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).

complete verse (Matthew 6:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 6:8:

  • Uma: “Don’t learn/imitate their deeds! Our (incl.) Father who is in heaven knows ahead of time what we (incl.) need before we (incl.) ask.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Do not be like them, for your Father God knows beforehand as to what is your need.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Don’t imitate them, because our Father knows beforehand that each one of us needs before we ask for it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Don’t follow-their -example, because our Father, he already knows what you need when you haven’t yet requested him (for-it).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really don’t you copy these doings of theirs, because your Father who is in heaven already knows your needs, even though you haven’t yet asked for them from him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But don’t do like they do. Because God your Father already knows all that you need before you ask him for what you want.” (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 6:8

Do not be like them is rendered “Do not imitate them” by a number of translations (New English Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant). The intent of this command is not to discourage prayer, but to remind the worshiper that God cannot be coerced into action merely because one piles up words with this purpose in mind.

Thus Do not be like them is more often translated “Don’t pray like they do,” “Don’t be like them when you pray,” “Don’t use the kinds of prayers they do,” or “Don’t talk to God in that way.”

The last half of this verse (for your Father knows what you need before you ask him) is rendered similarly in most all translations.

For comments on Father, see 5.16; “God your Father” is possible.

What you need may be “the things that it is necessary to have,” “the things you should have but don’t have them now,” or “the things you need him to give you.”

The first occurrence in this Gospel of the verb translated ask is 5.42; though the verb may be used of prayer, its use is not confined to prayer. Ask him is elliptical, that is, it is a shortened form of “ask him for it” or “ask him to give it to you.”

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 .