OET interlinear MAT 23:27

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι, ὑποκριταί! ὅτι παρομοιάζετε τάφοις κεκονιαμένοις, οἵτινες ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνονται ὡραῖοι, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ὀστέων νεκρῶν καὶ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας

woe ˱to˲_you_all scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because ˱you_all˲_/are/_being_like ˱to˲_tombs /having_been/_whitewashed which outwardly on_one_hand /are/_appearing beautiful inside on_the_other_hand ˱they˲_/are/_being_full ˱of˲_bones ˱of˲_/the/_dead and ˱of˲_all impurity

If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these sentences, since the second sentence gives the reason for the result that the first sentence describes. Alternate translation: “You, scribes and Pharisees, are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and all uncleanness. So woe to you, hypocrites!”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / simile

παρομοιάζετε τάφοις κεκονιαμένοις, οἵτινες ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνονται ὡραῖοι, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ὀστέων νεκρῶν καὶ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας

˱you_all˲_/are/_being_like ˱to˲_tombs /having_been/_whitewashed which outwardly on_one_hand /are/_appearing beautiful inside on_the_other_hand ˱they˲_/are/_being_full ˱of˲_bones ˱of˲_/the/_dead and ˱of˲_all impurity

Here, Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with whitewashed tombs. He explains the meaning of the comparison in the next verse, so you should not explain it here.

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

τάφοις κεκονιαμένοις

˱to˲_tombs /having_been/_whitewashed

In Jesus’ culture, people would paint tombs white so that they would appear beautiful to people who passed by. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: “tombs that someone has covered in white paint”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj

νεκρῶν

˱of˲_/the/_dead

Jesus is using the adjective dead as a noun to mean people who are dead. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this word with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: “of the dead people” or “of the corpses”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας

˱of˲_all impurity

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of uncleanness, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: “are very unclean”