complete verse (Matthew 25:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 25:6:

  • Uma: “‘In the middle of the night, a person shouted out: ‘Here comes the bridegroom! Come on and meet him.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When it was midnight someone called, he said, ‘The bridegroom comes, come and meet him.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And in the middle of the night, they heard someone calling, ‘Here is the bridegroom. Meet him now.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘In the middle of the night, someone shouted, ‘Here is the man-getting-married! Come to meet him!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When it was midnight, someone called out saying, ‘The man who is being married is arriving! Go and meet him now!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When it got to the middle of the night, a person was heard shouting: ‘Here comes the bridegroom now, get going and meet him,’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 25:6

Midnight (so New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version, New American Bible) means twelve o’clock at night for most English readers. This is too specific for the Greek text, which is better phrased as “in the middle of the night” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, An American Translation, Phillips, Barclay). One may also translate “late at night” or “very late at night.”

There was a cry is translated “a cry was heard” by New English Bible. Good News Translation does away with the passive (“when the cry rang out”), and New American Bible alters it to an impersonal form (“someone shouted”).

Behold: see comment at 1.20. The bridegroom is now near enough that his approach can be noticed, or else someone has run ahead to announce his arrival. In place of Behold, the bridegroom, several modern translations have “Here is the bridegroom” (Good News Translation, New English Bible) or “The bridegroom is here” (Jerusalem Bible). Of course, the bridegroom was not there yet, and “The bridegroom is coming” or “Here comes the bridegroom” may be better. For some translators the indirect form may be more natural, as in “someone shouted that the bridegroom was coming and they should go out to meet him.”

To meet him translates a Greek prepositional phrase (literally “for meeting him”), which is found also in Acts 28.15 and 1 Thessalonians 4.17, as well as in some manuscripts of Matthew 27.32.

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 .