complete verse (Matthew 22:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 22:10:

  • Uma: “The servants went to the roads gathering all the people who passed by, it did not matter is their behavior/character was good or bad. Finally the house of the feast was very full with guests.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then his servants went to the roads and brought all the people they found, bad and good without exception. Therefore the house where the wedding took place was full of people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And his servants left, and they went along the paths, and all the people they saw whether their works were good or whether they were bad, they invited them. And the palace of the king was filled up with people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So they went and invited all that they found who had good and even bad behavior/character, and the big room for-the-wedding was full.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Those slaves then set out. They went to the trails where many people were. They caused all they met to go with them, nice and badly-behaved. What else but that feast was crowded-out with all those people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The servants went to the people, they brought good people. Therefore the people filled the house.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 22:10

Translators in areas where streets are not common can simply say “into the towns” or, better, “out on the public roads.”

Gathered all whom they found (a fairly literal rendering of the Greek text) may also be rendered “invited everyone whom they found” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition). The difficulty with a literal rendering is that the reader is left with the impression that the persons who were invited were first gathered together into a large group and then went as a group to the wedding. The text seems to mean rather that the people whom they invited came individually, but comprised a large crowd when they all arrived. “Brought to the wedding feast” may be a good translation.

Both bad and good: on the assumption that the order “bad … good” is purely a linguistic feature, having no theological significance, Good News Translation places the two adjectives in an order that is more natural for English speakers: “good and bad alike.” Note also Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition: “whether he was a good or bad man.” The statement is reminiscent of 13.24-30, 36-43, 47-50.

This sentence may need to be restructured slightly to be more natural; for example, “… invited everyone they met, both good people and bad, and brought them to the wedding feast.”

The wedding hall is the room or place where the feast was to be held. If there is no direct equivalent in a language, translators may simply use a descriptive phrase: “the room for the wedding feast.”

The wedding hall was filled with guests may need to be translated either “the people came in and filled the wedding hall” or “so many people came that the wedding hall was full of guests.”

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 .