33And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 9:33:
Uma: “So when Yesus had shooed/chased-away the demon that possessed him, he was able to speak. The people were surprised/startled to see what happened, they said: ‘No kidding his power/authority! We have never yet one time seen anyone like him in the land of Israel!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After Isa had driven out the demon, the dumb person could talk already. The crowds really wondered. They said, ‘We have not yet seen anything like this in the whole country of Isra’il.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When Jesus had cured him already, immediately the man was able to speak. All the people there were amazed, and they said, ‘We (incl.), the descendants of Israel, this is the first time we have ever seen anything like this.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus made-the evil-spirit -leave and the man began to speak. The many-people were extremely surprised and they said, ‘Wow! We have seen absolutely nothing like this in our entire country Israel!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus drove out the evil-spirit and suddenly/unexpectedly that dumb person could then speak. Those people who saw it were amazed. They were saying, ‘Really from long ago we (incl.) haven’t observed anything like this here in Israel.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Jesus caused the evil spirit to leave the person he had walked with. Then the dumb man was able to speak. The people who saw what had happened were astounded, they said: ‘Concerning what we have seen now, no one has arisen in past days to do the like of it here in the land of Israel.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Sissala: kaŋtɔŋ, which traditionally referred to “either a spirit of natural phenomena such as trees, rivers, stones, etc., or the spirit of a deceased person that has not been taken into the realm of the dead. Kaŋtɔŋ can be good or evil. Evil kaŋtɔŋ can bring much harm to people and are feared accordingly. A kaŋtɔŋ can also dwell in a person living on this earth. A person possessed by kaŋtɔŋ does not behave normally.” (Source: Regina Blass in Holzhausen 1991, p. 48f.)
Umiray Dumaget Agta: hayup or “creature, animal, general term for any non-human creature, whether natural or supernatural.” Thomas Headland (in: Notes on Translation, September 1971, p. 17ff.) explains some more: “There are several types of supernatural creatures, or spirit beings which are designated by the generic term hayup. Just as we have several terms in English for various spirit beings (elves, fairies, goblins, demons, imps, pixies) so have the Dumagats. And just as you will find vast disagreement and vagueness among English informants as to the differences between pixies and imps, etc., so you will find that no two Dumagats will agree as to the form and function of their different spirit beings.” This term can also be used in a verb form: hayupen: “creatured” or “to be killed, made sick, or crazy by a spirit.”
Yala: yapri̍ija ɔdwɔ̄bi̍ or “bad Yaprija.” Yaprijas are traditional spirits that have a range presumed activities including giving or withholding gifts, giving and protecting children, causing death and disease and rewarding good behavior. (Source: Eugene Bunkowske in Notes on Translation 78/1980, p. 36ff.)
Lamnso’: aànyùyi jívirì: “lesser gods who disturb, bother, pester, or confuse a person.” (Source: Fanwong 2013, p. 93)
Paasaal: gyɩŋbɔmɔ, “beings that are in the wild and can only be seen when they choose to reveal themselves to certain people. They can ‘capture’ humans and keep them in hiding while they train the person in herbalism and divination. After the training period, which can range from a week to many years, the ‘captured’ individual is released to go back into society as a healer and a diviner. The gyɩŋbɔmɔ can also be evil, striking humans with mental diseases and causing individuals to get lost in the wild. The Pasaale worldview about demons is like that of others of the language groups in the area, including the Northern Dagara [who use kɔ̃tɔmɛ with a similar meaning].” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
In the still widely-used 1908 Tswana (also: Setswana) translation (by Robert Moffat, revised by Alfred Wookey), the term badino or “ancestor spirit” is used for “demon,” even though in the traditional understanding there is nothing inherently negative associated with that term. Musa Dube (in: Journal of Society of New Testament 73, 1999, p. 33ff. ) describes this as an example of “engaging in the colonization of the minds of natives and for advancing European imperial spaces. The death and burial of Setswana culture here was primarily championed through the colonization of their language such that it no longer served the interests of the original speakers. Instead the written form of language had equated their cultural beliefs with evil spirits, demons and wizardry. This colonization of Setswana was in itself the planting of a colonial cultural bomb, meant to clear the ground for the implantation of a worldwide Christian commonwealth and European consciousness. It was a minefield that marked Setswana cultural spaces as dangerous death zones, to be avoided by every intelligent Motswana reader or hearer of the translated text.”
In Kachin, the term Nat (or nat) us used for “demon” (as well as “devil” and “unclean/evil spirit“). Like in Tswana, the meaning of Nat is not inherently negative but can be positive in the traditional Nat worship as well. Naw Din Dumdaw (in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 94ff.) argues that “the demonization of Nat created a social conflict between Kachin Christians and Kachin non-Christians. Kachin converts began to perceive their fellow Kachins who were still worshipping Nats as demonic and they wanted to distance themselves from them. Likewise, the Nat-worshiping Kachin community perceived the Kachin converts as betrayers and enemies of their own cultural heritage. (…) The demonization of the word Nat was not only the demonization of the pre-Christian religion but also the demonization of the cultural heritage of the Kachin people. When the word Nat is perceived as demonic, it creates an existential dilemma for Kachin Christians. It distances them from their cultural traditions.”
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 when the demon had been cast out translates a construction which indicates a temporal relation between this event and the response which follows. Jerusalem Bible has “And when the devil was cast out,” and New American Bible “Once the demon was expelled.” “As soon as” of Good News Translation and An American Translation emphasizes the immediacy of the response, as does the restructuring of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, “Hardly had the evil spirit been driven out….”
This sentence presupposes that Jesus threw out the demon. In many languages it will be necessary to state that specifically, as in “Jesus threw out the demon. When he had done that, the dumb man spoke,” or “Jesus told the demon to leave. As soon as the demon was thrown out,” or “… as soon as the demon left the man.”
The dumb man spoke: most English readers would probably expect either “began to talk (or, speak)” (Phillips, New American Bible) or “started talking” (Good News Translation), and the Greek may also convey this meaning. Barclay translates “the dumb man regained the power of speech”; New English Bible is rather high level: “and the patient recovered his speech.” One can also say “the man was able to speak.”
And the crowds marveled describes the people’s reaction to the miracle; marveled was first used in 8.10 (see also 8.27). Crowds can be “all the people there” or “everyone.”
Saying can be expressed as “and said” or “as they said.”
Never was there anything like this seen in Israel may mean either “We have never seen anything like this in Israel” (Good News Translation) or “Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel.” The verb was … seen is sometimes used of a divine manifestation or revelation, and so there is also a third possibility, that of translating “God has never before revealed himself like this to the people of Israel.” The second option seems most probable, and the response is to the total effect of Jesus’ miracles recorded in chapters 8–9. The people are saying that nothing had ever happened like this, either in the history of their nation or in their own experience.
Thus the best rendering is “Nothing like this has ever happened in Israel,” “There has never been anything like this known to happen in Israel,” or “This is the first time something like this has happened in Israel.”
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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