complete verse (Matthew 7:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 7:14:

  • Uma: “But small is the door and narrow the road leading to salvation/good life, very few are the people who pass/go on it.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But the gate is narrow and the road to heaven is difficult to follow. Few are the people who find it.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Narrow by contrast is the gate and hard to follow is the trail that goes to life forever, and seldom is there anyone who follows it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But the entrance is narrow and there are many hardships on the path that goes to the life that has no end, and few are those who find this path.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But the gateway is really narrow and the trail isn’t very wide which go to life which has no end. That’s why only a few find this one.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But the straight road which is taken by the people who will meet up with the new life has a doorway which is narrow and the road is narrow. And only a few people are going there.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Matthew 7:13-20)

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 7:13-20:

The road to the not-so-narrow gate leads to destruction,
       but it’s wide, and many follow that road.

The road to the narrow gate leads to life,
but it’s hard to follow, and is found by only a few.
       Struggle to enter this gate, no matter what!

Translation commentary on Matthew 7:14

There is a textual problem regarding the first word of this verse, whether it should be the Greek word for For (meaning “because” or “but”) or “How!” The UBS Greek New Testament highly favors the second alternative, which represents a Semitic exclamatory form. The restructuring of the translations make it difficult to determine precisely what textual tradition is followed. Only New American Bible clearly reflects the exclamatory form: “But how narrow is the gate … how rough the road … how few there are!”

Translators who accept the interpretation of For as “How!” may have something similar to New American Bible cited above, or a phrase such as “But that gate that leads to life, how narrow it is (or, it is really a narrow one).”

Narrow does not usually pose difficulties, but some translators have rendered it as “hard (or, small) to pass through.” It should be possible to use the same expression as in verse 13.

Way can be “road” or “path,” as in verse 13.

The Greek word rendered hard represents a participial form (literally “pressed together”), which carries the meaning “unspacious” or “crowded.” New American Bible renders “rough,” and Barclay translates “beset with troubles.” Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition translates by an adjective which may mean “strenuous” or even “back-breaking.”

When speaking of the way as being hard, in addition to the possible translations cited above, other things that can be said include “the way is difficult to travel on” and “it is full of difficulties (for people traveling on it).” In any case, it will be good if the expression will contrast with easy in verse 13.

As in verse 13, it may be necessary to restructure the verse slightly; for example, “the gate that leads to life is really narrow, and the road there is full of difficulties.”

Life can refer to “real life” or “true life.” From the context it seems clear that it is also acceptable to say “eternal life.”

In the sentence those who find it are few, there is some question as to what it refers to, whether it is the gate, the way, or life. Probably the best interpretation is that it refers to the way, especially since it is parallel to it in verse 13. Thus translators can say “there are only a few people who find that way,” or possibly “… that way to life.”

When translating these two verses, 13 and 14, translators should treat them as a single paragraph. It may not be natural in some languages to follow the same structure as the text, which starts with the narrow gate, switches to the wide one, and then returns to the narrow one. Instead, it may be more natural to do something like this:

• The gate you go through on the way to eternal destruction is wide, and the road you take there is easy to travel on. There are many people who take that way. But the gate that leads to life is really narrow, and the way there is full of difficulties. Few people find that way. But you should go through that gate to find life.

It should be noted, however, that the focus is on this narrow gate.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 7:14

7:14a

But: There is a textual issue here:

(1) Some Greek manuscripts begin this verse with a word that functions as an exclamation. For example:

How narrow the gate (New American Bible)

(2) Other Greek manuscripts begin this verse with the conjunction that means “For/because.” For example:

For the gate is narrow (Revised Standard Version)

(Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version)

The Berean Standard Bible, along with most English versions, do not follow option (2), but neither do they clearly translate option (1). Instead, they make explicit the contrast between 7:13 and 7:14 by beginning this verse with But. It is recommended that you also indicate the contrast between these two verses.

On the other hand, here is one way to indicate both the Greek exclamation and the contrast:

But very narrow is the gate
-or-
But the gate is really narrow

small is the gate: In the Greek, the word small is the same as “narrow” in 7:13a. You should translate it here as you did there. For example:

the gate is narrow
-or-
the entrance is small

narrow the way: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as narrow refers to something being pressed/squeezed from both sides. This way/path is the opposite of the “wide/easy” path in 7:13b. You should translate it in a way that contrasts with “the way is easy.” For example:

the road is narrow (New Century Version)
-or-
The road that leads there is so hard to follow (Contemporary English Version)

that leads to life: The word life refers to eternal life. In some languages a literal translation would refer only to life on earth. If that is true in your language, you may want to add some implied meaning. For example:

⌊eternal⌋ life
-or-
life ⌊that never ends⌋
-or-
life ⌊in heaven⌋

Both the narrow gate and the narrow road lead to life. It is not only the narrow road. One way to make this clear is:

But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow (Contemporary English Version)

7:14b

only a few find it: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as find includes the meanings: “find from searching,” “find accidentally,” and “obtain, secure, or receive” Here it probably refers to finding after searching.

The pronoun it could refer to the gate, the path, or life. Because this clause is parallel to “enter through it” in 7:13c, this pronoun probably refers to the narrow gate. One way to translate this clause is:

few people find that gate

In some languages, the word find may not also imply entering. If that is true in your language, you may want to include the implied information. For example:

only a few people find it ⌊and enter⌋

© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.