Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:29:
Uma: “As Yesus and his disciples went away from the town of Yerikho, the people thronged following him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then when they left the town Ariha, very many people followed him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when they were leaving the town of Jericho, very many people were going with Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When (pl.) Jesus left Jerico, in-a-large-group were the people who were-following him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When they left Jerico, the crowd of people who followed Jesus was endless.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When Jesus left the town of Jericho, he was followed by very many people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
And again marks a continuation of the narrative. It can be omitted if that is more natural.
And as they went out of Jericho: though brief, this narrative is often read in isolation from the one which comes before it, and so it is good policy to identify the participants intended by they: “As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho” (Good News Translation).
In some languages the fact that the text has not said Jesus and his disciples had entered Jericho will make this verse seem odd. However, adding a sentence such as “They went to Jericho” may be seen as adding too much to the text. Rather they should say something like “Later, as they were going out of the city of Jericho” or “… having passed through the city of Jericho.”
A great crowd followed him places Jesus in focus, but in some languages it will be more natural to substitute “them” (meaning Jesus and his disciples) for him, which is what Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition does. Good News Translation, on the other hand, leaves this information implicit by translating “a large crowd was following,” assuming that the reader will conclude from the first clause that Jesus and his disciples are indicated.
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 .
In this section, Jesus healed two blind people. These blind people called Jesus the “Son of David” two times. This emphasizes who Jesus was just as he was about to enter Jerusalem as the Messiah. The blind people’s simple request to be healed is a stark contrast with James’ and John’s request for high positions.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Two blind men receive their sight
-or-
Jesus had mercy on two blind people and healed them
There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 10:46–52 and Luke 18:35–43.
20:29
The story in this section began sometime after the story in the previous section ended. The Greek text does not indicate how much time passed between these two stories. In some languages, it is natural to begin a new story with a time word or phrase. If your language is like that, use an expression here that is not too specific. For example:
Then
-or-
Later
In other languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this story in a natural way in your language.
As they were leaving Jericho: There is some implied information here. Matthew did not say that Jesus and his disciples had arrived at Jericho. He only says that they were leaving. In some languages, it may be important to include some of this implied information. For example:
Jesus and his disciples ⌊arrived at⌋ Jericho, and as they were leaving
-or-
After Jesus and his disciples had passed through Jericho
they: The pronoun they refers to Jesus and his disciples. In some languages, it may be natural to make this explicit. For example:
Jesus and his disciples (New International Version)
Jericho:Jericho was a town on the west side of the Jordan River. It was just a few kilometers from where the Jordan River runs into the Dead Sea. It was about 24 kilometer to the northeast of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was where Jesus and his disciples were going.
In some languages, it may be natural to say that Jericho is a town. For example:
⌊the town of⌋ Jericho
a large crowd: The word large indicates that there was a great number of people in the crowd.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
a great many people (New Century Version)
-or-
a large group of people
followed Him: Here the phrase followed Him probably means “walked along with Jesus for some distance” (as in 19:2a). This probably indicates that the crowd was attracted to who Jesus was, what he said, and the miracles he did. The people wanted to see and hear him. They did not just happen to be on the same road as Jesus.
In other contexts, this word can mean “became a disciple of Jesus.” That is not the meaning here. Here you should translate followed in a more literal way. For example:
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