Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 9:38:
Uma: “That is why you must call-out to the owner/lord of the field, you request that he send people to go harvest in his field.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore you should/shall ask from God, he is the owner of the field, so that he tells/commands people to go and harvest it. (the field).'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Pray to our Father God that he would still send into his kaingin others who can harvest.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Request therefore the owner of the rice-field so that he will send others to go join-in-harvesting.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore what would be good for you to do is to beg-for-mercy/help from God who is the owner of this harvest. Ask that he will send others who are as-it-were his harvesters who will-go-teaching also.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Therefore in regard to God who is the owner of the work, ask him to send workers to the work.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, okutte (送って) or “send” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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.”
For comments on pray, see 5.44. It can be “you should pray” or left as an imperative pray. See Good News Translation, for example. Of course in many languages one has to say “pray to the Lord of the harvest to ask him.”
Therefore or “so” should appear in the sentence wherever it will be most natural. Some languages do not need such a transition at all in this context.
Lord of the harvest (Good News Translation “owner of the harvest”; see New English Bible) is translated “harvest master” by New American Bible. The person referred to is God. The Good News Bible and New English Bible renderings have been the most useful models for translators.
The noun phrase into his harvest is translated as a verb phrase in Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition and Good News Translation: “to gather in his harvest.” Elsewhere Matthew uses the harvest as a symbol of the final judgment (13.30, 39), but here the symbolism is slightly different. The harvest represents the masses of people who stand ready to respond to the message of salvation, and Jesus calls upon his followers to pray to God to send messengers who will proclaim the good news.
For those translators who choose to make the whole image into a simile (see verse 37), the Lord may be “God, who is like the owner of the harvest.” To send out laborers into his harvest will then be “to send out his servants (or, his people) to lead them to trust in God” or “… to proclaim the good news.”
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 .
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore: The Berean Standard Bible places the word therefore in the middle of the sentence. This is good English style. However, in some language, it may be necessary to place this word at the beginning of 9:38a. For example:
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest (English Standard Version)
Ask the Lord of the harvest: This is the last part of this extended metaphor. In this part, God is compared to the lord/owner of the harvest. Just as the lord/owner of the harvest is in charge of bringing in the harvest, God is in charge of bringing people into the kingdom.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the metaphor:
• Keep the metaphor. For example:
pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Pray to the owner of the harvest (Good News Translation)
• Change the metaphor to a simile and make the parts explicit. For example:
⌊pray to God to send out workers to cause people to believe in me. This is like⌋ asking the owner of the harvest
-or-
⌊pray to God to commission more workers to bring people into his kingdom. This is like⌋ asking the master of the harvest
Ask: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Ask also means “beg, plead, or ask seriously.”
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
pray earnestly (English Standard Version)
-or-
Pray (New Living Translation (2004))
the Lord of the harvest: In this context, the word Lord means “owner” or “master.” In this context, it is the one who is in charge of the harvest. This phrase refers figuratively to God, so the Berean Standard Bible capitalizes the word Lord.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
the owner of the harvest (Good News Translation)
-or-
the Lord in charge of the harvest (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
the Lord, who owns the harvest, (New Century Version)
In some languages people may not naturally use a word that means “owner” or “master” to refer to God. If this is true in your language, you can also use your word for God. For example:
God the Lord
-or-
God, the master/owner
See Lord in the Glossary.
therefore: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as therefore indicates that 9:38 is a type of conclusion. This conclusion is an appeal to pray for God to send out workers.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
For this reason
-or-
Because of that
-or-
So (New Living Translation (2004))
Some English versions do not translate this word.
9:38b
to send out workers: The word workers refers to the people who do the work of harvesting. Figuratively this refers to people who bring others to God to be part of his kingdom.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
that he will send more workers (New Century Version)
-or-
to send men (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
that he will send others to join them
into His harvest: In some languages, it will be natural to add another verb here. In other languages, it will be natural to make the word harvest a verb. For example:
to gather in his harvest (Good News Translation)
-or-
to bring it in (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
to bring in the ripe crops
General Comment on 9:37–38
In some languages, it is helpful to explain the meaning of the metaphor in a footnote. Here is a sample footnote:
This metaphor/parable shows us that many people are ready to believe in Jesus, but there are not many people to go and bring them into the kingdom. Jesus told his followers to pray for God to send more people to go help them trust in him.
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