The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”
Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
“to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
“to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):
What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?
“The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.
When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’
“A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.
“The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?
“I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):
For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 23:14:
Uma: “[[‘Disaster on you, you religious teachers and Parisi people! You are just good on the outside! You deceive widows and [forcibly-]take their houses. And you pray long-long prayers so that those evil deeds of yours are concealed. Your punishment will be very heavy.]]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “(‘You are to be pitied, teachers of the religious law and Pariseo for God will punish you. You only pretend to follow God. You cause difficulties to the widows so that you will get their houses and you make your worship long pretending that you are good people. Surely you will receive a great judgment in the hereafter.)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Pity you, teachers of the law, and you Pharisees, because your faith in God is a lie. You cheat widow women so that you might come to own their houses, and your praying is long, which is a means of covering up the bad thing you did. Because of this, God’s punishment on you will be very great.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Pitiful are you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! Because you deceive widows so that you will take their wealth and even their houses while-simultaneously you lengthen your prayers in the sight of the people. In-the-future indeed (prophetic formula) your punishment will be heavier!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really extremely hard is what is being reserved for you, you explainers of law and Pariseo. You pretend to believe/obey God. You exhaust the livelihood of widows through what you cause them to give. And because you want to cover up your evil natures/ways, you make your prayers long. That’s why much greater is the punishment which you will experience.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Listen, you teachers of the law and Pharisees, how great is the suffering you will have, for it is not true that you are good people. Because you take away the houses of widows. You deceive them saying that they will increase what they own. Yet in order to blind the eyes of the people, you pray very long. But now overflowing will be the punishment you pass through because of what you do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
This verse is not included in Revised Standard Version or in most other modern translations (New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Good News Translation, Luther 1984, New American Bible, New International Version), and TC-GNT believes that the evidence is positive that it was brought in from the parallels in Mark 12.40 and Luke 20.47. It does not appear in the best Greek manuscripts, and in the manuscripts in which it does appear its position varies (some place it before verse 13 and some after verse 13).
The first part of this verse is identical to verse 13. Even for can be handled exactly the same way as “because” was there. You devour widows’ houses is translated with the figure of speech removed by Good News Translation: “You take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes.” The reference is to the unethical way in which these leaders sometimes took advantage of the situation of widows and would take from them their homes and property. Translators in West Africa often do not have to remove the figurative language, because the word “eat” is frequently used to refer to stealing or misusing money or property. They can thus say “For you eat the houses (or, property) of widows.” But where such imagery would mean nothing, translators should do something similar to Good News Bible or have a clause such as “you take from widows everything they have.”
The noun construction for a pretense is translated as a verb phrase by Good News Translation: “make a show.” One may also translate “try to impress others” or “try to show off before others.” In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch the two clauses of this sentence are inverted and translated “You say long prayers in order to make a good impression, but in reality you are cheats, who deprive helpless widows of their possessions.” Some translators have structured the sentence like this: “For you take from widows everything they have and yet say long prayers in order to impress other people.” Or like this: “Although you take from widows all their property, you try to impress other people by saying long prayers.”
Therefore you will receive the greater condemnation translates a construction in which God is the implied agent of the verb phrase will receive … condemnation. Accordingly, it is permissible to translate “because of this God will punish you all the more!” Greater condemnation is in comparison to the condemnation (Good News Translation “punishment”) that God will inflict upon others. In some languages the persons involved in the comparison must be expressed: “God will punish you more severely than he will punish others.”
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 .
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