οὕτως καὶ οὗτοι νῦν ἠπείθησαν τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει, ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ [νῦν] ἐλεηθῶσιν.
31so also they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.
The Greek that is translated in English typically as “disobedience” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing intentionally not understanding” (source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. ) and in Kgalagadi as gana go uzwa or “those who don’t listen” (source: Carl and Kelsey Grulke in this newsletter ).
See also obedience.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.
While the English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”
Here are some other (back-) translations:
See also steadfast love and Seat of the Mind / Seat of Emotions.
Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 11:31:
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).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
In Greek this verse is a continuation of the sentence begun in the previous verse, and from the standpoint of translation it is similar to the preceding verse. A literal translation might read: “In the same way these ones are now disobedient because of your mercy in order that they themselves now may be mercied.” The Good News Translation reorders two of the major parts of this verse, and makes the participants explicit. The first part of this verse actually appears as the second element in the Good News Bible: “these ones” are identified as the Jews and the object of their disobedience is made explicit, disobey God. The second part of the Greek sentence appears first in the English sentence structure, and the ambiguous phrase “your mercy” is clarified to mean mercy that you have received. Finally, in the last part of the verse, God is identified as the one who gives the mercy: that they also may now receive God’s mercy.
The word now (in its second occurrence in this verse) does not appear in some manuscripts; it is omitted by the Revised Standard Version, the New English Bible, and Moffatt. The UBS text committee believes that the evidence supports the inclusion of this word and classifies the choice with a “B” rating.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
11:31a–b
so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you: There are two ways to interpret how to connect the phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as through the mercy shown to you to the rest of the verse.
(1) It connects to they also may now receive mercy. For example:
so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you (New International Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New American Standard Bible, King James Version, God’s Word, NET Bible)
(2) It connects to they too have now been disobedient. For example:
In the same way, because of the mercy that you have received, the Jews now disobey God, in order that they also may now receive God’s mercy (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)
Many English versions follow interpretation (1). However, many scholars (for example, Moo and Dunn) make a strong case for interpretation (2). You should follow whatever interpretation the major language version does. If you follow interpretation (2), see also note on through the mercy shown to you below.
11:31a
so: The Greek word here means “in the same way.” It does not mean “therefore” here. Here are other ways to translate this word:
In the same way (Good News Translation)
-or-
Thus also
they too have now disobeyed: Here Paul spoke in summary about the disobedience of the Jews. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
they are disobedient now (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
the Jews now disobey God (Good News Translation)
now: Here this word refers generally to this new period of time where the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed.
11:31b
now: There is a textual issue here:
(1) Some Greek manuscripts have the word now in the middle of this phrase. For example:
they also may now receive mercy (English Standard Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, NET Bible)
(2) Some manuscripts do not have this word.
(Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version, God’s Word, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the UBS Handbook Greek NT 5 supports it, although they had difficulty in deciding.
through the mercy shown to you: The Greek is literally “for the (thing) to you mercy.” If you followed interpretation (1) up in 11:31a–b, the meaning of “to/with/for” probably indicates that God’s mercy to the Gentiles helped accomplish the mercy to the Jews. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
for mercy to you
-or-
for God showing mercy to you
If you followed interpretation (2) up in 11:31a–b, the meaning of “to/with/for” probably indicates that the Jews disobeying helped accomplish God’s mercy to the Gentiles. For example:
for the sake of mercy for you
-or-
because God showed mercy to you (New Century Version)
mercy: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mercy refers to being concerned for someone in a bad situation and helping him in some way, including even forgiving him for something bad he did. See how you translated this word in 9:15.
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En grec, ce verset continue la phrase commencée en Rom 11.30, mais plusieurs versions coupent cette phrase à la fin du Rom 11.30 ; voir Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur, Parole de Vie. La Traduction œcuménique de la Bible reproduit assez littéralement la structure du grec. En fait, la majorité des éléments évoqués ici se trouvent aussi dans le verset précédent.
de même eux aussi ont désobéi maintenant, par la suite de la miséricorde exercée envers vous.
de même est le même mot οὕτως houtôs qui figure au début du Rom 11.30. La Parole de Vie rend cela par « Pour eux, c’est la même chose ».
eux aussi ont désobéi maintenant renvoie aux Juifs. On pourrait aussi rendre explicite qu’ils « désobéissent à Dieu ».
par suite de la miséricorde exercée envers vous : l’idée déjà exprimée dans le verset précédent est reprise. On pourrait dire « pour que la compassion de Dieu vous soit accordée » (Bible en français courant), « pour que Dieu ait pitié de vous » (Parole de Vie) ou « à cause de la compassion que Dieu vous a manifestée ».
afin qu’ils soient maintenant eux aussi objet de la miséricorde : afin que, ἵνα hina, introduit le but final : qu’eux aussi (les Juifs) soient de nouveau l’objet de la miséricorde de Dieu. Le verbe grec correspondant à soient… objet de la miséricorde est le même qu’en Rom 11.30 (« il vous a été fait miséricorde »). Il est également au passif avec Dieu comme agent. La Parole de Vie dit « eux aussi pourront recevoir la pitié de Dieu ».
L’adverbe maintenant qui se trouve une deuxième fois dans ce verset, ne figure pas dans plusieurs manuscrits anciens, comme indiqué en note dans la Traduction œcuménique de la Bible et la Bible en français courant. C’est pourquoi plusieurs versions l’omettent (La Bible du Semeur, Osty-Trinquet). Dans le Good News Translation, il est maintenu dans le texte, mais signalé comme peu probable.
Source: Margot, Jean-Claude & Zogbo, Lynell. La lettre aux Romains – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.
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