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OET (OET-LV) Therefore whoever will_be_humbling himself as the this little_child, this one is the greater in the kingdom of_the heavens.
OET (OET-RV) so anyone who humbles themself like this small child is greater in the heavenly kingdom.
Jesus’ disciples were sometimes concerned about their own reputations. They were also concerned about what their roles would be in the kingdom that Jesus announced. In this section, they asked Jesus directly about this concern. (The parallel passage in Mark 9:34 shows that the twelve disciples were arguing among themselves about which one of them would be the greatest in God’s kingdom.) Jesus answered them in a way that showed that the greatest person in the kingdom was not whom they thought. Jesus told them that the greatest person in the kingdom is the person who humbles himself and becomes like a child.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (NIV)
Who is the greatest?
There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 9:33–37 and Luke 9:46–48.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child
Therefore, anyone who lowers himself like this child
So, the person who makes himself low/small to become low like this child,
Therefore: In Greek, this verse is connected to the previous verse with a conjunction that usually introduces a conclusion. Here, the BSB translates this word as Therefore.
Here is another way to introduce this verse:
And so (NJB)
whoever: This word is an indefinite word that refers to any person.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
anyone who (NLT)
the person who
humbles himself: In this context, the verb humbles refers to an action that causes someone to lose status. The person goes from a high position to a low one.
The pronoun himself indicates that the person causes his own loss of status.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
lowers himself
makes himself low/small in name
abandons making himself great
like this little child: There is some implied information here. If the implicit information is included, it will say:
and becomes like this child is humble
Be careful that your translation does not imply “like this child humbles himself.” The child was already humble.
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
is the most important person in God’s kingdom”
this person has the biggest name/status under God’s rule”
In Greek, 18:4b begins with a pronoun that can be translated as “this one.” The BSB does not translate this word. But in some languages, it will be more natural to include this word.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
you (CEV)
he (RSV)
this person
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven: Here Jesus answered the disciples’ question using the same words that they used in 18:1b. You should translate these words here as you did there.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
οὖν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅστις Οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτόν ὡς τό παιδίον τοῦτο οὗτος ἐστίν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ Βασιλείᾳ τῶν Οὐρανῶν)
Here, the word Therefore introduces Jesus’ application of what he said in [18:3](../18/03.md) to what the disciples asked him about who was the greatest. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces this kind of application. Alternate translation: [Here is what that means:] or [Consequently]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
ἑαυτὸν & οὗτός
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅστις Οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτόν ὡς τό παιδίον τοῦτο οὗτος ἐστίν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ Βασιλείᾳ τῶν Οὐρανῶν)
Although the terms himself and he are masculine, Jesus is using the words in a generic sense that includes both men and women. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a phrase that makes this clear. Alternate translation: [himself or herself … that person] or [himself or herself … he or she]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
ταπεινώσει ἑαυτὸν ὡς τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο
˓will_be˒_humbling (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅστις Οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτόν ὡς τό παιδίον τοῦτο οὗτος ἐστίν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ Βασιλείᾳ τῶν Οὐρανῶν)
Jesus is saying that people should humble themselves like this little child because the little child is humble. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state that explicitly. Alternate translation: [will make himself as humble as this little child is humble] or [will humble himself with the result that he is as humble as this little child]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅστις Οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτόν ὡς τό παιδίον τοῦτο οὗτος ἐστίν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ Βασιλείᾳ τῶν Οὐρανῶν)
Here, the phrase this little child refers back to the child whom Jesus set in their midst (see [18:2](../18/02.md)). You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [this little child who is in our midst] or [this little child whom I summoned]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
ὁ μείζων
the greater
Jesus is using the adjective greatest as a noun to mean the greatest person. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this word with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: [the greatest person]
OET (OET-LV) Therefore whoever will_be_humbling himself as the this little_child, this one is the greater in the kingdom of_the heavens.
OET (OET-RV) so anyone who humbles themself like this small child is greater in the heavenly kingdom.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.