Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
The Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “tax collector” in English is translated in Tagbanwa as “money-grabbing official receivers of payment” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation) and in Noongar as mammarapa boya-barranginy or “people taking money” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation). Likewise, in Cashibo-Cacataibo, it is the “ones who take the money” (source: Bratcher / Nida 1961).
In Mairasi it is translated as “the people who collect money pertaining to head payment.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about tax collectors in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 5:46:
Uma: “If we (incl.) love just only the people who love us (incl.), we (incl.) shouldn’t hope that God will reward us (incl.) for that behavior/deed. Even the tax collectors whose deeds are evil love people who love them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Do not expect/hope that God will reward you if you love only the ones who love you. For even the tax collectors who cheat, also love those who love them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Don’t you think that God will pay you if you only treat well those who treat you well. Because even the collectors of taxes whose doings are deceitful, they also treat well those who treat them well.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “If it’s only the ones-who-love you whom you love, will you be rewarded do-you-suppose? Even the looked-down-on-ones who collect taxes, they are capable-of that.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For if it’s only those who value you whom you value, what more reward are you waiting for? For isn’t it so that like this is being done by even the money-grabbing official-receivers of payment to the government?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “If it is only those who love you whom you love, what good thing are you doing then? Even the tax collectors do that.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
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 5:43-48:
From ancient times, it’s been said: “Love friends. Hate enemies!”
But I tell you to love your enemies
and pray for everyone who mistreats you.
That’s how to behave like children of your Father above,
who provides rain and sunshine for everyone, good or evil.
Do you love only those who love you?
Are you good only to your friends?
So what? Even the worst of people are good to their friends.
I tell you to always behave like children of your Father above!
What reward have you?: On the notion of rewards see verse 12. The question actually means “what reward can you expect?” (New English Bible, Barclay). But it is God from whom one expects to receive the reward, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch follows Good News Translation in making this explicit (“How can you expect a reward from God…”); Bible en français courant is similar.
The question if you love those who love you should give the idea of loving only those who love you: “If you love only the people who love you….”
This is a rhetorical question. Jesus is not asking what the reward is, but is rather pointing out forcefully that loving those who love you will not bring a reward. This may be expressed as a statement, as in “To love only those people who love you does not bring any reward,” “God isn’t going to reward you because you love people who love you also,” “You should not expect a reward for loving those people who love you,” or “God should not reward you for loving people who love you.” Another way is to use a rhetorical question like that in Good News Translation, “Why should God reward you…?”
Do not even the tax collectors do the same? translates a question form in Greek which expects a positive reply (note Jerusalem Bible “Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not?”). Several translations (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Bijbel in Gewone Taal) restructure by a statement, as does Good News Translation: “Even the tax collectors do that!”
The tax collectors referred to in the Gospels are probably the Jewish employees of the chief collectors. The Roman system for gathering taxes made for inequality and oppression, and that is one reason that in the Gospels tax collectors are quite often grouped together with sinners. To emphasize the derogatory connotation of the term, Barclay translates “the renegade tax collectors.”
Many translations have fairly literal renderings of tax collectors. They have, for example, “people who collect money for the government” or “people who make everyone pay money to the government.” Some say “to the Roman government” or “to the emperor (or, king) in Rome.” Other translations reflect the low esteem in which tax collectors were held by saying “those unpatriotic (or unscrupulous, or oppressive) tax collectors.”
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 .
The Greek of 5:46a begins with a conjunction that is often translated as “for.” It introduces one basis/reason for the commands to “love your enemies” (in 5:44a) and “pray for them” (in 5:44b). We are commanded to love our enemies and pray for them for/because we will not have a reward if we pray only for those who love us.
The Berean Standard Bible and many English versions do not translate this conjunction. In some languages, it will not be necessary to translate this conjunction either.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used this rhetorical question to emphasize that you should not expect a reward for loving those people who love you.
Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? (God’s Word)
-or-
Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? (Good News Translation)
• As a statement. For example:
If you love only the people who love you, you will get no reward. (New Century Version)
-or-
If you only show kindness to those who are kind to you, God will not reward you.
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
love: See love in the note at 5:43b above.
what reward will you get: In this context, the word reward refers to a gift given for behavior that God approves of. It could be a special honor or blessing that God gives to that kind of person.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
what gift will you get
-or-
will God pay you for that
-or-
⌊God⌋ will not do something special for you ⌊for doing that⌋
5:46b
Do not even tax collectors do the same?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used this rhetorical question to emphasize that even the tax collectors love the people who love them. The point is that no one expected God to reward corrupt people such as tax collectors. So if Jesus’ followers expected God to reward them, they must be better than people like tax collectors.
Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? (NET Bible)
-or-
Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (Revised Standard Version)
• As a statement. For example:
Even the tax-collectors do as much as that. (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Even the tax collectors love those people who love them.
Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
tax collectors: The term tax collectors refers to Jews who collected taxes from their fellow Jews. These Jews were employed by the conquering Romans to do this. The Romans did not pay them wages. Rather they allowed the tax collectors to take extra taxes as their pay. But many tax collectors took a lot extra and made themselves rich. So most Jews considered them to be traitors who worked for an oppressive foreign power They also considered them to be thieves as well. And since they had contact with the Gentile Romans, they were also considered to be religiously contaminated (“unclean”).
You may need a footnote explaining tax collectors. Here is a sample footnote:
Tax collectors were hated by their fellow Jews for three reasons:
(1) They often unjustly took extra money from people and kept it for themselves and became rich.
(2) They worked for the Roman oppressors.
(3) Because of their frequent contact with the Romans (non-Jews), they were considered to be ritually contaminated (“unclean”).
If people in your area will not think of tax collectors as bad people, you may want to include that implied information. For example:
corrupt tax collectors (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
⌊evil⌋ tax collectors
Here are some other ways to translate tax collectors:
people who collect taxes
-or-
people who gather money ⌊from other people⌋ for the government
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