Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 22:40:
Uma: “All the Lord’s Law and the teaching of the prophets hang on those two commands.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “All commandments in the law which God gave to Musa and all the teachings of the prophets are included in these two commandments.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The whole law which was left behind for us by Moses and the teaching of the inspired ones by God long ago, they all come from these two commands.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The entire law of Moses and what the prophets wrote, they are based on these two commands.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, these two laws, these are what all those laws which were written by Moises and what was taught by the prophets come back to.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “These two words lead over all the other words which God commands. Because concerning all the other words written by Moses and by the spokesmen for God, they merely teach the people how to love God and to love their fellowman.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
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®).
Depend (on) translates a verb which literally means “hang on” (see New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, New International Version). Translators who follow this interpretation can say “All the Law of Moses and the teachings of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.” But it may also mean either “sum up” (An American Translation) or “contain” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition “In these two commands is contained everything that the Law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets have said concerning God’s will”).
Matthew here inserts the modifier all (Good News Translation “whole”) before the set phrase the law and the prophets (see comment at 5.17; 7.12).
For English speakers it is more natural to make a slight shift in the word order of the sentence (see Good News Translation), which may be the case for certain other languages as well.
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 .
On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets: In some languages, it will be more natural to change the order of the clauses in this verse. For example:
All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments. (Contemporary English Version)
depend: The Greek verb that the English Standard Version translates as depend is more literally “hang” (as in the New International Version). It is the same word used in Luke 23:39 which talks about one of the two thieves who hung (on a cross) on one side of Jesus.
Here this verb is used figuratively. It indicates that these two commands support the rest of Scripture. Everything else flows/comes from them. These two commandments sum up the meaning and purpose of all of Scripture. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
are based on (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
come from
-or-
stand on
-or-
are inside
-or-
are included in
all the Law: The Greek word that the English Standard Version translates as Law refers to the Law of Moses. It may also indicate the first five books of the Old Testament which contain the Law of Moses. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
All the Law of Moses (Contemporary English Version)
and the Prophets: The Greek phrase that the English Standard Version translates as the Prophets refers to the writings of the Prophets in the Old Testament. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
and the writings of the Prophets (New Century Version)
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