Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 7:12:
Uma: “‘All behavior that we (incl.) like others to do to us (incl.), that also is what we (incl.) must do to others. That is the teaching of the Law of the Lord and the teaching of the prophets.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Whatever you want that people do to you, likewise also do to them for that is the meaning of the law of Musa and the teaching of the prophets.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “What you want that your companions should do to you, you do that also to them. This is the right way to fulfill the law that was left behind by Moses. This is also what the inspired ones of God taught long ago.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Therefore do to your companions what you want them to do to you, because this is the summary (lit. gathering) of Moses’ law and what the prophets wrote.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore, do to others that which you indeed want them also to do to/for you. This is what is intended by what you refer to as the laws of Moises and the things taught by the prophets.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Just like you want that people will help you, do likewise, help other people. Thus will be accomplished all the words written in the law as well as the words written by the spokesmen for God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
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 most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
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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).
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®).
It is general knowledge that even before Jesus, the Jewish Rabbi Hillel gave the “Golden Rule” in its negative form: “Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you; that is the entire Law, and all else is interpretation.”
The word So would make it appear that this verse is summing up the previous passage. However, this is not the case. The preceding verses have been talking about a person’s relation to God, but this verse talks about people’s relation to each other. Therefore many translations, including Good News Translation, do not put any transition here.
Men is translated “others” by Good News Translation, since the reference is to people in general.
There are several ways to express this “Golden Rule.” For example, translators can say “However you want people to treat you, that’s how you should treat them” or “The things you want people to do to you, do those things first to other people.” The sentence can also be reversed: “Treat other people the way you would like them to treat you.”
For this is the law and the prophets: Jerusalem Bible renders “that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets,” and New American Bible “this sums up the law and the prophets.” Barclay translates “This is a summary of the message of the Law and the Prophets,” and Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition “this is the content of the Law and the teachings of the Prophets.” This can also be expressed as “this is what the Law and the Prophets actually teach” or “this is what the Law and the Prophets say.”
For a discussion of the law and the prophets, see 5.17.
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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