complete verse (Matthew 22:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 22:6:

  • Uma: “There were also others who grabbed those servants, they beat them and killed them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “and the others seized the servants of the sultan and hit them and killed them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the other people there, they grabbed the ones the king had sent and they beat them, and then they killed them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Others, they caught the king’s slaves, they excessively hardshipped them and then they killed them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As for others, they set upon those slaves, insulted/belittled and then killed (them).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Others grabbed the messengers sent by the king, they hurt them and killed some.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 22:6

Seized … treated … shamefully … killed: these actions are without parallel in Luke. Treated … shamefully (Moffatt, An American Translation “ill-treated”; New Jerusalem Bible “maltreated”) may also mean “insulted” (New American Bible; Phillips “treated … with insults”) or “beat” (Good News Translation). New English Bible has “attacked … brutally.” The Greek text seems to suggest that the rest of the invited guests did these actions to all the servants.

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 22:6



22:6a

the rest: This phrase refers to all the other people in the second group who were invited to the wedding but did not want to go.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the rest of the people
-or-
the others (Revised English Bible)

seized his servants: The Greek verb that the English Standard Version translates as seized refers to a violent arrest.

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

grabbed
-or-
caught

This same verb is in 14:3a in the story about the arrest and death of John the Baptist. It should be translated the same way here.

his servants: The word translated servants is the same as at 22:3a. It also refers to slaves.

22:6b

treated them shamefully: In Greek, the term that the English Standard Version translates as treated them shamefully is a single word. It refers to physical injury like a beating. It also refers to actions that insult the victims and shame them.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

then beat them up (Contemporary English Version)

-or-

abused them

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