The Greek that is translated as “knock (on a door)” in English is translated as “call” (Zanaki, Yanesha’) “speak” (Tzeltal), or “clap” (Zarma).
This is sometimes due to the fact that doors are not being used in the respective cultures (as, for instance, in Yanesha’) or, as Nida (p. 45f.) explains, other cultural differences:
“One cannot say to the Zanaki people along the winding shores of sprawling Lake Victoria, ‘Behold I stand at the door and knock’ (Revelation 3:20). This would mean that Christ was declaring Himself to be a thief, for in Zanaki land thieves generally make it a practice to knock on the door of a hut which they hope to burglarize; and if they hear any movement or noise inside, they dash off into the dark. An honest man will come to a house and call the name of the person inside, and in this way identify himself by his voice. Accordingly, in the Zanaki translation it is necessary to say, ‘Behold I stand at the door and call.’ This wording might be slightly strange to us, but the meaning is the same. In each case Christ is asking people to open the door. He is no thief and He will not force an entrance; He knocks — and in Zanaki “He calls.” If anything the Zanaki expression is a little more personal than our own.”
The now commonly-used English idiom “seek and ye shall find” (meaning that if one searches hard enough for something one will find it) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 286)
In Russian, both parts of this phrase (seek and ye shall find / ищите и найдете and knock and it shall be opened to you / стучите, и отворят вам) are used actively as an idiom. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 53f.)
For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 7:7:
Uma: “‘Ask of God, he will give it to us (incl.). Search for our (incl.) needs to God, we (incl.) will receive them. Don’t stop asking for the door to be opened, God will open the door for us (incl.).” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Ask and you will be given, seek and you will find, ask to be let in and it will be opened to you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Keep on asking from God and he will give to you. Keep on looking, and he will cause you to find what you are looking for. Keep on calling, and he will open the door for you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus also said, ‘You should always be making-requests to God, and he will give you what you are requesting. Continue also to search and you will find what you are looking for. You should persist also in knocking and the doorway will be opened for you to enter.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “‘Persist with your (pl.) requesting from God because it’s certain you will be given to. Persist with your searching for what you need from him, for he will help you be able to find it. Plead to be allowed to enter his presence, for he really will respond-favorably.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “God will give you what you need. Ask for what you want. Concerning what you hunt for (need), you will find it. When you knock on the door in calling to God, it will be opened for you.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Kuwaataay: “‘Pray, and you will be given; seek, and you will obtain; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Source: Kuwaataay Back Translation)
Kupsabiny: “Jesus went on to say that, ‘When you ask, you are given, when you look for something, you get, and when you knock, it will be opened to you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Bariai: “Iesus spoke again like this, ‘Be asking God, and then he will give to you (pl.). Be searching for whatever thing from God, and then you will find it. Knock on the door, and then God will open to you.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Mairasi: “You must/should make requests, eventually [someone] will give [what you requested] to you guys. Look [for something], eventually you will find what you guys sought. Knock [and] call eventually the door will be opened for you guys.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
Hiligaynon: “You ask it from God and he will give to you. You continue to come-near to him about your needs and you will be the recipients of it. You to God and he will-answer you.” (Source: Hiligaynon 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 7:7-12:
Keep knocking until God opens the door for you,
as he always does for someone who doesn’t give up.
Ask and receive—seek and find—that’s how it works.
Although you’re evil, you’re still good to your children.
If they were hungry for fish and chips,
you’d never feed them snakes and stones.
Your Father above is goodness personified
and will gladly do good for anyone who asks.
What’s the Bible all about? I’ll tell you —
Treat others the way you want them to treat you.
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 Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). This disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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®).
The three imperatives (Ask … seek … knock) are probably intended to be emphatic. In Greek they are present imperatives and may carry the force of “keep on asking … seeking … knocking” (so Barclay). Commentators point out that the imagery of knocking on a door has associations in Judaism with the study of the Law and its interpretation and with prayers for God’s mercy.
Many languages cannot say simply Ask but must specify who is being asked, and possibly what is being asked for. They would then say “Ask God” or “Ask God for what you need.” In this context Ask means to ask for, not to ask a question.
To seek means to look for, to try to find a particular thing. It is not God we are to seek in this verse, but rather we are to look to him for what we want. Thus it could be rendered “seek what you are looking for” or “seek from God what you are looking for.”
Knock refers to a way of asking that a door be opened. One cannot say “knock on God,” but it may be possible to say “knock on the door where God is” or “knock on the door that God opens.”
In many African cultures people do not normally knock on doors to request the people inside to open them. Quite often, only thieves would knock on doors (waiting to hear any noise inside before entering to steal), so the translators need to say either “ask for the door to be opened” or “clap (or cough, or call) at the door.” If the image of knocking at a door makes no sense, translators can add “to ask God’s help.”
The two passive structures (will be given to you … will be opened to you) presuppose God as the subject: “God will give you … God will open the door for you.” The last clause may be rendered accordingly: “Knock, and God will open the door for you.”
Find in this context means to find on purpose, not by accident. The phrase may be translated as “you will have (or, obtain) it” or “God will let you obtain it.”
As with Ask and seek, it may be necessary to provide objects for will be given and you will find. Thus “Ask God for what you need and he will give it to you” or “seek what you are looking for and God will let you find it” are possible ways to restructure. Similarly, translators can say “knock on God’s door and he will open it for you” or “knock on the door where God is, and he will open it and help you.” The translation can also be “… and he will open it so you can enter.”
It should be noted that this teaching is not intended to make prayer into a magical ritual, nor is it to suggest that one can coerce God into acting. The real emphasis is upon the certainty that God will answer the prayer, and that it is a prayer that every one can pray.
Scholars observe that verse 8 is in the form of a proverbial saying, as is 6.34.
Translators should use the same expressions in verse 8 that they did in verse 7. Translators should not modify what Jesus says. The language is quite absolute. It does not say “will receive something” or “will receive things that God feels we need,” but it says that God will give to those who ask (what they are asking for).
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 this section, Jesus taught about prayer. He also said that we should act toward other people the way we want them to act toward us.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Ask, seek, knock
-or-
Ask God and you will receive
-or-
The Power of Prayer (God’s Word)
Paragraph 7:7–11
In this paragraph, Jesus told his disciples that they should pray earnestly to God for the things that they need, and God will give them these things. God will give good things to his followers just as a human father gives good things to his children.
Matthew 7:7–8 has almost the same words as Luke 11:9–10, and they mean the same thing.
7:7a–c
In 7:7, Jesus instructed his disciples to pray to God for the things that they need. He restated this in three ways using three verbs: “ask,” “seek,” and “knock.”
The three sayings in 7:7 are like proverbs. Proverbs are short without much explaining. You may want to add little or no implied information to these sayings, as long as the sayings are natural in your language.
7:7a
This is the first way to say that we should pray for the things we need, and then God will give them to us.
Ask: In this context, the verb Ask refers to asking God for something when praying. In some languages a literal translation would refer to asking in general. It would not refer to praying. If that is true in your language, you may want to include some implied information. For example:
Ask ⌊God⌋
-or-
Ask ⌊in your prayers⌋
-or-
Ask ⌊God⌋ ⌊for whatever you need⌋
Jesus was speaking to his disciples, so this verb is plural.
it will be given to you: This clause is passive.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
• Use a passive verb. For example:
it will be given to you (New International Version)
• Use the active form of “give.” For example:
God will give to you (New Century Version)
• Use another verb. For example:
you will receive (Good News Translation)
7:7b
This is the second way to say that we should pray for the things we need, and then God will give them to us.
seek, and you will find: The verb seek means to “search” or “look” for something. This is a figure of speech. It compares “asking God for something” to “searching for it.” It also compares “God answering the prayer” to “the person finding/receiving” what he was searching for.
If the meaning of this figure of speech will not be clear in your language, you may need to supply some information. For example:
seek ⌊from God⌋ ⌊what you need⌋, and you will find it
-or-
search ⌊for what you need⌋, and ⌊he/God⌋ will provide it for you
you will find: The verb find indicates that you will get/receive something that you did not have. It does not imply that you had lost something and found it again.
Here are some other ways to translate this verb:
you will get/obtain it
-or-
you will receive it
-or-
God will give it to you
7:7c
This is the third way to say that we should pray for the things we need, and then God will give them to us.
knock, and the door will be opened to you: This clause is also a figure of speech. It compares asking God for something to knocking on a door to indicate that the person inside should open it. The image of the door being opened means that God responds favorably to the person’s request.
In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit where a person should knock, and who would open it. For example:
knock ⌊on the door⌋, and ⌊God⌋ will open it for you
To knock is a cultural gesture to announce that a person is at the door. In some cultures, people call out or clap to announce that they are there, then wait outside the door. If the custom of knocking on a door is not used or understood in your area, you may want to:
• Explain the meaning of the gesture of knocking in the text. For example:
Knock/Tap ⌊on the door⌋ ⌊to ask God to open it⌋, and ⌊he⌋ will open it for you
• Use a gesture that has the right meaning in your area. For example:
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