complete verse (Matthew 22:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 22:5:

  • Uma: “But all those who were called did not pay attention to that calling. Each one went to his own work-place. There were those who went to their field, there were those who went to other work.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But the invited people did not pay any attention. They left, one went to his field, one to his store,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But it was as if the people didn’t hear. They didn’t turn their backs on their work. One of them was in his field and another was in his store.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But those who were invited, they turned-a-deaf-ear. They didn’t come but rather they continued on with what they were doing. One went to his rice-field, another went to sell.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But those who had been invited were otherwise-occupied. They didn’t disturb their individual planned-trips. One person went to his field. Another person attended to his trading.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But the people who were called for did not want to come. One went to work in the field. Another went on selling.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 22:5

They refers back to “those who are invited” at the beginning of verse 4; Good News Translation identifies they through the use of the phrase “the invited guests.”

Made light of appears in Good News Translation and Moffatt as “paid no attention”; New English Bible, An American Translation, and Phillips have “took no notice of”; New Jerusalem Bible has “they were not interested”; New American Bible has the one word “ignored.” Elsewhere in the New Testament, the verb is used in 1 Timothy 4.14; Hebrews 2.3; 8.9. The verb can also be rendered “disregarded” or “did not take seriously.” It may need to be replaced by “the invitation.”

Went off, one to his farm, another to his business is considerably restructured in Good News Translation: “went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store.” It will also be acceptable to say “went somewhere else. Some went to the farms, others to their businesses.”

One … another is probably best taken in a collective sense: “some went to their farms, others went to their place of business.” Business (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “store”) or “trade” is the primary meaning of the noun, which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; a related noun occurs in John 2.16.

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 22:5



Paragraph 22:5–7

22:5a

But: There is a contrast between the king’s invitation to come (in 22:4b–f) and the people’s refusing to come (in 22:5a). Most English versions make this contrast explicit with the conjunction “but.”

they paid no attention and went off: Most English versions seem to indicate that everyone in the second group paid no attention and left. However, in this clause is more literally “those who paid no attention left.” Verse 22:6a indicates that there were some people who did not leave. These other people siezed the servants and killed them (in 22:6a–b).

So some other ways to translate this clause is:

those people who paid no attention went off
-or-
some people paid no attention and went off

they paid no attention: The Greek word that the English Standard Version translates as paid no attention indicates that some people did not care about the fact that the king had invited them to a wedding.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

the guests he had invited ignored them (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
the people refused to listen to the servants (New Century Version)
-or-
some people didn’t consider the invitation to be important

and went off: This verb indicates that some people left to do something else.

Here are some another way to translate this verb:

and left to do other things (New Century Version)
-or-
and went about their business (Good News Translation)

22:5b

one to his farm: The Greek word that the English Standard Version translates as farm is more literally “field.” It refers to a place where someone grows crops.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

to his field (New International Version)

another to his business: The Greek word that the English Standard Version translates as business refers to any sort of commercial activity.

Here some another ways to translate this phrase:

some went to their places of business (Contemporary English Version)

another to his store (Good News Translation)

-or-

another went to sell

General Comment on 22:5b

The two phrases in 22:5b refer to the ordinary activities of life. It is a general description of what the people who did not listen to the invitation went off to do. It does not mean that there were only two people in this group. So it is possible to translate this clause with plural words to communicate this understanding. For example:

some of them left for their farms and some went to their places of business (Contemporary English Version)

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