beget (was the father of)

The Greek that is translated as “beget” (or “begat” in the past tense) in older English versions and “was the father of” in more recent ones is translated into Latvian with dzemdināt: “make to give birth” (from dzemdēt “give birth”).

genealogy in Matthew 1

Genealogies play an important role among many of Indonesian language groups and it’s important to follow the right format to make them recognizable as such. Daniel Arichea explains (in The Bible Translator 1986. p. 232ff. ):

“In translating the genealogies, we need to pay attention to the standard form of genealogical lists in the language of translation. Among the Bataks, it was discovered after some research that the genealogies are recorded in the form of a list of ancestors. Furthermore, this list almost always starts from the ancestor and goes down to the descendants. This seems to be true also for many other Indonesian groups, although there are some variations. For the genealogies to have meaning among the Bataks and other groups of similar cultures, these genealogies must be in a form which is appropriate.

“In Matthew 1:2-16, the biblical form is strange to many Indonesians. (…) The second edition of the Common Language Indonesian New Testament (Alkitab dalam Bahasa Indonesia Masa Kini) discarded the biblical form and came out with a series of ancestral lists. (…) When this was tested, however, many Indonesians did not recognize these lists as genealogical lists, but saw them simply as a list of names. In the light of such reactions, the new edition which is included in the recently published common language Bible has printed these lists as genealogical lists moving downward from the ancestors to the descendants. Thus, verse 2 reads: “From Abraham until David, the names of the ancestors of Jesus are as follows” [which is then followed by a list].”

You can see this in the following screen capture (available right here ):



In the Kölsch translation (publ. 2017), the genealogy is summarized: “From Abraham to David there were fourteen generations. There were another fourteen generations from David until the Jews were deported to Babylon and from Babylon to Jesus there were yet another fourteen generations. This shows that Joseph (Jupp), Mary’s husband, was a descendant of Abraham and David.” (Translation: Jost Zetzsche)

complete verse (Matthew 1:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 1:15:

  • Uma: “Eliud was the progenitor of Eleazar, Eleazar was the progenitor of Matan, Matan was the progenitor of Yakub,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “From the time of the deportation of the people of Isra’il to Babilon to the birth of Isa, these are the ancestors listed: Jekoniya was the father of Salati, Salati was the father of Serubbabel, Serubbabel was the father of Abiyud, Abiyud was the father of Eliyakim, Eliyakim was the father of Asor, Asor was the father of Sadok, Sadok was the father of Akim, Akim was the father of Eliyud, Eliyud was the father of Eleyasar, Eleyasar was the father of Mattan, Mattan was the father of Yakub, Yakub was the father of Yusup the husband of Mariyam. Mariyam was the mother of Isa called the Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Eliud was the father of Eleazer. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Eliud in-turn was the father of Eleazar who was the father of Mattan who was the father of Jacob.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then Eliud, he was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matan. And Matan was the father of Jacob.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Jacob

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Jacob” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

In German Sign Language it is a sign that shows the touching of the hip, described in Genesis 32:25:


“Jacob” in German Sign Language (source: Taub und katholisch )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Jacob” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

See also Esau.

Translation commentary on Matthew 1:13 – 1:15

Matthew was dependent on unknown sources for the names listed in these verses and gives only ten names (Zerubbabel of verse 13 to Jacob of verse 16) for the five-hundred-year period.

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 .

Translation commentary on Matthew 11:5

Both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version end verse 4 with a colon to indicate that the list in verse 5 is what John’s disciples are seeing and hearing. In many languages the normal way to show this relation is to begin the verse with a phrase such as “These things are…” or “The things you see and hear are that the blind people are made to see….”

Traduction œcuménique de la Bible indicates that Jesus is quoting Isaiah here by putting the verse in italics. However, because the list is only partially from Isaiah, and from different places in Isaiah (as we point out above), then it is probably not necessary to do this. A footnote will be helpful, however.

The phrase the blind receive their sight may be rendered “people who are blind can see” or “… are made to see.” However, some languages prefer to indicate the agent, as in “I make blind people see.”

Actually it may be necessary to indicate the agent throughout this verse, as in “I make lame people walk, I make lepers clean, I make deaf people hear, I raise people to life, and I am preaching the Good News to the poor.” However, the focus as it stands in the text is on these unfortunate people who are having something good done to them, and the rendering as above will result in some loss of this. So a translation such as “the blind people can see, crippled people can now walk … and poor people can now listen to the proclamation of the Good News” will be better.

Note that the blind does not mean all the blind people, but rather those who came to Jesus for help. “People who are blind” or “blind people” will be good translations. This is also the case with the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor.

It may also be necessary to put the blindness in the past tense, as “people who were blind can now see.” This will be equally true for the lame walk. “People who were crippled can now walk” will be a good rendering. Similarly, lepers can be “those who were lepers,” the deaf can be “those who were deaf,” and the dead is translated “people who had died.” Presumably, however, the poor remain poor.

Lepers are cleansed: see comments on 8.2.

Poor translates the same word discussed in 5.3. In this context it should be translated simply as “poor people,” that is, people who are destitute. It is not referring to spiritual poverty here.

Have good news preached (literally “are evangelized”) translates a verb which occurs more than twenty-five times in Luke–Acts, but only here in Matthew.

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 .