1941 Yiddish by Einspruch as rebe (רֶבּי) or “Rabbi” in an effort to identify Jesus as a teacher of the Jews. (Source: Naomi Seidmann in Elliott / Boer 2012, p. 151ff.)
Likewise, a number of Hebrew translations, including the 2018 and 2020 editions by the The Bible Society in Israel also use “Rabbi” (רַבִּי).
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 is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 17:24:
Uma: “When Yesus with his followers arrived in the town of Kapernaum, a tax collector of the House of God came to Petrus and asked him: ‘Does your (sing.) Teacher pay the tax of the House of God, or not?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When they arrived there in Kapernaum the people who collect the temple tax went to Petros, they said, ‘Does your teacher pay the temple tax?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus and his disciples arrived in the village of Capernaum, and the collectors of the tax for the House of God came to Peter. They asked him, saying, ‘As for your teacher, does he pay that which he is asked to pay for the House of God?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of Temple tax went to Pedro and they inquired, ‘Does your teacher pay Temple tax?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “After they arrived in Capernaum, some official receivers of payment to the Templo questioned Pedro. They said, ‘Does your (pl.) teacher pay the payment to the Templo?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Accompanied by his learners, Jesus arrived at the town of Capernaum. The men who collected the money for the church said to Peter: ‘How about your teacher, doesn’t he pay the money they collect for the church?’ they said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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 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).
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®).
When they came to Capernaum introduces a new section where public reading is frequently begun. Therefore it is important to identify they as “Jesus and his disciples” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant).
Capernaum has already been identified as a town in this Gospel, but some translators have nevertheless said here “the town of Capernaum.”
The collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said: there is apparently a time lapse between the arrival of the group in Capernaum and this event, since Jesus is evidently in the house (verse 25) at the time that the tax collectors approach Peter. The verse may then be opened as follows: “Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum. While they were there, the collectors of the Temple tax came to Peter and asked….”
The half-shekel tax (literally “the two-drachma coin”) indicates the amount, while Good News Translation defines the nature of the tax (“the Temple tax”). New Jerusalem Bible translates “the half-shekel,” with a footnote “a yearly tax levied on individuals for the upkeep of the Temple.” Reference is to the tax which, according to Exodus 30.13, was required of every male Jew from the age of twenty onward. After the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, the Romans continued to collect this annual tax, but applied it to the support of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
It is not the amount of the half-shekel tax that is really important in this verse, but rather the nature of it, as seen in Good News Translation. Translators can say “the tax all the men (or, all Jewish men) paid for the Temple expenses” or “the tax paid to support the Temple.”
The collectors of the half-shekel tax can then be “the men who collected the money everyone (or, all Jewish men) paid for the Temple.”
Some translators have wanted to give some indication of the amount of money and have said “the tax of money of half a shekel” or even “the money called a half-shekel that people had to pay to the Temple.” It is also possible to indicate in a footnote that this was about half the wages a laborer would earn in a day. But this is marginal information and does not need to be specified in the text. Another rendering some have used is “the small amount of money people had to pay to support the Temple.” But translators should be careful not to make the expression too cumbersome nor such that it gives more emphasis to the amount of money than to its function.
For “Temple,” see comments on 4.5.
Does not your teacher pay the tax? is a difficult question form in English, which is simplified in Good News Translation: “Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?” The question does seem to expect “Yes” as an answer, so “Your teacher does pay his Temple tax, doesn’t he?” will also be a good rendering. Tax is the same Greek word translated half-shekel tax by Revised Standard Version in the first half of the verse; both Good News Translation and New English Bible have “Temple tax” for each of the two occurrences.
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 .
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