International Institute of Jesus Christ
Matthew 11
Translated straight from the SBLGNT, with the grounds of every decision on the page.
Why this rendering
Matt.11.2 Observation
Syntactic observation
The word for the prison divides. Matthew uses δεσμωτήριον, which occurs only here in this corpus, while Mark uses φυλακή for where John was held (6:17, 27, 48). What is worth noting is that **Matthew uses φυλακή ten times himself** — so choosing another word here is a marked choice within his own vocabulary. δεσμωτήριον comes from δεσμός, a bond, so binding sits inside the word; φυλακή comes from φυλάσσω, to guard, so guarding sits inside it — one author calls the same place a binding-house, the other a guard-house. And Matthew does not count the messengers as two: SBLGNT prints πέμψας διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, having sent through his disciples, with a ⸀ mark. The question itself repays attention: in Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, are you the one coming, ὁ ἐρχόμενος is the participle John himself used at 3:11 of the one coming behind me — he asks back with the word he had pointed with. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀διὰ).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Korean has no natural pair that keeps the two grains apart, so the body uses one word and the difference is recorded in the analysis; forcing a split would invent a word that does not exist.
Basis Keeps the root difference in the rendering.
Rejected This corpus values countable vocabulary, but not at the price of inventing Korean. The difference of root belongs to the analysis layer, where how each author names a prison can be counted.
Lost in translation
A place of binding and a place of guarding are both 옥 in Korean. That Matthew and Mark chose different words drops out of the translation and remains only in the analysis.
Why this rendering
Matt.11.12 Hypothesis
Syntactic observation
βιάζεται is formally undecidable between middle and passive. Read as passive it says the kingdom suffers violence; read as middle, the kingdom presses forcefully in — opposite directions from one word. The βιασταί that follows shares the root and is likewise unsettled: violent men, or those pressing in. ἁρπάζουσιν, they seize, is a word used of plundering, which pulls toward the negative reading — yet at John 10:28-29 it is the word for what no one can do to the sheep, a word of protection. βιαστής occurs in this one verse and nowhere else, but βιάζω stands also at Luke 16:16 — πᾶς εἰς αὐτὴν βιάζεται, everyone presses into it. There the context leans middle, and this project renders it middle in all nine locales. So the corpus uses the verb twice: once read as middle, once undecided — one place to weigh against, and that one supports the other reading. Word, form and context are all three left open here — a rare thing.
Rendering options · 3
Basis Keeps the two roots joined in one word and settles neither direction — the form does not divide, so the rendering does not either.
Basis Reads it passive and takes the negative sense.
Rejected A possible reading, but the grammar does not choose it. This project's rule is not to close in translation what the text leaves open, so a wording that can hold both is chosen and the division recorded in the analysis.
Basis Reads it middle and takes the positive sense.
Rejected Equally possible, and set aside for the same reason. That the two rejections point opposite ways is itself the state of this verse.
Lost in translation
Greek writes both voices with one form; Korean and English must pick. Whatever the rendering, the reader gets one side, and that the verse divides survives only in a note.
Why this rendering
Matt.11.19 Observation
Syntactic observation
φάγος, a glutton, and οἰνοπότης, a wine-drinker, occur at two places in the corpus (11:19 and Luke 7:34, the same saying), and both are insults. Matthew quotes what people said of Jesus — and in the verse before, of John they said δαιμόνιον ἔχει, he has a demon. He is faulted on opposite grounds: John neither ate nor drank and was called possessed; the Son of Man eats and drinks and is called a glutton and a drunkard — faulted either way. The last sentence answers in one line: ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς, wisdom was justified by her works. δικαιόω carries a forensic grain here and shares its root with Matthew's δικαιοσύνη, righteousness (δικαιόω stands twice in Matthew and five times in Luke). SBLGNT prints ἔργων, works, with a ⸀ mark; the Textus Receptus line prints τέκνων, children. **But τέκνων is the base-text reading at Luke 7:35** — ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς. So the Matthean variant is not a word from nowhere but the word of the parallel place, and a copyist moving to level the two books is the natural account. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀ἔργων).
Rendering options · 2
Basis Renders the insults as insults and follows the base text's ἔργων.
Basis Follows the Textus Receptus.
Rejected By our base-text decision we follow SBLGNT. The two readings do change the picture considerably: whether wisdom is vindicated by what she does or by those born of her.
Why this rendering
Matt.11.23 Observation
Syntactic observation
ᾅδης appears — twice in Matthew in this corpus (11:23, 16:18) and twice in Luke (10:15, 16:23), and not at all in Mark or John. Luke 10:15 is the parallel to this verse, with a different verb: Matthew has καταβήσῃ, you will go down, active; Luke has καταβιβασθήσῃ, you will be brought down, passive. And Matthew also uses γέεννα separately (5:22, 29, 30 and elsewhere): one author using both words and never mixing them. Gehenna transliterates the name of a valley south of Jerusalem; Hades is a name out of Greek myth — two words of different origin. Since this project transliterates Gehenna, Hades must be handled the same way for the two to stay distinct. The sentence sets height against depth — ἕως οὐρανοῦ, up to heaven, against ἕως ᾅδου, down to Hades — with verbs to match, ὑψωθήσῃ, be lifted up, and καταβήσῃ, go down. The first is a question, the second a statement. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂μὴ ὑψωθήσῃ⸃; ⸀καταβήσῃ· ⸀ἐγενήθησαν ⸀ἔμεινεν).
Rendering options · 2
Basis The same handling as Gehenna. The two words differ in origin and sense, so the renderings must differ for Matthew's distinction to be visible.
Basis Uses the conventional rendering.
Rejected Rendered hell, Gehenna and Hades become one word and Matthew's distinction disappears. 음부 names only Hades, but since this corpus already transliterates Gehenna there is no ground for rendering one of the pair by sense.
Lost in translation
One is a Judean place-name, the other the name of a Greek god. Transliterated, that difference of origin survives only in the sound, and why the two words differ is unavailable except through the analysis.
Why this rendering
Matt.11.29 Observation
Syntactic observation
ζυγός, yoke, and φορτίον, burden, stand in this paragraph, and Matthew uses φορτίον again at 23:4, where scribes and Pharisees bind φορτία βαρέα, heavy burdens, and lay them on people's shoulders; Luke 11:46 is the parallel and uses the same word. At 11:30 Jesus calls his own burden ἐλαφρόν, light. Within one book the same word is set as heavy burden and light burden. πραΰς has three places in Matthew (5:5, the gentle who are blessed; 11:29, I am gentle; 21:5, the gentle king on a donkey) and none in the other three books — in this corpus the word is Matthew's alone. ζυγός likewise stands only at Matthew 11:29 and 30. ἀναπαύω is worth noting too — Matthew 11:28 (I will give you rest) and 26:45 (Gethsemane, sleep on now and rest), Mark 6:31, 14:41 and Luke 12:19 share the verb. The rest promised at 11:28 arrives at 26:45 in the same word, where the disciples are asleep. ψυχαῖς is dative plural, rendered life by this corpus's fixed decision.
Rendering options · 2
Basis Matthew puts one word in both places, so the rendering is held to one; πραΰς likewise matches 5:5 and 21:5.
Basis Chooses what fits each context.
Rejected That one word is set as light burden and heavy burden is Matthew's construction. Splitting the rendering makes the two places different stories.