In American Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “government/governor” plus the sign for “P” with a circular movement. The reference to government indicates Pilate’s position of authority in the Roman Empire. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Pilate” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “chief priest” in English is translated in Muyuw as tanuwgwes lun or “ruler-of peace offering.” (Source: David Lithgow in The Bible Translator 1971, p. 118ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 27:62:
Uma: “The next day on the Sabat Day, the leading priests and the Parisi people went together to Pilatus,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When it was the next day, that means the Saturday, the leaders of the priests and the Pariseo went to Pilatus.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now on the next day, which was Saturday, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “That day which was Friday, that was the preparation-time of the Jews for the tomorrow which was their day for-resting. During that resting-time, the leaders of the priests and the Pharisees went to Pilato” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As for that day, it was the day called Preparing for the Fiesta. On the morning of the following day, the chiefs of the priests and the Pariseo went to Pilato.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The next day was the day of rest. The chief priest and the Pharisees went to speak with Pilate.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
The day of Preparation is the technical Jewish term for the day immediately preceding the Sabbath. Commentators generally agree that Matthew introduced the phrase here because he had dropped it earlier from verse 57, where it is included in the Marcan parallel (15.42). Most translations perpetuate a fairly literal rendering of the text, though Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar to the restructuring of Good News Translation: (“The next day, which was a Sabbath”). Bible en français courant renders “After the day of preparation for the sabbath,” and New English Bible “the morning after that Friday.”
The only other place in Matthew’s Gospel where the chief priests and the Pharisees are grouped together is in 21.45, where they are representative of the leading opponents of Jesus. It is strange that on the day of the Sabbath they would have defiled themselves by gathering before Pilate, the Roman governor. According to John 18.28, the chief priests refused to enter the governor’s residence so as not to defile themselves before Passover.
To say they gathered before Pilate may give the false impression that they formed a big crowd in front of him, but the meaning really is that they “met with Pilate” or “went together to see Pilate.”
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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