22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
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 7:21-23:
Watch out for false prophets!
They’re sheep-skinned wolves waiting to attack.
But you can recognize them by their deeds.
Grapes and figs don’t grow on thorn bushes, good trees don’t produce bad fruit,
nor bad trees good fruit.
Trees covered with bad fruit
will be chopped down and burned.
Not everyone who swears that I’m the Gatekeeper
will enter into the Kingdom of God.
Only those who obey my Father above
will be allowed to enter the Ultimate Kingdom.
Although some liars may claim to have worked miracles
or forced out demons in my name,
I’ll have nothing to do with those evil people —
Instead, they’ll be sent far away.
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Chichewa: AmbuyeAmbuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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®).
That day (see Isa 2.11, 17; Zech 14.6) is specifically identified by Good News Translation as “the Judgment Day.” Most scholars agree that this is the meaning, and some translations are explicit: “On the Day of Judgment” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Jerusalem Bible supplies a footnote indicating that the reference is to “the day of the final Judgment.” This can also be expressed as “On that day when God will judge the world (or, the people of the world)” or “When the day comes for God to judge everyone.”
Did we not prophesy in your name translates a rhetorical question which expects the answer “Yes.” For English readers a rhetorical question is not always easy to understand, especially when it is negative (did we not), and so Good News Translation changes it to a statement: “In your name we spoke God’s message.” Phillips and Barclay retain the rhetorical question but simplify the construction by the use of more idiomatic English: “didn’t we…?” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, and Bijbel in Gewone Taal follow Good News Bible in the use of a statement. There are also languages where a question is formed at the end of a statement, as in “Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, and…, didn’t we (or, isn’t that so)?”
In your name occurs three times in this verse. The phrase “in someone’s name” may have various functions: (1) appealing to the person mentioned; (2) acting or speaking in that person’s strength or authority; or (3) appealing to or mentioning one’s relationship to that person.
Most translators follow the second interpretation of in your name, with a phrase such as “with your power (or, authority)” or “as you gave us power to do so.” Some, however, follow the third interpretation and say “as your followers.” Those who prefer the first interpretation can say “because we sought this ability from you.”
Prophesy (so most translations) is represented in Good News Translation by “spoke God’s message.” Phillips translates “preach,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “proclaim God’s instructions.” The basic meaning of the Greek word is that of proclaiming a divine revelation rather than of predicting the future. Although prophesy is a rather accurate transliteration of the Greek word, it fails as a translation because English speakers generally understand the verb prophesy to have primarily a predictive sense.
We discussed “prophet” at 1.22, and translators are referred there for comments on prophesy. This verb is usually translated “speak God’s message” or “told people the message from God.”
Cast out demons is translated “exorcised demons” by New American Bible. The Greek verb means “drive out” or “expel,” generally with the notion of force. In the New Testament it is used especially of the exorcism of demons who have taken control of a person (see, for example, Matt 9.34; 10.1, 8; 12.27; 17.19).
“Many demons” of Good News Translation is literally demons (Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible); New English Bible, Phillips, and Barclay have “devils”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Bible en français courant render “evil spirits.”
Before translating cast out demons, translators should read the discussion at 4.24 on demons, since the way a language refers to casting out evil spirits depends on how spirit possession is spoken of. Cast out demons may be “chased spirits from people,” “removed evil spirits from people,” “took the evil spirits from behind people,” or simply “made the evil spirits leave people.” In some languages this phrase may be “freed people from the power of evil spirits.”
Mighty works (one word in Greek) is translated “miracles” by Good News Translation and a number of other translations. The Greek word emphasizes the notion of power (see its usage in 11.20, 21, 23; 13.54, 58; 14.2; 22.29; 24.29; 25.15; 26.64).
Mighty works or “miracles” can be “mighty actions” or “wonderful actions.” Sometimes the phrase “that only God could do” is added, or possibly “that normally couldn’t be done.” Another rendering is “great acts that show God’s power.”
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 .
Many will say to Me: The word Many refers to people. For example:
many people will say to me (New Century Version)
on that day: The phrase on that day refers to the future time when God will judge all people.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
On the day of judgment (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
At the time ⌊when God⌋ judges ⌊all people⌋
7:22b–c
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes the fact/claim that these people prophesied, drove out demons, and performed many miracles.
Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, and in your name we drove out demons and performed many miracles. Isn’t that so?
-or-
Lord, Lord, don’t you remember? We prophesied in your name, we cast out demons in your name, and we performed many miracles in your name.
• As a statement. For example:
Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles! (Good News Translation)
In Greek, the phrase in Your name appears before each of the three verbs “prophesy,” “drive out,” and “perform.” Some ways to translate it are:
Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?
-or-
Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy, cast out demons, and do many mighty works?
7:22b
Lord, Lord: As in 7:21a, the double address of Lord, Lord probably indicates honor, respect, and deep emotion. The speakers were insisting that Jesus is their Lord.
If you translated this double address of Lord, Lord in 7:21a in another way, you will want to do the same here.
did we not prophesy: This word prophesy means “speak a message on behalf of God.” God somehow communicates his message directly to his messenger. The messenger then speaks the message to people on behalf of God. These people were claiming to be God’s messengers.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
we spoke God’s message (Good News Translation)
-or-
we preached words from God
in Your name: Here name represents the whole person. So the phrase in Your name means “by/using your authority” or “using your power.”
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
with your name
-or-
by the power and authority of your name (God’s Word)
-or-
using the authority of your name
-or-
through your power
7:22c
drive out demons: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as drive out demons refers to forcing demons to stop controlling people and leave.
Jewish people often spoke of evil spirits as being in someone. Different cultures have different ways of speaking about people being controlled by demons and being released from the control of demons. Use a natural expression for this in your language.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
sent demons away
-or-
forced out demons (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
caused demons to leave people
-or-
freed people who were controlled by an evil spirit
-or-
healed people sick with an evil spirit
demons: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as demons refers to the same type of spirits as the Greek words that are often translated as “evil spirits” or “unclean spirits.” These evil spirits can control peoples’ actions and can make them sick.
Here are some other ways to translate demons:
• Use a word in your language that refers to a spirit that is evil and can control people. Do not use a word that refers to the spirit of a dead person.
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
evil/bad spirits
-or-
spirits that do evil
-or-
spirits that oppose God
See also demon in the Glossary for more information.
7:22d
perform many miracles: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as miracles can also be translated as “mighty works” (as in the English Standard Version). This word refers to events or acts that are impossible for men to do, but God can cause them to happen.
It is not clear whether these mighty works were true miracles or whether these people falsely claimed to do miracles in Jesus’ name.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
mighty works (English Standard Version)
-or-
amazing acts/deeds
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