vineyard

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “vineyard” in English is translated in Noongar as boodjer-djildjiyang, lit. “land for fruit.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

complete verse (Matthew 20:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:4:

  • Uma: “He said to them: ‘Go work in my field, I will give you an appropriate wage.’ They went too.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He said to them, ‘Go also and work on my land and I will pay you a wage that is right for you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And he said to them, ‘Work in my grapefield, and I will pay you what’s right.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “He said to them, ‘If you want to go day-work in my vineyard, I will pay you correctly.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “He arranged with them saying, ‘You also work there in my plantation. I will fit your wage (to the work).'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “He said to them: ‘Go to work in my field, men. I will pay you what is proper for you to earn,’ he said. These then went to go to work.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on Matthew 20:4

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Barclay, New English Bible, and Phillips begin a new sentence with this verse, though most translations rather slavishly follow the form of the Greek by letting the sentence that begins in verse 3 continue over into this verse.

Barclay has rendered too here as “along with the other men,” something which many other translators may find natural too. Of course, it is implied that these people are expected to work in the vineyard.

Whatever is right (Good News Translation “a fair wage”) is given the place of emphasis in the Greek construction (and whatever is right I will give you). However, most translators put the verb before the object, as Good News Translation has (“I will pay you a fair wage”). The workers automatically would have assumed that they would be given less than the full daily wage of a denarius. One commentator correctly refers to this parable as illustrative of “the surprising righteousness of God,” since what the workers receive at the end of the day far exceeds their expectations.

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 .