respectful form of "come" (oide ni naru)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, oide ni naru (おいでになる), a respectful form of kuru (来る) or “come” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 3:14

Would have prevented translates one word in Greek, literally “was preventing,” which is followed by the object him. However, in the present context the verb indicates action attempted but not achieved (technically a connotative imperfect), which may be rendered “wanted to prevent, tried to prevent” (Good News Translation “tried to make him change his mind”). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “tried to dissuade him” (so also New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible); New American Bible “tried to refuse him with the protest”; Phillips “tried to prevent him”; and Barclay “tried to stop him.” This could even be expressed in direct speech if necessary, as in “John said, ‘You should not do this.’ ”

Translators can express saying with “by saying” or “He said.”

I need to be baptized by you: John felt that the more important one, Jesus, should not be baptized by the lesser, himself. This may be rendered “It is I who should be baptized by you,” “I am the one who should be asking you to baptize me,” or “You should baptize me.”

John then continues with a rhetorical question, and do you come to me? This is transformed into a statement by Good News Translation: “and yet you have come to me.” New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible also change the question to a statement. Although retaining the question form, Translator’s New Testament structures in such a way as to help its readers: “Why do you come to me?” Many translators can retain the form of a question: “Why ask me to baptize you?” or “How can you ask me to baptize you?” Good News Bible has shown the thrust of the question by changing it into a statement. A similar example is “But you are the one asking me to do this.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 3:14

3:14a

But: There is a contrast between 3:13b and 3:14a. The contrast is between what Jesus wanted and what John wanted. Many English versions indicate this contrast by translating the Greek conjunction here with the English conjunction “But.”

John tried to prevent Him: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tried to prevent refers to attempting to stop something from happening. John did not want to baptize Jesus because he felt unworthy.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

John tried to make him change his mind (Good News Translation)
-or-
John did not want/agree to do it
-or-
John refused

saying: The verb saying introduces a direct quote. For examples of how this can be translated with an indirect quotation, see the General Comment following the note on 3:14c.

3:14b

I need to be baptized by You: John thought that Jesus should baptize him. He understood that Jesus was the Messiah/Christ and was much greater than he.

The pronouns I and You are emphasized in the Greek. If you have a way to emphasize these pronouns in a natural way, you should do so. Some examples are below.

The verb baptized is passive. Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

• As a passive verb. For example:

I ought to be baptized by you (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
I am the one who needs to be baptized by you (New Living Translation (2004))

• As an active verb. For example:

I need you to baptize me.
-or-

⌊On the contrary⌋ you are the one who ought to baptize me.
-or-
It is I who need baptism from you

You: The pronoun You is singular and refers to Jesus.

3:14c

do You come to me?: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses both surprise and protest. John was surprised that Jesus would ask him to baptize him, and he tried to prevent it.

Here are some other ways to translate this surprise and protest:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

⌊What?⌋ You are coming to me ⌊to be baptized⌋?
-or-
Why do you come to me ⌊for baptism⌋?

• As a statement. For example:

You should not be coming to me to get baptized!

-or-

⌊No, no, no!⌋ It is not proper that you come to me to baptize you!

Translate this surprise and protest in a way that is natural in your language.

You…me: As in the previous clause (3:14b), the Greek words for the pronouns You and me in this clause are emphatic. In your language, you will want to translate them here in a way that is consistent with 3:14b.

General Comment on 3:14b–c

In some languages, it will be more natural to put the rhetorical question in 3:14c before 3:14b. For example:

14c
⌊What?⌋ You are coming to me to be baptized? 14bIt is I who should be baptized by you!

General Comment on 3:14a–c

Verse 3:14 is a direct quotation. In some languages, it is more natural to translate this as an indirect quotation, For example:

14aBut John tried to deter him by saying that 14bhe needed to be baptized by Jesus. 14c⌊He told him that⌋ he was surprised that Jesus had come to him for baptism.

© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.