For those who want to know what Jesus really said, how he said it, why crowds came to hear him, and shades of meaning lost or hidden in translation.

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Today's Verse Analysis

After his opponents leave, Jesus addresses the crowd telling a parable comparing the realm of the skies to a man, a king.

Spoken to
audience
KJV Verse

Matthew 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:

NIV Verse:

Matthew 22:5 But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.

What His Listeners Heard:

Those, however, departing, didn't care. This one, certainly, into this private field. That one, however, at that business of his.

Lost In Translation:

By taking on the verb meaning "care," a lot of meaning is lost here. This verse is difficult to translate because it was clearly meant to be spoken, as part of telling a story. You have to imagine it in the mouth of a master storyteller, illustrated with gestures,  punctuated with pauses. The Biblical translators try to simplify it, transforming it into easy-to-follow English sentences, thereby misconstruing almost every word.

This verse contains several unusual words for Jesus, two of them unique, and a very unusual construction. It works better as a spoken phrase than a written one because the implied verb in the last two phrases acts as the subject of the first clause. The Biblical translations are paraphrases rather than translations, ignoring the actual words and their forms.

One unique word here is translated as "made light" and "paid no attention," but it actually means "not care." The word is simpler than the translations of it, a prefix meaning "not" and a root meaning "care."

The other unique word means "personal" and is translated as "his." So Jesus uses a very specific, unusual word and the translators replace it with a word as common as dust. This type of treatment seems disrespectful to me, as if Jesus wasn't careful in choosing his words, when the opposite it true.

In describing the two people departing, Jesus uses the same word, a demonstrative pronoun, meaning "this" or "that." When used together as subjects, the sense is "this one" and  "that one." In Biblical translation, this is ended as "one...another," which is a similar construction but not as pointed as the use of the demonstrative.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

But they(CW) [made light(CW)] [of it(IP)], and(IW) went(WF) [their ways(IP)], one(CW) (MW) to his(CW) (MW) farm(CW), another(CW) (MW) to(CW) his (MW) merchandise:

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
For analysis of each word of original Greek and biblical verses, click here.

Constantly Updated

My analysis standards and methods are constantly improving. New information on each verse is provided as articles are updated. It requires approximately two years for me to work through updating each of Jesus's verses.

What Jesus's Listeners Heard

The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time in biblical translation. The word translations here are based upon documents of his time such as the Greek Septuagint, not ideas unknown in his time.

About this Site

See what Jesus said in Greek and see how his words are changed in English translation. My goal is to translate Jesus's words as they were heard when he taught, not the way they are interpreted today. The work here resurrects the humor and cleverness of Jesus's words lost in translation.

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Each article provides detailed information on all the Greek words in each verse with links simplifying your own research. It compares the Greek to popular translations to show where words are confused, changed, left out, and added. This site offers research available nowhere else, such as how often Jesus uses a specific Greek word and links to a list of every verse in which he uses a given word.