In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
The Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew that is translated as “hair” in English is translated in Tzeltal as stsotsil sjol (Tzeltal de Oxchuc y Tenejapa) / stsotsel sjol (Tzeltal Bachajón): “blanket for the head.” (Source: Slocum / Watkins 1988, p. 35)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:36:
Uma: “Also do not swear naming our (incl.) head, because we (incl.) are not able to make our (incl.) hair white or black, not even just one hair.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Do not swear like for example you say, ‘May my head split if it is not true!’ because it is not you who made your body. Even one single hair of yours you cannot make grow black or white.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And even your head, if there is that which you will promise, don’t say may your hair turn white if you do not carry it out, for you have no power to make even one of your hairs turn white or turn black.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Even your heads, don’t swear-by them because you are not able to turn-white or turn-black even one hair.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Yes indeed, it really is no longer possible/acceptable for you to say, ‘I swear it even if my head will be cut off,’ because there isn’t even one strand of hair on your head that you can make white or make black to sprout.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Do not say that you will forfeit your head if it is not true what you say. Because concerning your head, not even one of your hairs can make white nor black.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 5:33-37:
You know what the Bible teaches about promises —
“Don’t make a promise in the Lord’s name,
unless you intend to keep it!”
But I tell you not to swear by anything when you make a promise —
not by heaven — it’s God’s throne,
not by the earth — it’s God’s footstool,
not by Jerusalem — it’s the city of the great king,
not by your own head — you can’t grow white or black hairs at will.
When you make a promise, just give your word!
Anything else comes from the devil.
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®).
And do not swear translates a Greek negative particle, literally “nor,” with the verb swear implied. This is its fourth occurrence in this passage (once in verse 34, twice in verse 35, and once in verse 36); when used in sequence it means “neither … nor … nor….” Its four occurrences in Good News Translation are rendered: “Do not swear … nor … nor … Do not even swear.” A similar restructuring is found in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.
To swear by your head has sometimes been difficult to express. Some translators have said here “Do not even use your own head as authority when you declare something is true” or “When you declare something true, don’t even refer to your head to confirm it.”
For you cannot make one hair white or black reveals that God is called into the situation even when one invokes one’s own head. Even the color of one’s hair is determined by God. The translation can be “you can’t even make one hair change color (from white to black).” The translation should not mean one hair is first made white then black or that some hairs will be made one color and others the other color. Some translations have had to say “because you do not even have enough authority over your head to make one hair white or black (or, to change the color of one hair).”
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 .
Nor: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible here translates as Nor is the same Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “or” in 5:35a and 5:35b. As before, this word introduces another example.
should you swear by your head: The clause swear by your head means that people should not “make an oath using/saying the words ‘by my head.’” This is prohibited just as the other items in 5:34–35.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Do not make an oath using the words ‘my head’
-or-
Don’t even swear, ‘By my head!’ (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
Do not swear indicating your own head as witness/proof
In the Greek text, both the verb for swear and the pronoun for your are singular.
5:36b
for: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as for introduces the basis for the command not to swear by your head (in 5:36a).
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.
-or-
You cannot make one hair white or black, so do not swear by your head.
you cannot make a single hair white or black: A person cannot permanently change the natural color of his hair. God is the one who controls a person’s head just as he controls heaven and earth. So a person cannot prove that his oath is true by saying “by my head.” He must not promise to do something by saying “by my head.”
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
you cannot make one hair on your head become white or black (New Century Version)
-or-
you can’t turn one hair white or black (New Living Translation (2004))
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