οὓς δεῖ ἐπιστομίζειν, οἵτινες ὅλους οἴκους ἀνατρέπουσιν διδάσκοντες ἃ μὴ δεῖ αἰσχροῦ κέρδους χάριν.
11they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach.
The now commonly-used German idiom Maul stopfen, which now either refers to gluttonous eating or to silencing someone by proving or showing that despite them being big-mouthed (“großmäulig”) about something that they were wrong after all (literally “stuff one’s (animal-like) mouth”), was made popular in 1534 in the German Bible translation by Martin Luther. (Source: Günther 2017, p. 89)
For other idioms or terms in German that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
See also shut mouth / silence.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “greedy for money,” “dishonest/selfish/unjust gain,” “bribery,” or similar in English is translated in these verses in the Protestant Mandarin Chinese Union Version and the Catholic Sigao version with a historical Chinese idiom: bùyìzhī cái (不義之財 / 不义之财) or “ill-gotten gains.” (Source: Toshikazu S. Foley in Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies, 2011, p. 45ff.)
The Catholic Sigao version additionally uses the idiom in the referenced verses in Sirach.
Following are a number of back-translations of Titus 1:11:
Must is literally “it is necessary” (Good News Translation). Be silenced translates an infinitive of the verb that literally means “to put something over the mouth” and is used figuratively to refer to preventing someone from talking. They must be silenced may be misleading, since this expression is often used to refer to killing someone, which of course is not Paul’s intention at all. “You must stop them from talking” would be a more satisfactory way of expressing the meaning (compare Good News Translation “it is necessary to stop their talk,” Contemporary English Version “you must make them be quiet”). One may also say “You must stop them from talking this nonsense.”
The reason for stopping these rebellious people from talking is that they are upsetting whole families with their teaching. For families see the same term translated “house” in 1 Tim 3.4. Upsetting comes from a verb that refers to the act of causing problems with regard to someone’s faith or beliefs; hence “to undermine someone’s faith.” See further on 2 Tim 2.18. Here the damage is done not only to the faith of certain individuals but to the faith of whole families, which indicates that many families are involved, and the problem has affected every member of each one of these families. The problems may have included disunity and conflict in families where not all the members become believers. But primarily the problems are related to their faith; that is, these problems tend to undermine their loyalty to the Christian faith and its message. In this light, upsetting whole families may thus be expressed as “they are causing all the members of some families to stray from the true message” or “… to falter in their faith.”
The way they have done this is by teaching what they have no right to teach. This last expression conveys the idea that something has happened that should not have happened, so Good News Translation “teaching what they should not,” Phillips “teaching what they have no business to teach,” New International Version “teaching things they ought not to teach.” But they teach these things for base gain; for this last expression see Titus 1.7, where the Greek forms one word by joining these two, translated “greedy for gain.” The whole motivation for their actions is financial profit, as Good News Translation makes clear (“and all for the shameful purpose of making money”).
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• You must make them stop talking such nonsense, because they teach things which they shouldn’t, and so cause all the members of some families to doubt the true doctrine. They do this simply for the shameful purpose of making money.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to Titus. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
1:11a
who must be silenced: The Greek is more literally “it is necessary to put something over their mouths.” It indicates that someone should stop or prevent these rebellious people from talking rebellion, nonsense, and lies (1:10a–b). Somebody, probably Titus, must make them stop this kind of talk. In your translation, avoid implying that these people must stop talking completely.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
you must make them be quiet (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
It is necessary to stop their talk (Good News Bible)
-or-
It is necessary that they be stopped from saying those things
In the Greek text, the fact that the following clauses give the reason for Paul’s command in 1:11a is implicit. Some translations supply a conjunction in order to introduce the reason why someone should silence the rebellious people. You also may want to do this to make this relationship explicit if that is natural in your language. For example:
They must be silenced because for the sake of dishonest gain, they are disrupting whole households
1:11b
For the sake of dishonorable gain: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as dishonorable gain is more literally “shameful gain.” It refers to obtaining money by shameful means, that is, dishonest means. These people were trying to make money by teaching lies.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
For shameful gain
-or-
In order to make a profit by lying
-or-
This is the shameful way they make money. (Contemporary English Version)
For the sake of: This phrase means “For the purpose of.”
1:11c
they undermine entire households: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they undermine means that the rebellious people were causing entire families to be upset and distressed. They were distressed because the teachings of these rebellious people conflicted with the teachings of the gospel of Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
they are causing great turmoil in whole households
-or-
they are upsetting whole families (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
they are breaking the peace of entire families
entire households: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as households refers to people living in one house. In Paul’s time this usually consisted of one extended family and their servants.
1:11d
and teach things they should not: This phrase introduces the way in which these rebellious people disrupted whole households. They did so by teaching what was false. You may be able to make this clear by saying:
They do this by teaching what they should not teach
-or-
in that they teach things that they should not
General Comment on 1:11c-d d-b
In some languages it may be natural to order the information in 1:11b-d as it is in Greek. The Greek is more literally, “who overturn entire households, teaching what they should not for the sake of dishonest gain.” “Dishonest gain” was the purpose of the false teachers in teaching “things they should not.”
Here are some other ways to translate these Greek words:
because they are ruining whole families by teaching what they shouldn’t teach. This is the shameful way they make money. (God’s Word)
-or-
They undermine entire households for the sake of dishonest gain by teaching things that they must not teach.
-or-
because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught. (NET Bible)
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En grec la phrase continue, litt. « …à qui il faut fermer la bouche, ceux qui bouleversent des familles entières… ». Mais plusieurs versions (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, La Bible du Semeur, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie) commencent une nouvelle phrase ici : Il faut leur fermer la bouche. Paul utilise souvent le mot δεῖ dei, il faut, dans ses écrits, par exemple dans les Pastorales, en Tite 1.7 ; 1 Tim 3.2,7,15 ; 5.13 ; 2 Tim 2.6,24. Le mot figure deux fois dans ce verset.
fermer la bouche rend un verbe composé qui s’utilise pour « museler », « mettre quelque chose sur la bouche », comme lorsqu’on met un museau sur un animal. Il faut, en grec comme en français, est une expression impersonnelle qui ne dit pas explicitement qui doit fermer la bouche à ces faux enseignants. Les traducteurs trouveront une expression idiomatique qui convient, par exemple, « Tu dois… » ou « Qu’on leur ferme la bouche ». Si cette expression ne convient pas dans la langue cible, on pourrait dire, « empêche-les de parler ».
ils bouleversent des familles entières : est litt. « ceux qui bouleversent des maisons entières ». Bien que le verbe signifie « renverser », dans ce contexte, il s’agit de rendre instable la foi des autres. Voir 2 Tim 2.18.
Pour familles, voir 1 Tim 3.4.
en enseignant pour un gain honteux ce qu’il ne faut pas : voir aussi Tite 1.7 où la même idée est évoquée. Le texte grec dit litt. « enseignant les choses qu’il ne faut pas en vue d’un gain honteux ». Enseignant rend un participe grec, mais les traducteurs peuvent commencer une nouvelle phrase ici si nécessaire. Voir Parole de Vie.
Notez que le même verbe en grec δεῖ dei paraît et au début et à la fin du verset. Les mots ce qu’il ne faut pas (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, Nouvelle Bible Segond) impliquent que ces gens sont en train d’enseigner des choses qui ne doivent pas être enseignées, c’est-à-dire des faux enseignements. Mais leur faute est encore pire, car ils font ceci un gain honteux.
gain honteux : ces faux enseignants sont à la recherche d’argent. L’implication est qu’en retour pour de l’argent, ils enseignent ce que les gens veulent entendre. Ailleurs Paul enseigne que le travailleur a droit à son salaire (1 Tim 5.18). La différence ici, c’est que ces gens donnent de faux enseignements et en plus adaptent leur message selon les fonds reçus. Donc leur revenu ou gain est sujet de honte. Dans plusieurs cultures cette idée sera très bien comprise. Sinon on pourrait suivre la Parole de Vie qui dit « pour gagner de l’argent de façon malhonnête ».
Source: Zogbo, Lynell & Ellingworth, Paul La lettre à Tite – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.
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