The Greek that is translated with “moved with compassion (or: pity)” in English is translated as “to see someone with sorrow” in Piro, “to suffer with someone” in Huastec, or “one’s mind to be as it were out of one” in Balinese (source: Bratcher / Nida).
The term “compassion” is translated as “cries in the soul” in Shilluk (source: Nida, 1952, p. 132), “has a good stomach” (=”sympathetic”) in Aari (source: Loren Bliese), “has a big liver” in Una (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 471), or “crying in one’s stomach” in Q’anjob’al (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ). In Mairasi it is translated with an emphasized term that is used for “love”: “desiring one’s face so much” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Chitonga with kumyongwa or “to have the intestines twisting in compassion/sorrow for someone” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 128f.).
See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 18:27:
Uma: “From there, the love/pity of the king welled-up, feeling sorry/pity for that slave. He released him and he said to him: ‘Your (sing.) debt you (sing.) no longer have to pay.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then the sultan pitied his servant, therefore he commanded that his debt need not to be paid and told him to go home.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the king pitied him and forgave him and did not make him pay the debt, and he sent him home.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “That being so, the king took-pity-on him and canceled (lit. set-aside) his debt. Then he released him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “That king truly did have mercy on him. Without anything further, he just wrote-off-as-paid all that debt of his and sent him home.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “The boss pitied the worker and forgave him of the amount he owed. He let him free.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Out of pity (Good News Translation “felt sorry”) translates a Greek verb which focuses upon the intestines as the place where the emotions of sorrow and pity are experienced. Out of means “because of” in this context. “Because he felt sorry for him” will express this phrase, for example. The verse can also be restructured slightly, as in “The king took pity on the official, and so set him free and canceled the debt.”
The lord of that servant is translated “The king” by Good News Translation in order to maintain continuity throughout the story; otherwise there is the possibility that the reader may wrongly distinguish between “the king” and “the lord of that servant.” See also verses 31 and 34 and the discussion there.
Released him may refer to the man’s release from prison; Barclay has “let him go free,” and Phillips “set him free.”
Forgave has the specific sense of “canceled” (An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). Using language that their readers will understand, translators have sometimes said something like “told him he would not have to pay what he owed.”
Debt translates a Greek noun which is used only here in the New Testament. It technically means a “loan,” but most translations prefer to use the broader term of “debt.”
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 .
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