Scriptures Plain & Simple (Matthew 25:31-46)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 25:31-46:

On the day of judgment, God’s Appointed One
will appear in all his glory with his angels
       and assume his place of authority as Judge.
Everyone of every nation will be there,
and he will separate them
       as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.

“Sheep to my right! Goats to my left!”
the King will announce,
       before pronouncing final judgment:

“To you on my right, my Father now gives his blessing.
So, come and enter the kingdom prepared for you
       before the world was created or even conceived.
I was hungry, and you gave me food;
       I was thirsty, and you gave me water.
              I was a stranger, and you welcomed me;
I was naked and you gave me clothes;
       I was sick, and you cared for me;
              I was in jail, and you came to visit me.”

Though you’ve pleased me, still you’ll ask,
“When were you hungry, and I gave you food?
       When were you thirsty, and I gave you water?
              When were you a stranger, and I welcomed you?
When were you naked, and I gave you clothes?
       When were you sick, and I cared for you?
              When were you in jail, and I came to visit you?”

Then I will remind you —
Whenever you did any of these things for any one
       of those who seemed so insignificant,
              you did it fo rme.

Now for those of you on my left — Get away from me!
Go into the eternal fire God has prepared
       for the devil and his angels.
I was hungry, and you gave me no food;
       I was thirsty, and you gave me no water.
              I was a stranger, and you didn’t welcome me;
I was naked and you gave me no clothes;
       I was sick, and you didn’t care for me;
              I was in jail, and you didn’t come to visit me.

Though you’ve displeased me, still you’ll ask,
“When did I fail to do any of these things for you?”

Then I will remind you —
Whenever you turned your back on any one
       of those who seemed so insignificant,
              you turned your back on me.

visit (Japanese honorifics)

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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

The Greek that is translated as “visit” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-tazune (お訪ね), combining “visit” (tazune) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also humble form of “visit” (ukagau).

Translation commentary on Matthew 25:39

This verse may require restructuring as two separate questions: “When was it that you were sick and we took care of you? When did we visit you in prison?”

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 .