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OET (OET-LV) But if the eye of_you may_be evil, all the body of_you will_be dark.
Therefore if the light which in you is darkness, how_great is the darkness.
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
This paragraph is a complex metaphor. It uses the figures of speech of a lamp, light, darkness, the eye, and the body. Jesus used this complex metaphor to teach people that they should focus their attention on what God wanted them to do. If their spiritual eyesight was good, they would understand the danger of being distracted by earthly wealth (6:19). They would clearly see that they needed to serve God with undivided loyalty (6:24).
These verses occur with almost identical wording in Luke 11:34–35, but the context is different. Jesus used the same complex metaphor in different contexts to teach slightly different truths. However, the metaphor itself is the same, so you should translate both passages in a similar way.
Jesus used the singular form for “you” and “your” here, but what he was saying applies to anyone and everyone. In some languages, it may be more natural to use other pronouns here. For example:
22aThe eye is the lamp of a person’s body. 22bWhen a person’s eyes are good, 22chis whole body also is full of light. 23aBut when his eyes are bad, 23bhis body also is full of darkness.
22aThe eyes are the lamp of our(incl) body. 22bWhen our eyes are good, 22cour whole body also is full of light. 23aBut when our eyes are bad, 23bour body also is full of darkness.
But if your eyes are bad,
But if your eye is diseased/bad,
But if you cannot see well/clearly,
But if your eyes are weak/dim,
But if your eyes are bad: This clause means that the person’s eyes have something wrong with them, so they cannot see well. Figuratively, it means that the person has bad spiritual eyesight. He does not see/understand the truth about God and does not focus his thoughts on the truth. He has a bad attitude toward Jesus and is not willing to receive Jesus’ teaching. In the context of not storing up earthly wealth, it probably also implies that the person is selfish and is not willing to share with others.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
But if your eyes are diseased
but if you cannot see clearly/well
In some languages, it may be necessary to make the figurative meaning of bad eyes explicit. For example:
but a person who rejects my teaching is like someone with bad eyes. If your thinking is like that,
In some languages, it will be good to explain the figurative meaning of bad eyes in a footnote. A sample footnote is:
A bad eye represents a bad attitude. It represents the thinking of a person who is not willing to receive Jesus’ teaching. When such a person thinks about money, he will be selfish. He will not want to share his money with others.
your whole body will be full of darkness.
your entire body will be as if filled with darkness.
there will be darkness in/for your entire body.
your whole body/mind will be completely dark like a room where no lamp is shining/burning.
your whole body will be full of darkness: This clause means that light cannot enter the body from the eye, so the inside of the person is completely dark. Here, the meaning of this figure of speech is that the person will not understand the truth at all. He will be filled with sinfulness and evil.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
the inside of your body will be dark
there will be darkness in the whole body
it is as if your entire mind/being will be dark
In some languages, it may be necessary to make the figurative meaning of darkness explicit. For example:
you will not understand the truth at all. It will be as if your whole body is full of darkness.
If then the light within you is darkness,
So, if the light that should be in you is not there,
If that which should illuminate you does not shine,
So, if you think incorrectly that your mind is lighted/illuminated, but it is actually dark,
then: In Greek, this clause begins with a conjunction that the BSB translates as then. This conjunction introduces the results of darkness where there should be light.
Here is another way to translate this conjunction:
So if the light in you is darkness (GNT)
Some English versions do not translate this conjunction.
If…the light within you is darkness: This clause refers to the situation where the eye is supposed to bring light into the body. But if the eye is bad, then the person will be in darkness. So in the place where there should be light, there was instead darkness. This means that a person who thought that he was filled with goodness is actually filled with evil.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
if the only light you have is really darkness (NCV)
And if the light you think you have is actually darkness (NLT)
how great is that darkness!
then you are in complete darkness.”
your mind will be very dark.”
then the darkness inside you is extreme/black indeed!”
how great is that darkness!: This clause indicates that the darkness is very great. This means that you completely fail to understand the truth and that there is a lot of sin/evil in you.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
how terribly dark it will be (GNT)
then you have the worst darkness (NCV)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / youcrowd
σου & σου & σοὶ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Even though Jesus is speaking to many disciples, he is addressing an individual situation, so you and your are singular throughout this verse. But if the singular form would not be natural in your language for someone who is speaking to a group of people, you could use the plural forms of you and your in your translation.
Note 2 topic: grammar-collectivenouns
ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου & ᾖ
the eye (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
In this verse, the word eye is singular in form, but it refers to both of the person’s eyes as a group. See how you translated the similar phrase in [6:22](../06/22.md). Alternate translation: [your eyes are]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
πονηρὸς
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Here, the word evil could mean that the eye is: (1) damaged or functioning improperly. Alternate translation: [unhealthy] or [working poorly] (2) focused on what is evil or selfish. Alternate translation: [wicked] or [attentive only to yourself]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / exmetaphor
ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου σκοτεινὸν ἔσται
all (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Here Jesus speaks as if the whole body were dark. Since this statement continues to develop the idea of the lamp, you should preserve the figure of speech or use simile form. The clause could mean: (1) that the whole body is injured when the eye does not work properly. Alternate translation: [your whole body is injured, as if the eye were not shining on the whole body] (2) that an evil eye shows that the whole body is evil. Alternate translation: [that shows that your whole body is evil, as if it were dark]
Note 5 topic: translate-tense
ἔσται
will_be
Here Jesus uses the future tense to indicate that the body being dark is the logical result of the eye being evil. See how you translated the similar form in [6:22](../06/22.md). Alternate translation: [is]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
σκοτεινὸν ἔσται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Here, the phrase dark could mean that the body: (1) experiences darkness. Alternate translation: [will be darkened] (2) does not shine at all. Alternate translation: [will not shine at all]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
σκότος, ἐστίν τὸ σκότος πόσον!
darkness is darkness (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of darkness, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [is dark, how very dark it is]
Note 8 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result
οὖν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Here, the word Therefore introduces the conclusion to what Jesus has said about eyes and lamps. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces a conclusion, or you could leave Therefore untranslated. Alternate translation: [In conclusion] or [So then]
Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / exmetaphor
εἰ & τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ σκότος, ἐστίν τὸ σκότος πόσον
if & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Here Jesus concludes the figure of speech that uses lamps and light, so you should preserve the figure of speech or use simile form. The sentence could mean: (1) that when the eye does not work properly, even the most healthy parts of the body are still negatively affected. Alternate translation: [if the parts least affected by unhealthy eyes are injured, how great is the injury] (2) that when the best things about a person (his or her light) are evil (darkness), then the worst things about that person are very evil. Alternate translation: [if what is best about you is evil, as if it were darkness, how evil are the worst things about you]
Note 10 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ σκότος, ἐστίν τὸ σκότος πόσον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
Here Jesus means that what some people think of as light is actually darkness. In that case, what these people consider to be darkness is very great darkness. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [what you consider to be light is actually darkness, how dark is what you consider to be darkness] or [what you call light is darkness, how great the darkness itself]
Note 11 topic: figures-of-speech / exclamations
τὸ σκότος πόσον
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐάν Δέ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σοῦ πονηρός ᾖ ὅλον τό σῶμα σοῦ σκοτεινόν ἔσται εἰ Οὖν τό φῶς τό ἐν σοί σκότος ἐστίν τό σκότος πόσον)
This is an exclamation that is emphasizing that the darkness is very great. Use an exclamation that would communicate that meaning in your language. Alternate translation: [the darkness is very great]
OET (OET-LV) But if the eye of_you may_be evil, all the body of_you will_be dark.
Therefore if the light which in you is darkness, how_great is the darkness.
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.