OET interlinear MAT 5:46

5:46a

The Greek of 5:46a begins with a conjunction that is often translated as “for.” It introduces one basis/reason for the commands to “love your enemies” (in 5:44a) and “pray for them” (in 5:44b). We are commanded to love our enemies and pray for them for/because we will not have a reward if we pray only for those who love us.

The BSB and many English versions do not translate this conjunction. In some languages, it will not be necessary to translate this conjunction either.

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used this rhetorical question to emphasize that you should not expect a reward for loving those people who love you.

Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

  If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? (GW)

  Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? (GNT)

• As a statement. For example:

  If you love only the people who love you, you will get no reward. (NCV)

  If you only show kindness to those who are kind to you, God will not reward you.

Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.

love: See love in the note at 5:43b above.

what reward will you get: In this context, the word reward refers to a gift given for behavior that God approves of. It could be a special honor or blessing that God gives to that kind of person.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

what gift will you get

will God pay you for that

God will not do something special for you for doing that

5:46b

Do not even tax collectors do the same?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used this rhetorical question to emphasize that even the tax collectors love the people who love them. The point is that no one expected God to reward corrupt people such as tax collectors. So if Jesus’ followers expected God to reward them, they must be better than people like tax collectors.

Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

  Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? (NET)

  Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (RSV)

• As a statement. For example:

  Even the tax-collectors do as much as that. (REB)

  Even the tax collectors love those people who love them.

Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.

tax collectors: The term tax collectors refers to Jews who collected taxes from their fellow Jews. These Jews were employed by the conquering Romans to do this. The Romans did not pay them wages. Rather they allowed the tax collectors to take extra taxes as their pay. But many tax collectors took a lot extra and made themselves rich. So most Jews considered them to be traitors who worked for an oppressive foreign power They also considered them to be thieves as well. And since they had contact with the Gentile Romans, they were also considered to be religiously contaminated (“unclean”).

You may need a footnote explaining tax collectors. Here is a sample footnote:

Tax collectors were hated by their fellow Jews for three reasons:

(1) They often unjustly took extra money from people and kept it for themselves and became rich.

(2) They worked for the Roman oppressors.

(3) Because of their frequent contact with the Romans (non-Jews), they were considered to be ritually contaminated (“unclean”).

If people in your area will not think of tax collectors as bad people, you may want to include that implied information. For example:

corrupt tax collectors (NLT)

evil tax collectors

Here are some other ways to translate tax collectors:

people who collect taxes

people who gather money from other people for the government