6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed, and go to your home.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 9:6:
Uma: “I the Child of Mankind, I do have authority on earth to forgive sins. But if I say: ‘Your (sing.) sins are forgiven,’ you do not know if his sins are really forgiven or not. But if I say: ‘Get up and walk,’ you will see whether it happens or not. So, I will show you that I have authority to forgive sins.’ From there, he turned to that lame person, he said to him: ‘Get up, pick-up your (sing.) stretcher, and return/go-home.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I heal this man so that you know that I, the Son of Man, have authority here in the world to forgive sins.’ So-then Isa said to the paralyzed man, ‘Get up, take your place-for-lying and go home.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “By means of my curing this person today, I will show you that I, the Older Sibling of Mankind, I have authority here on earth to forgive sins.’ And he said to the person who half of his body was dead, he said, ‘As for you, Friend, pick up that hammock of yours and go home.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But if that is so, I will then say what is difficult in order to thereby confirm to you that I who am Child of a Person have authority on the surface of the earth (idiom = earth) to forgive sins.’ Then he said to that cripple, ‘Get up (sing.), pick-up (sing.) your (sing.) stretcher to go-home.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore I will cure this illness of his so that you will comprehend that I, who am the One From Heaven Born of Man/human, have indeed the authority here under the heavens to forgive sins.’ After he had said that, he said to that person with the paralysis, ‘Stand up, pick up that which you are lying on and go home now.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Know then that the Man who came from heaven has power here on earth to forgive the sins of people.’ Then he said to the man who was ill: ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and go to your home.'” (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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
But that you may know is a literal translation of the Greek text; it is “I will prove to you” in Good News Translation. New American Bible translates “To help you realize,” New English Bible “But to convince you,” and Barclay “But just to show you.” Another possible rendering is “But because I want you to know.”
Son of man: see comments on 8.20.
Has authority on earth to forgive sins is a literal rendering of the Greek text. On earth is ambiguous. It may mean either “of the people here on earth” or “while he (that is, the Son of Man) is here on earth.” If the former meaning is intended, then one may translate “… has authority to forgive people’s sins.” Otherwise one may translate “… has the authority to forgive people’s sins while he is here on earth.” The translation should not imply that the Son of Man’s authority to forgive is limited in that the earth is the only place where he may forgive sins.
His authority comes from God, and there are languages which must show that, as in “So you will know God has given the Son of Man the authority.” Authority can also be translated “power.”
In the text, what Jesus says to the teachers of the Law before turning to speak to the paralyzed man is an incomplete sentence. Good News Translation has made it easier to follow by using a complete sentence: “I will prove to you, then….” Another way to handle this is “ ‘Because I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive people’s sins (while he is here on earth), I will do this.’ Then Jesus said to the paralyzed man….”
Rise again means “Get up” or “Stand up.”
Take up, as seen in Good News Translation, means “pick up.”
Go home (most all translations) translates a Greek idiom with this precise meaning. The translation should not sound as if Jesus is getting rid of the man by sending him home, but that the man now is capable of returning home in good health.
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 .
But: There is some contrast here. The contrast is between the easy thing to say and the hard thing to say. The easy thing to say is “Your sins are forgiven” (in 9:5). In 9:6, Jesus also did the hard thing. He healed the paralyzed man.
Some English versions show this contrast with the conjunction But. Other English versions do not have a conjunction here.
so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…: This clause expresses Jesus’ purpose for healing the paralytic. He wanted the scribes and everyone else to know that he had the authority to forgive sins.
In Greek, as in the Berean Standard Bible, this is not a complete sentence. The Berean Standard Bible uses a an ellipsis (…) to show that this is not a complete sentence.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
• Translate this purpose as a complete sentence. For example:
I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. (God’s Word)
-or-
I will show you that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth. (Contemporary English Version)
• Add some implied information to make it a complete sentence. For example:
But ⌊now I will say the other/hard thing⌋ so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins
the Son of Man: Jesus used the phrase the Son of Man to refer to himself. In some languages it may be necessary to add the pronoun “I” to show that Jesus was referring to himself. For example:
⌊I,⌋ the Son of Man
This phrase also occurs in 8:20b. You should translate it here as you did there. See also Son of Man in Key Biblical Terms for more information.
has authority: The words has authority refer to having the right and the power to do something. God gave Jesus the right and the power to forgive sins.
Here are some other ways to translate these words:
has the right (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
has the power
on earth: The phrase on earth indicates that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins while he lived on earth. It was not only at a future time of judgment in heaven that he would have that authority.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
here on earth (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
even on earth
9:6b
Get up: This is the same word as in 9:5c. You should translate it here as you did there.
pick up your mat: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mat is the same word as in 9:2a. It can mean “sleeping mat” or even “stretcher” for carrying sick people.
Here are some other ways to translate this command:
Pick up your mat (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
take your mat (New Century Version)
go home: Jesus told the man to go back to his home. Jesus wanted to show that the man was healed and could walk. He was not implying that he was annoyed or bothered by the man.
Here are some other ways to translate this command:
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