resurrection

The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )

Likewise, in Matumbi yu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)

In Kalmyk and Russia Buriat it is translated as “revival” and in Tuvan as “coming back to life, reviving again.” (Source for this and one above: Alexey Somov in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 51ff. )

See also resurrect / rise again (Jesus).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Resurrection .

complete verse (Matthew 22:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 22:23:

  • Uma: “On that day also, several Saduki people came to Yesus. Those Saduki people were leader of the Yahudi religion who rejected [the idea] that people who die live again in the future.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “That day some Sadduseo, Yahudi who do not believe that the dead will live again in the last day, came to Isa.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And a little while later, the Sadducees came to Jesus. Now the Sadducees are the people who believe that nobody will be raised from the dead in the future.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “A little-later, there were some Saducees who went to Jesus. They are a party/group of the Jews who say that the dead will not live again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That same day, some Saduceo also went to Jesus. As for these Saduceo, they uphold/support (the idea that) people who have died really aren’t made alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “That day some Sadducees went; they are those who say that the dead won’t resurrect. They said to Jesus:” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 22:23

For a discussion of Sadducees, see 3.7. There is no article in the text, but most translators use “some,” as in Good News Translation.

As discussed elsewhere, came will have to be “went” in many receptor languages.

The text says simply that the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, but “did not believe” or “claimed that there was no” may be more natural.

Who say that there is no resurrection is in the present tense in the Greek, reflecting the viewpoint of the writer. Normally a translation attempts to reflect the writer’s position, but some readers today will need to have this in the past tense, otherwise they may be confused. Translators will have to decide which tense to use, basing the decision on local language requirements.

We have given several examples of translations of resurrection in the examples above. One further example is seen in a sentence such as “The Sadducees claimed that people do not rise again (to life) after they die.”

Revised Standard Version represents a fairly literal rendering of this verse, but it may be helpful to follow a somewhat more chronological order; for example, “The Sadducees were a Jewish group who did not believe that people would rise from death. And on the same day that the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus with a question, they came to him 24 and said….” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “On the same day the Sadducees came to Jesus. The Sadducees did not believe that the dead would rise. 24 ‘Teacher,’ they asked him….” Another possibility is “On that same day, some Sadducees came to Jesus to ask him a question. They were a group that did not believe that the dead would rise. 24 They asked him, ‘Teacher….’ ”

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 22:23



Section 22:23–33 Some Sadducees asked Jesus about the resurrection

In the previous section, the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus. They were not successful. In this section, it is the turn of the Sadducees. They made up a story about an impossible situation that might happen if there were a resurrection. Then they asked Jesus to explain it. They thought that he would not be able to, but he was able to explain it anyway.

The story that the Sadducees told was based on their belief that there will be no resurrection. The Pharisees and many other Jews were confident that when the new age arrived, there would be a general resurrection of all the faithful Jews who had died. However, the Sadducees did not believe that such a thing would take place.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Sadducees ask about the resurrection (English Standard Version)
-or-
Marriage at the resurrection (New International Version)

There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 12:18–27 and Luke 20:27–40.

Paragraph 22:23–28

22:23a–c

a
The same day Sadducees came to him, bwho say that there is no resurrection, cand they asked him a question: Verse 22:23b is a type of relative clause. (A relative clause is a clause that usually starts with a relative pronoun. Here, the relative pronoun is the word who. It refers back to the Sadducees.) This type of relative clause describes all the Sadducees. It is not describing only some of them.

Some languages do not have this type of relative clause. For those languages, it will be necessary to translate this part of the verse without using a relative clause. For example:

That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead. (New Century Version)
-or-
The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So that same day some of the Sadducees came to Jesus… (Contemporary English Version)

22:23a

The same day: This time phrase indicates that the events in this section happened some time during the same day as the previous story. It does not indicate whether these events happened immediately after the previous story or not.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

That same day (New Century Version)

Sadducees: The last time that Matthew used the word Sadducees was in 16:12c.

The word Sadducees refers to men who were members of a Jewish religious group. They believed that people must follow the laws in the Old Testament and not add other rules. They did not believe that God would bring people back to life again after they died. They also did not believe that angels or spirits existed (Acts 23:8). They also accepted some ideas held by the Greeks. Many Sadducees were priests.

Here are some ways to translate Sadducees:

• Transliterate the word Sadducees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to a group of people. For example:

Sadusi members
-or-
Saduce adherents

• Transliterate the word Sadducees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:

people belonging to the Sadusi religious group
-or-
members of the Jewish group called the Saduce

came to him: The Greek verb that the English Standard Version translates as came to indicates that they approached him from a relatively short distance away. It does not mean that they came a long distance to see Jesus.

The pronoun him refers to Jesus. Since this sentence starts a new section, you may want to make that explicit. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

approached him (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
came to Jesus (New Century Version)

22:23b

who say that there is no resurrection: This clause means that all the Sadducees believed that God would not resurrect dead people. The Sadducees believed that only the five books of Moses were inspired. In those five books, they did not see evidence of a resurrection. So they did accept the idea that there would be a general resurrection of the dead. (See the discussion of this clause in 22:23a–c above.)

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
claimed that people will not rise from death (Good News Translation)
-or-
Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead. (New Century Version)

resurrection: This term refers to a “resurrection from the dead.” It refers to dead people being brought back to life.

At that time, many Jews believed that there would be a general resurrection of true Jews at the end of the age. The Pharisees strongly held this idea, but the Sadducees denied it. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

people would rise to life after death (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
dead people will come back to life
-or-
people who die will live again in the future
-or-
God will cause dead people to live again

22:23c

and they asked him a question: In Greek, this phrase is more literally “they asked him” or “they questioned him.”

Here is another way to translate this clause:

They asked him (God’s Word)

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