complete verse (Matthew 15:37)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 15:37:

  • Uma: “They all ate until they were full. After they had eaten, his disciples gathered the leftovers, seven baskets more.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They all ate and were filled. And then they gathered the left-overs, seven baskets full.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “All ate and were satisfied, and seven baskets of leftovers were what the disciples gathered up from those people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They all ate and were full. When they gathered furthermore what was left-over, seven baskets were full (lit. placed-in) of the leftover food.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “All of them ate till they were full. Well, the disciples collected what was left over, filling seven large-baskets.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “These people who ate were four thousand men. The women and the children weren’t counted. Yet all were filled. When the people finished eating, the learners of Jesus gathered seven baskets of bread which were left over.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 15:37

And they all ate and were satisfied is translated “They all ate as much as they wanted” by New Jerusalem Bible. The verb clause and were satisfied is translated “to their hearts’ content” by New English Bible. The Greek verb was previously used in 5.6; 14.20; 15.33. It implies both sufficiency and complete satisfaction in eating.

And they took: according to English usage, the pronoun they would most naturally refer back to the crowds of the clause and they all ate. This is also true even according to Greek grammar, but most scholars assume that they are “the disciples” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant), since the disciples are the ones who distributed the food. Consequently translators may have to say “The people in the crowd all ate until they were full. Then the disciples gathered up….”

Not only does the number of baskets differ from the account of the feeding of the five thousand, but the word used for baskets is also different in the two accounts (14.20). Here the word specifically refers to a fisherman’s basket woven from marsh grass. It is the same word used of the basket by which Paul was let down from the city wall (Acts 9.25). Elsewhere in the New Testament the word is used at Matthew 16.10; Mark 8.8, 20. A standard dictionary of classical Greek defines the word as a “large basket,” without specifying any particular dimensions. For this reason most translators say simply “large basket.” See also comments at 14.20.

In many languages one wouldn’t gather up baskets. Took up seven baskets full will more naturally be expressed “gathered up enough leftover broken pieces to fill seven large baskets.”

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 .