complete verse (Matthew 20:26)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:26:

  • Uma: “But you, don’t have behavior/character like that. Whoever of you wants to high rank, must become a servant [lit., ordered-one].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But you,’ said Isa, ‘you shall not do/be like that. Whoever of you wants to be made great, he shall be your servant.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But this cannot be here among you. If there is one of you who wants to be greatest, he must be the servant of all of his companions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But that’s not how you should do. Because if someone among you wants to become-greater, it-is-necessary that he serve his companions like a servant,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But hopefully not like that will be made a habit of here with you. On the contrary, whoever of you wants to be praiseworthy, he must be the servant of his companions.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But as for you, do not want that you are just commanding people. Concerning the person who wants a high position, this person must work to help his fellowman.” (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.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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).

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

Translation commentary on Matthew 20:26

It shall not be so among you: although the Greek text does use the future tense (shall … be), more than simple futurity is intended. The meaning is better expressed as “It is not to be so among you” (An American Translation) or “It cannot be like that with you” (New American Bible). Since the idea of “oughtness” is really what is intended, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is best: “But it should not be that way with you.” One may also translate “But that is not the way that you should act toward one another.”

Great represents a literal rendering of the Greek text and is followed by most all translations; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “something special.” Other possible phrases are “be considered great” and “be important.”

Your servant is translated “the servant of the rest” by Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch shifts to a verb construction: “must serve the others.”

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 .