Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:
John the Baptist dramatically preaches by the water’s edge to his audience that consists of common people as well as religious leaders. He appears to be in the middle of his harsh pronouncement on the Pharisees and Sadducees, calling them a “brood of vipers.” They stand at the right-hand side of the painting, arms folded, seemingly indignant at John’s words. The rest of the crowd watches and listens intently to John, curious and enthralled by the scene before them. In the distance there are some figures approaching the group. Could it be Jesus on the way to his baptism?
From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 3:5:
Uma: “Many people went to the wilderness wanting to hear his words. They were from the village of Yerusalem, and from the entire land of Yudea, there were also those from villages that were up-and-down the Yordan River.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The people from Awrusalam and from the whole land of Yahudiya and from the places at the river Jordan went to him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Many people went out to him coming from Jerusalem and from other towns here in all of the province of Judea, and there were many yet who came from the towns near the river Jordan.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The inhabitants of Jerusalem and those who resided in all the towns in Judea and in the bordering-areas of the Jordan river were going to him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Everyone of the taga Jerusalem went there to him and (so did) people from other towns which were also in the district of Judea, including along both sides of the Jordan (river).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Many people arrived where John was in order to hear what he was speaking. There arrived inhabitants of Jerusalem as well as all the other towns of the land of Judah. There arrived people who came from the area about the river Jordan.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The Hebrew, Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “Jordan” means “descending (rapidly),” “flowing down.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with the sign for the river bordering Jordan and Israel, along with the general sign for river. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Jordan river” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )
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 verb went out is in the imperfect tense in Greek and suggests repeated action. In Greek the subject of the verb went out is Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan (that is, the region near where the Jordan River empties into the Dead Sea). What is meant, of course, is that the people of these regions went out. The use of all in both occurrences is a typical idiomatic expression in Hebrew; the meaning here is “many of the people from….”
The requirements of the receptor language will determine whether the form went out to him or “came to him” (Good News Translation) is better. Translators in many languages will find it natural to retain the sense of repeated action that is carried by the imperfect tense of went. They might have “people in Jerusalem used to go out” or “were going out.” To him may be “to where he was.” Also it is sometimes necessary to say why they were going out, as in “to hear him” or “to listen to him.”
No translator wants to give the impression that it was the city of Jerusalem or the province of Judea that went to see him. It was the people from there. Whether to say “all the people,” “many of the people,” or just “people” will depend on what expression the language will normally have.
Since Jerusalem has already been mentioned several times in the Gospel, it may not be necessary to say “the city of Jerusalem,” but the province in which Jerusalem was located, Judea, will be sufficiently unfamiliar to many readers that translators will need to say “region (or, province) of Judea.”
Similarly, Jordan is a river, so translations often follow the example of Good News Translation, with a phrase such as “people from all over the region near the Jordan River.”
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 .
People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region around the Jordan: This phrase is literally “Then came out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.” For example:
Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him (English Standard Version)
In the Greek, the words Jerusalem, Judea, and Jordan are used in a figurative way to refer to the people of those places. In many languages, it is more natural to refer to the people from these areas.
Here are some other ways to translate this sentence:
People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Many people from ⌊the city of⌋ Jerusalem and all ⌊the district of⌋ Judea and from the Jordan River valley went to John
went out to him: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as went out to probably indicates that people went to see John over a period of time. People may have gone to see him over a period of weeks or months. (Some people went one day, other people went the next day, and still other people went the following day, and so on.) They went to see him and to listen to him preach.
Here are some other ways to translate this verb:
were going (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
continued going out to ⌊see⌋ him ⌊and listen to him⌋
all Judea: The word Judea refers to a district or province. The phrase all Judea refers to all the areas in the district of Judea.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
the whole province of Judea (Good News Translation)
-or-
⌊they also came from⌋ all ⌊the regions of⌋ Judea
the whole region around the Jordan: The phrase the whole region around the Jordan refers to the land on both sides of the Jordan River. This land was outside of the district of Judea. People from the areas along the Jordan River also went to see John.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
all the area around the Jordan River (New Century Version)
-or-
⌊they also came⌋ from the land on both sides of the Jordan River
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