for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

The Greek that is translated as “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” or similar in English is translated in Muna as “what comes-out at the lips, it comes from the fullness/overflowing of the heart.”

René van den Berg explains: “It is very impolite in Muna to mention someone’s mouth (wobha) or tongue (lela). The words themselves are not taboo or obscene, but in combination with a possessor they are frowned upon and should be avoided. In fact, if you want to abuse someone, you should refer to his or her mouth or tongue. The implications for translation are obvious (…). [Sometimes] ‘mouth’ was replaced by ‘lips’ (wiwi), a perfectly acceptable term, even when possessed.”

In the German Luther Bible it says: Denn wes das Herz voll ist, des geht der Mund über or “what the heart is full of, with that the mouth flows over,” in Uab Meto it says “his mouth says only what the heart is more than full of,” and in Tzeltal it is “in our hearts arise all those things which come out of our mouths.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)

complete verse (Matthew 12:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 12:34:

  • Uma: “You are very evil! Of course you can’t speak good words, being evil like you are. Because what it is contents of our (incl.) hearts, that also is spoken by our (incl.) lips.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You are deceiving people. You cannot say good (things) because you are bad/evil in your liver. Whatever is in the liver of man/mankind, that is what comes out of his mouth.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It is just the same with you. There is nothing good you can say because your customs are bad. You are like snakes, because you are harmful. What is in your breath comes out of your mouth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You are admittedly too-much, like snakes that have poison! If you are bad, how then will you say good-things? Because what a person says is from what is in his mind/thoughts just the same.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “You children of snakes! How could you say good things when your nature/ways are evil? For it really is true that whatever is in a person’s mind/inner-being, that indeed is always what comes out of his mouth.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You do like snakes which have poison in their mouths. Because you are not able to speak a good word. Now the word which sits on the heart of a person is what comes out of his mouth.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 12:34

You brood of vipers: see comments on 3.7.

How can you speak good…? may be better expressed as a statement: “That is the way it is with you. You are evil, and so you cannot say good things.” Of course, the original order can be retained, too, with a sentence like “how can you possibly say good things when you are evil?” If the rhetorical question is not natural in the receptor language, then the idea can be expressed as “It is not possible for you to say good, since you are yourselves evil.”

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks: the noun abundance appears also in the Lukan parallel (6.45) and in Mark 8.8; 2 Corinthians 8.14 (twice). The picture is that of a substance which fills a container to overflowing. Jesus speaks of the heart as though it were a container, which may be filled with either good or evil. And whatever fills it, whether good or evil, overflows through a person’s mouth in the form of the words which he speaks. It should be noted that in Jewish thought the heart does not represent the seat of emotions (as in English), but rather the entire person conceived of as a total being who thinks and wills. New American Bible translates heart as “mind.” It is possible to translate without the metaphor of the mouth, as Barclay indicates: “A man’s words are nothing other than the overflow of what is in his heart.” It may be advisable in other circumstances to do away with the metaphor entirely: “For what a person says reveals what he is really like” or “You can tell what a person is really like by what he says.” Other languages may require the use of other body parts; for example, “Your tongue speaks what is in your liver.”

Many translators have tried to retain the image of the metaphor. One way has been to use a sentence such as “For whatever fills a person’s heart (or, mind), that is what flows out when he speaks” or “For whatever a person is really like, when he speaks, that is the thing that comes out just like a bowl overflowing.”

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 .