complete verse (Matthew 24:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 24:12:

  • Uma: “At that time, the evil of people will be keep-increasing, to the point that the love of many people will diminish.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because the evil/badness in the world will be exceeding/very bad, most people will no longer love their companions.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of the spread of the wickedness of mankind, most will no longer have in their breath their love for their companions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because of the increase of evil, the love of most will decrease.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Evil will really spread all over the world/land. Therefore what will happen is that many will be those whose holding-dear of me will grow small.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When there has developed much evil, many people will draw back from loving their fellow believers.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 24:12

Wickedness is first mentioned in 7.23 (Revised Standard Version has “evildoers,” which is literally “doers of evil/wickedness”). Wickedness is multiplied will be impossible to transfer directly into many languages; one may need to render “increasingly, wicked people will be everywhere” or “more and more people will be doing wicked things everywhere.”

Most men’s love will grow cold is a result of the spread of evil. The reference may be to either love for God or love for others; in Matthew the emphasis is generally upon the latter. One may then translate “many people’s love for others will grow cold,” “many people will no longer love others as they should,” or “many people will quit loving others.” This is the only place in the New Testament where the verb grow cold is used of love.

The two parts of this verse are related by because, which Good News Translation translates by “Such will be … that….” Another version can be “More and more wicked … As a consequence, many people will stop loving….”

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 .