your Father

The Greek that is translated as “your Father” in English (when Jesus refers to the God as the Father of his followers) is rendered as “our Father” in Tzotzil “so as to not exclude Jesus.” (Source: Marin Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff.)

See also Father (address for God).

transgression, trespass

The Greek that is often translated as “trespass” or “transgression” in English is translated as “missing the commandment” in Kipsigis and “to step beyond the law” in Navajo. (Source: Bratcher / Nida 1961)

In Tepeuxila Cuicatec it is translated as “thing not reached.” Marjorie Davis (in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. ) explains: “[This] implies that the goal was not reached, the task was not finished, or of finished, it was not satisfactorily done. According to the Cuicateco way of thinking of one does not what is expected of him, he offends [or: trespasses] and is an offence.”

forgive, forgiveness

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The concept of “forgiveness” is expressed in varied ways through translations. Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:

  • Tswa, North Alaskan Inupiatun, Panao Huánuco Quechua: “forget about”
  • Navajo: “give back” (based on the idea that sin produces an indebtedness, which only the one who has been sinned against can restore)
  • Huichol, Shipibo-Conibo, Eastern Highland Otomi, Uduk, Tepo Krumen: “erase,” “wipe out,” “blot out”
  • Highland Totonac, Huautla Mazatec: “lose,” “make lacking”
  • Tzeltal: “lose another’s sin out of one’s heart”
  • Lahu, Burmese: “be released,” “be freed”
  • Ayacucho Quechua: “level off”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “cast away”
  • Chol: “pass by”
  • Wayuu: “make pass”
  • Kpelle: “turn one’s back on”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
  • Tabasco Chontal, Huichol: “take away sins”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan, Javanese: “do away with sins”
  • San Blas Kuna: “erase the evil heart” (this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Tepo Krumen: Peter Thalmann in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 25f.)
  • Eggon: “withdraw the hand”
  • Mískito: “take a man’s fault out of your heart” (source of this and the one above: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Western Parbate Kham: “unstring someone” (“hold a grudge” — “have someone strung up in your heart”) (source: Watters, p. 171)
  • Hawai’i Creole English: “let someone go” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • Cebuano: “go beyond” (based on saylo)
  • Iloko: “none” or “no more” (based on awan) (source for this and above: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
  • Tzotzil: ch’aybilxa: “it has been lost” (source: Aeilts, p. 118)
  • Suki: biaek eisaemauwa: “make heart soft” (Source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.)
  • Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Mairasi: “dismantle wrongs” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Nyulnyul: “have good heart” (source
  • Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
  • Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century .
  • Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Matthew 6:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 6:15:

  • Uma: “But if we (incl.) do not forgive others who do wrong to us (incl.), so also our (incl.) Father in heaven will not forgive us (incl.).” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But if you do not forgive the sin of your companion, God will also not forgive your sin.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However if you don’t forgive your companion, our father in heaven will not forgive you either.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But if you do not forgive them, neither will our Father in heaven forgive your sins.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But if you aren’t forgiving the one who has sinned against you, neither will you be forgiven by your Father in heaven for your sins.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But if you do not want to forgive your fellowman, then your Father in heaven also will not forgive your sins.” (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 6:14 – 6:15

The same truth is stated in each of these two verses, first negatively (verse 14), then positively (verse 15). A parallel to the positive form appears in Mark 11.25, and some commentators call attention to the similarity between these two verses and Matthew 7.1 (see Luke 6.37), and to their agreement with Matthew 5.22, 45, 48.

Jesus here adds a short comment on the words about forgiveness in verse 12. Revised Standard Version has the transition For. Some languages will not need any transition. For example, Good News Translation in English does not have one. Others will say something like “You can pray like that because.”

We discussed forgive in verse 12.

The Greek word translated trespasses (Good News Translation “wrongs”) is found in Matthew only in these two verses. Elsewhere in the Gospels it is used only once (Mark 11.25; and in some manuscripts in 11.26). Outside the Gospels it appears only in the letters of Paul (Rom 4.25; 5.15, 16, 17, 18, 20; 11.11, 12; 2 Cor 5.19; Gal 6.1; Eph 1.7; 2.1; 2.5; Col 2.13). The word literally means “stepping aside” and is rendered “false step, transgression, sin” by one of the standard lexicons. If you forgive men (Good News Translation “others”) their trespasses is translated “For if you forgive men when they sin against you” by New International Version. New American Bible uses “faults” and New Jerusalem Bible “failings” (Phillips “failures”). However, in the present context a wrong or sin against someone is definitely indicated. This is made clear by your trespasses, which clearly means “your wrongs against your (heavenly) Father.” Trespasses that people commit against you can be “wrongs” or “harm they do you.” Your trespasses, as we explained, refers to “the wrongs you commit against God” or “your sins.” Translators should find Good News Translation or New International Version (cited above) helpful models. “If you forgive people when they do wrong to you” or “If you forgive people for the wrongs they do to you.”

For God to forgive you depends on your forgiving others. This must be clear, as in “then in his turn God your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins” or “then in the same way, your heavenly Father will forgive you your sins.” The same relation holds true in verse 15: “But if you fail to forgive other people when they do wrong to you, your heavenly Father will not forgive you either for your sins against him.”

For comments on heavenly Father, see 5.16.

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 .