Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Matthew 19:8

Jesus does agree that Moses permitted divorce. But he makes two significant observations regarding the ruling that Moses made: (1) divorce was a concession which resulted from the rebellious attitude of the Jewish people, and (2) it is contrary to God’s original intention in creation. This second observation would have carried much weight, since Jewish teachers affirmed that when two passages of Scripture were in conflict, the earlier passage was to be regarded as superior. This would mean that the law of divorce which Moses introduced was made invalid by the prior law of creation.

He said to them: both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch specifically identify He as Jesus.

Your hardness of heart, a noun phrase in Greek, is transformed into a full clause in Good News Translation: (“because you are so hard to teach”) and Jerusalem Bible (“It was because you were so unteachable”). New International Version, though retaining the figure of speech, also shifts away from a noun phrase: “because your hearts were hard.” In English the heart is considered to be the organ which controls the emotions, while in Jewish thought it was related to the rational side of the human being. Therefore New English Bible translates “because your minds were closed,” and New American Bible “Because of your stubbornness.”

There are many languages where the phrase Moses allowed you to divorce will more naturally come at the beginning of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, as it is in Good News Translation: “Moses gave you permission to divorce your wives because you are so hard to teach.” Another way to structure the sentence is “You refused to pay attention to God’s teaching, so Moses let you get divorces from your wives.”

Your and you are plural forms. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who were there, of course, but the context indicates that he was referring to the Jewish people in general when he said “you.” Some translators have said “you people.”

But from the beginning it was not so is translated by Good News Translation as “But it was not like that at the time of creation.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “But it was originally not so.” One may also translate “But it was not that way at the time that God first created man and woman” or “But that was not the way things were at the beginning.”

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 19:8



19:8a–b

In the Greek, the reason (“your hardness of heart”) comes before the result (“Moses permitted you to divorce your wives”). In some languages, it will be more natural to change the order and put the reason after the result, as the Berean Standard Bible does. In other languages, it will be more natural to follow the Greek and put the reason first. For example:

8bBecause of your hardness of heart 8aMoses allowed you to divorce your wives (English Standard Version)

In other languages, it will be more natural to say something like:

You hearts were hard. That is why Moses permitted you to divorce your wives.

19:8a

Moses permitted you: Here the word Moses refers to the law which Moses received from God and wrote down long ago. In some languages, it may be natural to make this explicit. For example:

⌊In the law,⌋ Moses allowed/permitted you

to divorce your wives: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible here translates as divorce is the same word that it translates as “send away” in 19:7b. It means to break the bond of marriage.

19:8b

because of: The words because of indicate that 19:8b is a reason clause.

Here are some other ways to introduce this reason clause:

It was on account of
-or-
It was because of

your hardness of heart: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hardness of heart is an idiom. This idiom refers to a person’s sinful attitude. For Jews in Jesus’ time, the heart was the place where emotions were experienced. The expression “hard heart” indicates that the person cannot respond to God as he should. It indicates stubbornness and disobedience.

If you have this same idiom in your language, or if this idiom would be understandable in your language as is, then use it. Otherwise, if you have a similar idiom for stubbornness and disobedience, then you may consider using that.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

you were stubborn
-or-
you refused to accept God’s teaching (New Century Version)
-or-
you always refuse to obey ⌊God⌋

19:8c

but it was not this way: The pronoun it refers to the permission for divorce. The whole clause means that the permission for divorce was added after God created people, because of sin. It was not the way God intended things to be.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

it was not so (English Standard Version)
-or-
it was not like that (Good News Translation)
-or-
divorce was not allowed (New Century Version)

from the beginning: This phrase refers to “the beginning of the world” or “the beginning of creation.” It refers to the words that Jesus said in 19:4b. There he talked about the creation of man and woman in “the beginning.”

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

at the time of creation (Good News Translation)
-or-
in the beginning of the world

-or-

at first

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