Christ and Pilate (icon)

Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of Christ and Pilate by Kateryna Shadrina.

 

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

For purchasing artworks by Kateryna Shadrina go to IconArt Gallery .

complete verse (Matthew 27:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 27:14:

  • Uma: “Not a word did Yesus answer, with the result that the Governor was very amazed.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But Isa did not answer even one word, therefore the governor really wondered.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But Jesus didn’t answer anything, and because of this the governor was very amazed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But Jesus absolutely didn’t answer even one of what they accused him of, so the governor was extremely amazed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But Jesus made no verbal response at all, therefore that governor was amazed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But Jesus continued saying nothing. Therefore the governor was astounded that he said nothing in reply.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

answer (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.

In these verses, the Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “answer” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-kotae (お答え), combining “come” (kotae) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 27:14

Gave … no answer implies refusal on the part of Jesus, and so Good News Translation and New English Bible (“refused to answer”) make this meaning explicit. The restructuring of New International Version (“But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge”) is similar to that of Jerusalem Bible (“he offered no reply to any of the charges”).

Both Matthew and Mark (15.5) indicate that the governor (Mark: “Pilate”) wondered (Good News Translation “was … surprised”), to which Matthew adds the adverb greatly.

Barclay has expressed this sentence well: “But to Pilate’s surprise Jesus did not answer even one single word.”

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 .