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 21:39)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 21:39:

  • Uma: “They grabbed/caught that child, they dragged him going outside the field, and they killed him.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then they seized him and pushed him outside the fence of the garden and killed him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they grabbed him and they threw him outside of the vineyard, and they killed him.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then they caught him and took him outside the vineyard, after that they killed him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, they set on him, dragged him outside of that ubas plantation and then killed him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “They grabbed the son of the field-owner, dragged him out of the field and killed him.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 21:39

Took in this verse may be “grabbed,” “seized,” or “caught.”

Cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him represents the reverse order of events from that found in Mark: “killed him, and cast his body out of the vineyard” (12.8). As the commentators note, Matthew seems to be adjusting the order to conform with Jesus’ death, which took place outside the city of Jerusalem.

Cast is a somewhat archaic word that most modern English translations render as “threw.”

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 .