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For many years, English versions and Christians have commonly referred to Matthew 5–7 as “The Sermon on the Mount.” In some translations, it may be helpful to include a heading for chapters 5–7 that is on a level above the section heading for 5:1–12.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Sermon on the Mountain
The sermon that Jesus preached on a mountain
Jesus taught people on the side of a mountain/hill
There are eight “blessings” in verses 3–10. Each of the eight blessings has two parts. Each blessing starts with the words “Blessed are” and tells what kind of person is blessed. Each blessing ends with the reason why that kind of person is blessed. Each blessing is a short statement like a proverb.
Some English versions begin a new section at 5:3. One possibility is to put a general heading like “The sermon on the mountain” at 5:1 and the heading of “God blesses his people” here.
Blessed are the meek,
Fortunate/Favored are the people who are gentle,
God will bless/favor those who are humble,
Those who are not aggressive are in a favorable position.
Blessed are: For help in translating the word Blessed, see the note at 5:3a.
the meek: The Greek word that the BSB translates as meek refers to people who are gentle and humble. A person who is meek is not aggressive or quick to retaliate.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
those who are gentle (GW)
those who are humble (GNT)
those who are not aggressive
for they will inherit the earth.
because they will possess the earth.
because they will receive the whole earth.
The earth will belong to them! (CEV)
for: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as for introduces the reason that “the meek” are blessed. They are blessed because they shall inherit the earth. For example:
because the earth will belong to them (NCV)
In some languages, no conjunction is necessary here. For example:
They will inherit the earth. (GW)
In other languages, it will be more natural to put 5:5b before 5:5a. For example:
The meek will inherit the earth, so they are blessed.
they will inherit the earth: In this context, the word inherit means “possess” or “acquire.” In your translation you may want to use a more general term as well. For example:
The earth will belong to them (CEV)
they will receive the whole earth
the earth: There are two ways to interpret the phrase the earth:
It is literal and refers to the whole earth. It probably refers to the promise of the new earth (Revelation 21:1) in God’s kingdom. For example:
because the earth will belong to them (NCV) (BSB, RSV, ESV, NIV, NJB, NASB, GW, CEV, NET, JBP, REB, KJV, NCV)
It is figurative and refers to all that God has promised to his people. For example:
they will receive what God has promised (GNT) (GNT)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) and the majority of English versions.
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς ὅτι αὐτοί κληρονομήσουσιν τήν γῆν)
If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these clauses, since the second clause gives the reason for the result that the first clause describes. Alternate translation: [The meek will inherit the earth, so they are blessed]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
μακάριοι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς ὅτι αὐτοί κληρονομήσουσιν τήν γῆν)
See how you translated this phrase in [5:3](../05/03.md). Alternate translation: [God will bless] or [How good it is for]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
οἱ πραεῖς
the gentle
Jesus is using the adjective meek as a noun to mean meek people. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this word with an equivalent phrase. Alternate translation: [meek people]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
κληρονομήσουσι
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς ὅτι αὐτοί κληρονομήσουσιν τήν γῆν)
Here the author speaks as if the meek were children who would receive property from a relative. He speaks in this way to indicate that the meek will receive the earth from God. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [will receive] or [will be given]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τὴν γῆν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς ὅτι αὐτοί κληρονομήσουσιν τήν γῆν)
Here Jesus refers to the whole earth, but he implies that it will be the renewed or recreated earth. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [the renewed earth] or [the recreated earth]
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.