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 20:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 20:8:

  • Uma: “‘At sunset, the owner of the field said to his supervisor: ‘Call those workers, and give them their wages. First give wages to the people who just began working at five o’clock earlier. After that, give wages to the people who began to work at three o’clock, until [you get] to the people who worked from early morning.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘When it was evening the owner of the land said to his foreman, ‘Call the people who are working and pay them their wages. Take those people last whom I got first.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when it was already night, the man said to his trusted one, ‘Call those who are working and pay them. Pay first those who were last, and then those who were first.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Then when the sun was setting, the land owner said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers to give them their daily wage, starting with the last to go join-in-working until the ones-who-went-first.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When the sun was setting, that owner gave orders to his overseer. He said, ‘Call those casual-workers and pay them all. Start with those last ones I put to work. Those I put to work first, just pay them last.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “When evening came the field-owner spoke to his worker who ordered the other workers: ‘Call the workers now and pay them their wages. First give the wages to the workers who were last to come to work. Concerning the workers who worked all day long, let them be the last you give wages to,’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 20:8

The owner of the vineyard is shortened to “the owner” by Good News Translation, since this information is clearly implicit.

Steward (Good News Translation, Phillips, Barclay, New American Bible “foreman”) is used elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 8.3 and Galatians 4.2, where the meaning differs considerably. Here the person is someone whom the owner of the vineyard has appointed to be in charge of the workmen. It may be translated as “supervisor of the workers” or as “man in charge of the workers.”

Call the laborers and pay them their wages: according to Leviticus 19.13 and Deuteronomy 24.15, day laborers were to be paid each day before sunset for that day’s work, so the scene described is obviously very typical.

Beginning with the last, up to the first is somewhat expanded by Good News Translation for the sake of clarity: “starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.” Although beginning with may have the meaning “including,” the interpretation of the text represented by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation is the meaning preferred by most other modern translations as well. This may need to be a separate sentence; for example, “First pay the people we hired last and then others, so the ones we hired first are the last ones you pay.”

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 .