mercy

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.

While the English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”

Here are some other (back-) translations:

See also steadfast love.

complete verse (Matthew 18:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 18:33:

  • Uma: “Why-in-the-world did you (sing.) not love/pity your (sing.) fellow slave, like I loved/pitied you (sing.)!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You should have also had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now why didn’t you pity your fellow servant like I pitied you?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Why didn’t you (sing.) pity your (sing.) fellow official like the way I did to you (sing.)?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, I had mercy on you. Well, why didn’t you have mercy on that fellow servant of yours?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Couldn’t you have forgiven your friend who owed you, like I forgave you?’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

second person pronoun with low register

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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples.

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

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Matthew 18:33

This verse is in a real sense the key to the entire parable: those persons whose debt of sin God has forgiven are obligated in return to forgive the sins that others commit against them.

And should not you have…? is more literally “and was it not necessary for you to have…?” Since this type of structure is extremely difficult for English speakers, Good News Translation has made three adjustments in hopes of relieving the difficulty: (1) the rhetorical question is changed to a statement; (2) the negative form is altered to a positive; and (3) the impersonal structure (“was it not necessary for you”) is made into a second person form (“You should have had mercy”). The verb translated should … have (literally “it was necessary”) normally indicates a binding compulsion or obligation; see, for example, its usage in Luke 2.49; 15.32; 18.1; Acts 5.29; 1 Thessalonians 4.1; Titus 1.11.

In other languages it has still been possible to retain a question in rendering the sentence, as for example in “And so what should you have done? You should have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you.” Another example is “You should have had mercy on your fellow servant as I did on you, shouldn’t you?”

That the verb had mercy on is used twice in this verse emphasizes the importance attached to it. For some languages the two clauses may more naturally be reversed: “I had mercy on you, and that is why you should have had mercy on your fellow servant.”

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 .