Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 7:23:
Uma: “‘I’ll answer them: ‘I do not know you! Get out of here, you whose behavior is evil.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then I will say to them, ‘I do not recognise/know you. Go away from me, all you who do evil.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And my answer to them at that time will be, ‘I don’t recognize you. You whose doings are bad, go away from here.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But I will then say-frankly to them, ‘I absolutely do not know you. Get-out of here, you who are doing bad!’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But my answer to them will be, ‘I really don’t acknowledge you as being my people. Go away from me, you doers of evil!”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “When I answer, I will say to them, ‘Depart from me, because you are not my friends. For only in evil do you live,’ I will say.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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.
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.
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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.
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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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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®).
And then translates a frequently used transitional in Matthew.
I will declare translates a Greek verb which has a wide variety of meanings; quite frequently it is translated “confess.” Here the verb has its root meaning of “to speak openly and freely.” Most translations prefer a somewhat strong affirmation: “I will pass judgment” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “I shall tell them to their faces” (New Jerusalem Bible), “I will tell them straight” (Barclay), and “I shall tell them plainly” (Phillips). Many translators find that the Phillips rendering is a helpful model. They have “I will tell them openly (or, directly).”
Several scholars note that the words I never knew you constitute a formula used by Jewish rabbis when pronouncing a ban against someone; it means “I have nothing to do with you” or “You mean nothing to me.” Barclay translates “You are complete strangers to me!” “I have nothing to do with you” or “You were not my people (or, my followers)” are the most common renderings.
Evildoers (Good News Translation “wicked people”) is literally “who work lawlessness.” The noun “lawlessness” is one of Matthew’s favorite terms (see 13.41; 23.28; 24.12; it is not found in the other Gospels). In the Old Testament “lawlessness” means doing what is contrary to the Law of God, which is also true for Matthew. However, for him “lawlessness” is expressed in the failure to show love for one’s neighbor, since “love” is the true fulfillment of God’s Law. A number of translations are dynamic: “Out of my sight! Your deeds were sins!” (Barclay), “out of my sight, you and your wicked ways!” (New English Bible), and “You have neglected to live according to the will of God; away with you!” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
Depart from me, you evildoers is an allusion to Psalm 6.8. A parallel passage is found in Luke 13.27. Neither Luke nor Matthew agree in all details with the Septuagint. Luke agrees with the Septuagint in its choice of the initial verb (Good News Translation “Get away”), while Matthew’s choice of a verb differs. On the other hand, Matthew agrees with the Septuagint in its use of the final noun (“lawlessness”), while Luke prefers another noun in its place (“wickedness”).
The expression depart from me is certainly not very colloquial English. Good News Translation “Get away from me” is much better. Other possibilities include “Leave!” or “Get out of my sight.”
As for you evildoers, it is difficult to have an expression that is both accurate, in line with the explanations above, and also dynamic. New English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Barclay are good attempts. Other translators have said “Disobedient people!” “You never did what God required,” or “Your ways were contrary to God.”
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 .
In the Greek, 7:23a begins with a conjunction that is often translated as “and” or “but.” There is contrast between what the people of 7:22 wanted and what Jesus said here. The Berean Standard Bible does not translate this conjunction but leaves the contrast implicit. In some languages, it will be more natural to make the contrast more explicit. For example:
But (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Nevertheless
-or-
However
I: The pronoun I refers to Jesus.
will tell them plainly: This phrase refers to openly saying something to the people of 7:22.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
will tell them clearly (New Century Version)
-or-
will say to them directly/frankly
-or-
will answer them
7:23b
I never knew you: The clause I never knew you indicates that Jesus did not consider these people to be his followers. All people will stand before Jesus at the final judgment, and Jesus will know their names and what they did. But the people of 7:22 never belonged to God’s kingdom.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
I do not consider you to be my people
-or-
You are not my people
-or-
I do not recognize you
depart from Me: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as depart from Me also means:
leave me
-or-
go away from me
you workers of lawlessness: The phrase workers of lawlessness refers to people who do deeds that are against the law. This phrase implies that they did these things as a habit, even though they claimed to do good.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
you who do evil (New Century Version)
-or-
you who break God’s laws (New Living Translation (2004))
Some other issues to consider when you translate this phrase are:
• This phrase is also a direct address. Jesus used the expression like a title or a name. The Berean Standard Bible supplies the pronoun you to make the English natural. In some languages, it is more natural not to supply the pronoun. For example:
evil doers
-or-
law breakers
• In some languages, it is more natural to put this phrase first in 7:23b. For example:
Evil doers, I never knew you. Get away from me!
• This is a quote within a quote. So in some languages, it is more natural to state it more indirectly. For example:
I will say to them that they are evil doers and should go away because I refuse to acknowledge them as my people.
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