The Greek that is often translated in English as “truly, truly, I tell you” or similar is translated in the Russian BTI translation (publ. 2015) as Поверьте Мне (Pover’te Mne) or “trust me.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
See also Amen.
formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people
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 Translator 2002, 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 Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
complete verse (Matthew 25:12)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 25:12:
- Uma: “‘The bridegroom answered: ‘I don’t know you.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “But the bridegroom answered, he said, ‘I do not open. I do not know/recognize you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the bridegroom answered, ‘I don’t recognize you.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “‘But the man-getting-married answered saying, ‘It cannot be, because I don’t know you.’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “But the one they to whom they called replied, ‘The truth is, I don’t know/acknowledge you as being with/connected-with me.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “But the bridegroom said: ‘Truly I tell you that I do not know you,’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The wise and the foolish virgins
Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1979).
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
The following artwork “Ten Virgins” is by Nyoman Darsane (1939-2024):
Nyoman Darsane was born and raised as a Hindu. Like many Balinese rice farmers, his father was also a musician who played in the orchestra of the local ruler. Darsane was brought up together with one of the princes and educated in the palace. That provided him with a deep knowledge of Hindu-Balinese religion and culture. It paved the way for him to become not only a painter but also a musician, dancer, and puppet player. An academic training at the college in Semarang, Java, finally made him familiar with the Western tradition as well. His early paintings are reminiscent of Gauguin, van Gogh, and Nolde. Darsane thus belongs to the heterogeneous group of the so-called academicians, those artists who have studied at one of the country’s art colleges. Although they are experimenting with Western influences in style, they have continuously been searching for their own Balinese identity. In Darsane’s case a special emphasis adds to this search: since he converted to Christianity he has been trying to mold this religion into a Balinese form.
Darsane was supported by the Bishop Wayan Mastra (b. 1931), who theologically comes from a more evangelical background. As a tiny minority among the Hindu-Balinese people, the Bali Church embraced inculturation. Churches are built in traditional Balinese temple style and local artists have been asked to design the decoration of the buildings. Balinese music and dance are used in the liturgy and the impact of these cultural traditionscan be seen in Darsane’s paintings.
As a result of his conversion at the age of seventeen, Darsane had been excluded from his family and ostracized by his village community. The Hindu-Balinese religion originated from the encounter between Hinduism and Balinese tribal religions, and it still has many features of this primal religion. Religion and community are closely intertwined; whoever turns away from the common religion also renounces the solidarity of the community. Darsane’s constant effort to give Christianity a Balinese shape finally convinced his family and the community that he stilt is one of them. Today he is again well respected and his advice even in religious matters is highly appreciated. (Source: Volker Küster in Pongracz / Küster / Cook 2007, p. 34; image: p. 113)
formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Translation commentary on Matthew 25:12
But he replied is more literally “But answering he said,” which is merely a traditional formula in Semitic Greek. It may be important to identify the speaker: “the bridegroom answered” (Good News Translation).
Truly, I say to you: see 5.18 and comments there.
The phrase I do not know you is similar to the one in 7.23, but here a rendering such as “I do not know who you are” (so Barclay) is the most usual.
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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