6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The Greek that is translated as “your Father” in English (when Jesus refers to the God as the Father of his followers) is rendered as “our Father” in Tzotzil “so as to not exclude Jesus.” (Source: Marin Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff.)
“to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
“to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):
What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?
“The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.
When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’
“A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.
“The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?
“I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):
For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 6:6:
Uma: “So, when we (incl.) pray, enter into the house, close the door, and only then pray to our (incl.) Father who is not visible. Because he does see our (incl.) deeds that others do not know, and he will reward us (incl.).” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But when you (sing.) pray, go into the room and shut the door and pray to God, he is your Father who cannot be seen. This your Father sees your doings and he will reward you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But as for you, when you pray each should go home to his house. He should shut the door so he can’t be seen, and there pray to our Father God who cannot be seen. And our Father God, he alone will be able to see him, and he will be the one to reward him in the future.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When you pray therefore, enter a room alone and close-the-door, then pray to our Father who cannot be seen. And our Father who is seeing what you are doing by yourselves, he will reward you.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “What is good when you (sing.) emph. are praying is that you go-alone into a room and close (the door). And then pray to your Father who can’t be seen but he can see you. For it’s certain that he will reward you for that doing of yours which includes no praise-seeking.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But you, when you pray to God, go inside your houses, shut the door and then pray to God. God your Father is there where you are, and it is he who sees you pray in your house and he it is who will pay you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”
If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, mukuite (報いて) or “reward/requite” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, miteo-rare-ru (見ておられる) or “looking” is used.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, o-rare-ru (おられる) or “is/be present” is used.
But when can be “For your part, on those occasions when…” or “Instead, whenever….”
Room translates a Greek word that refers to a small storeroom attached to the Jewish house. It would have been the only room provided with a door, and at least one commentator observes that it had become almost a proverbial expression for a place where one could go and not be seen. Elsewhere in the New Testament it occurs only three times: Matthew 24.26; Luke 12.3, 24. Some commentators note that go into your room and shut the door is almost a verbal assimilation to the Septuagint of Isaiah 26.20; only in Isaiah the context is that of a threat to hide from the Lord’s anger. These same commentators also call attention to 2 Kings 4.33, where Elisha “went in and shut the door upon the two of them and prayed to the Lord.”
For many translators, go into your room and shut the door poses no problem. Sometimes your room becomes “a room,” “a part of the house,” or “a part of your compound (or, living quarters).” In languages where houses perhaps normally do not have rooms with doors, then the way to say this is “Go into a room where you can be alone” or “Go to a place (in your house) where you will be alone.”
Father here, as throughout the passage, is God. Some translations will say “God, who is your Father.” See comments on 5.16.
The meaning of the Greek structure translated who is in secret is unclear. Compare the expression as it occurs in Matthew 6.4. A number of translations maintain the literalism of the Greek text, but others try to make some meaning of the strange expression. Good News Translation and New International Version have “who is unseen”; others go in the direction of New Jerusalem Bible: “who is in that secret place” (see New English Bible, Bible en français courant). New American Bible translates “pray to your Father in private.” In favor of the interpretation given in New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible is the clause who sees in secret, which suggests that the emphasis is upon the Father’s ability to see what takes place, because he is there in that private place. If translators follow the lead of Good News Bible and New International Version in translating who is in secret, they may say “whom nobody can see” or “that no one sees.” Those who follow the interpretation of New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible will have a phrase such as “who is in that private place” or “who is there (where you are praying).”
The translation of who sees in secret will then be similar: “Your Father who sees what you do in secret (or, private),” “who sees what others can’t see,” or “your Father who sees what you do there (or, in that private place).”
Will reward you repeats the last part of verse 4.
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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