parable

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The Greek that is usually translated as “parable” in English is translated in other languages in a number of ways:

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “tell-a-story” and “compare.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Parable” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as analogy because “the Greek word has the sense of tossing down something alongside something else. Hence an analogy.”

See also image and figures of speech.

complete verse (Matthew 21:45)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 21:45:

  • Uma: “When the chief priests and the Parisi people heard that parable of Yesus, they knew that it was they that he was aiming-at.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When the leaders of the priests and the Pariseo heard those parables they understood that Isa was talking about them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the Pharisees and the chief priests heard these parables of Jesus, and they understood that he was talking about them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When the leaders of the priests and the Pharisees heard these parables that Jesus related, they knew that they were the ones he was talking about,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When the chiefs of the priests and the Pariseo heard that illustration by Jesus, they understood that they were the ones he was alluding to.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The chief priests and the Pharisees, upon hearing the comparison Jesus had made, realized that he was referring to them.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Pharisee

The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharisee” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “pointing out the law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Pharisee” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the box of the phylacteries attached to the forehead:


“Pharisees” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”

See also Nicodemus.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharisees .

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("speaking")

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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 rare (られ) 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, hanashiteo-rare-ru (話しておられる) or “speaking” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Matthew 21:45

The chief priests and the Pharisees is a slight shift from verse 23, which has “the chief priests and the elders.” In the Marcan parallel (12.12) the pronoun “they” is used (with reference to “the chief priests and the scribes and the elders” of 11.27). The parallel in Luke (20.19) has “The scribes and the chief priests.” By placing the chief priests and the Pharisees together, Matthew reflects the historical opposition which Jesus shared from both of these groups during his earthly ministry, though they would not generally have been united in a single group as pictured here.

For Pharisees, see comments on 3.7.

Heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them is somewhat stronger than what is found in the parallels of Mark (12.12) and Luke (20.19): “because they knew that he had told this parable against them.” Throughout this chapter Matthew constantly emphasizes that Jesus’ opponents are their own judges (see verses 16, 26, 41).

Note that Good News Translation has translated perceived as “knew.” “Recognized” can also be used.

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 .