MAT 20:20 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=minor/spelling Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons, bowing down and asking for something from him.

UST After that, Zebedee’s wife came to Jesus with her two sons, James and John. She knelt before Jesus and asked him to do something for her.

BLB Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.

AICNT Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking something from him.

OEB Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to him with her sons, bowing to the ground, and begging a favour.

WEBBE Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling down she asked him for a favor.

LSV Then came near to Him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, prostrating and asking something from Him,

FBV Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came with her two sons to Jesus. She kneeled down before him to make a request.

TCNT Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came with her sons to Jesus, and bowing down she asked him for a favor.

T4T Then the mother of James and John brought her two sons to Jesus. She bowed down before Jesus and asked him to do her a favor.

LEB ¶ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and[fn] kneeling down she asked[fn] something from him.

20:20 *Here “and” is supplied because the participle (“kneeling down”) has been translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style

20:20 *Here the participle (“asked”) is translated as a finite verb because of English style

BBE Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, giving him worship and making a request of him.

Moff Then the mother of the sons of Zebedaeus came up to him with her sons, praying him for a favour.

Wymth Then the mother of the sons of Zabdi came to Him with her sons, and knelt before Him to make a request of Him.

ASV Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, worshipping him, and asking a certain thing of him.

DRA Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of him.

YLT Then came near to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, bowing and asking something from him,

Drby Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, doing homage, and asking something of him.

RV Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, worshipping him, and asking a certain thing of him.

SLT Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons, worshipping, and asking something of him.

Wbstr Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children, with her sons, worshiping him , and desiring a certain thing of him.

KJB-1769 ¶ Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

KJB-1611 ¶ Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children, with her sonnes, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps Then came to hym the mother of Zebedees chyldren, with her sonnes, worshyppyng hym, and desiryng a certayne thyng of hym.
(Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children, with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.)

Gnva Then came to him the mother of Zebedeus children with her sonnes, worshipping him, and desiring a certaine thing of him.
(Then came to him the mother of Zebedee children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. )

Cvdl Then came vnto him the mother of Zebedes childre with hir sonnes, fell downe before him, and desyred a certayne thinge of hi.
(Then came unto him the mother of Zebedes children with her sons, fell down before him, and desired a certain thing of hi.)

TNT Then came to hym the mother of zebedes chyldren with her sonnes worshippynge him and desyringe a certayne thinge of him.
(Then came to him the mother of zebedes children with her sons worshipping him and desyringe a certain thing of him. )

Wycl Thanne the modir of the sones of Zebedee cam to hym with hir sones, onourynge, and axynge sum thing of hym.
(Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, honouring, and askinge some thing of him.)

Luth Da trat zu ihm die Mutter der Kinder des Zebedäus mit ihren Söhnen, fiel vor ihm nieder und bat etwas von ihm.
(So stepped to/for him the mother the/of_the children the Zebedäus with your(pl) sons, fell before/in_front_of him low/lowly and asked something from him.)

ClVg Tunc accessit ad eum mater filiorum Zebedæi cum filiis suis, adorans et petens aliquid ab eo.[fn]
(Then came to him mother of_children Zebedæi when/with to_the_children to_his_own, adorans and petens something away by_him. )

20.20 Tunc accessit ad eum. Audita resurrectione putavit eum illico (immemor secundi adventus) regnaturum, et aviditate feminea præsentia cupit, immemor futurorum.

20.20 Then came to him. Hearing resurrection putavit him immediately (immemor second arrivals) kingdomsturum, and aviditate feminea presence desires, immemor future.

UGNT τότε προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῆς, προσκυνοῦσα καὶ αἰτοῦσά τι παρ’ αὐτοῦ.
(tote prosaʸlthen autōi haʸ maʸtaʸr tōn huiōn Zebedaiou meta tōn huiōn autaʸs, proskunousa kai aitousa ti par’ autou.)

SBL-GNT Τότε προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῆς προσκυνοῦσα καὶ αἰτοῦσά τι ⸀παρʼ αὐτοῦ.
(Tote prosaʸlthen autōi haʸ maʸtaʸr tōn huiōn Zebedaiou meta tōn huiōn autaʸs proskunousa kai aitousa ti ⸀parʼ autou.)

RP-GNT Τότε προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῆς, προσκυνοῦσα καὶ αἰτοῦσά τι παρ' αὐτοῦ.
(Tote prosaʸlthen autōi haʸ maʸtaʸr tōn huiōn Zebedaiou meta tōn huiōn autaʸs, proskunousa kai aitousa ti par' autou.)

TC-GNT Τότε προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῆς, προσκυνοῦσα καὶ αἰτοῦσά τι [fn]παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ.
(Tote prosaʸlthen autōi haʸ maʸtaʸr tōn huiōn Zebedaiou meta tōn huiōn autaʸs, proskunousa kai aitousa ti par autou. )

20:20 παρ ¦ απ NA TH WH

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, orange:accents differ, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 20:20–28: The mother of James and John asked Jesus for something

In this section, Jesus again dealt with the issue of who is important. In 18:1–4, the disciples had asked Jesus “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus had answered them there. Here, the mother of James and John asked Jesus to give her two sons the most important positions in his kingdom. Jesus again responded to the disciples’ concern to become important people.

Jesus said that the most important person in his kingdom is the person who behaves like a servant rather than like someone in charge. He finished by saying that he himself came to help other people rather than to ask other to help him. He showed that the values in his kingdom are different than the values here on earth.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The Request of the Mother of James and John (NRSV)

The mother of James and John asks Jesus to make her sons the most people in his kingdom

Jesus Teaches about Serving Others (NLT)

There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 10:35–45.

20:20a

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons

¶ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons.
¶ After this the wife of Zebedee and her two sons came to Jesus.

Then: This verse is the beginning of a new section. The events in this section probably occurred immediately after the events in the preceding section. The Greek introduces this story with a word that the BSB translates as Then.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Soon after that

After that

the mother of Zebedee’s sons: This woman was the mother of James and John. Her husband was Zebedee. She was probably Jesus’ aunt.The name of this woman was probably Salome (see 27:56 and Mark 15:40). It is possible she was the sister of Jesus’ mother (see John 19:25).

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the wife of Zebedee (GNT)

the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee (NLT)

The mother of James and John (CEV)

Zebedee’s sons: In this section, Matthew does not mention the names of these two sons. From 4:21, we know that their names were James and John. They were the first disciples whom Jesus called.

In some languages, it will be natural to:

Include their names in the text. For example:
James and John, the sons of Zebedee (NLT)
Add a footnote explaining who these sons were. Here is a sample footnote:
The sons of Zebedee were James and John. They were the first disciples whom Jesus called. Their mother was probably named Salome and was possibly the sister of Jesus’ mother.

with her sons: In some languages, it may be more natural to put this phrase before the verb “came.” For example:

Then the wife of Zebedee and her two sons approached Jesus.

The mother was the one who asked Jesus a question, but James and John were also there at the time. In 20:22 Jesus spoke directly to those two men.

20:20b

and knelt down to make a request of Him.

She got down on the ground before him and asked him to do something for her.
She knelt/bowed down in front of him and said to him, “Lord, I want to ask you a favor.”

and knelt down: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as knelt down is more literally “prostrating herself before him.” This indicates that the woman wanted to show Jesus great respect and honor. A person usually did that by bending over with his/her face toward the ground, or actually lying face down on the ground.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

she prostrated herself before him

bowed before him (GNT)

she put her face to the ground in front of him

she got on the ground in front of him

Even though the woman and her two sons approached Jesus, the form of this verb is feminine. This means that only the mother knelt in front of Jesus.

This same word, in the same sort of context, is in 18:26a. You should translate it the same way in both places.

to make a request of Him: This verb phrase is more literally “she asked something from him.”

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

she asked him to do something for her (NCV)

she begged him to do her a favor

In some languages, it may be more natural to translate this as direct speech. For example:

she said, “Please give me what I want.”

“Lord, I want to ask you for something.”

“Sir, I have a favor to ask you.”

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-newevent

τότε

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Τότε προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου μετά τῶν υἱῶν αὐτῆς προσκυνοῦσα καί αἰτοῦσα τὶ πάρʼ αὐτοῦ)

Here, the word Then introduces the next major event in the story. It happened sometime soon after Jesus spoke the words recorded in the previous verses. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces the next event, or you could leave Then untranslated. Alternate translation: [Soon after that,] or [After Jesus said those things,]

Note 2 topic: writing-participants

προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου

approached ˱to˲_him the mother ˱of˲_the sons ˱of˲_Zebedee

Matthew is introducing the mother of the sons of Zebedee as a new character in the story. Use a natural form in your language for introducing a new character. Alternate translation: [the mother of the sons of Zebedee was there. She approached him]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

τῶν υἱῶν Ζεβεδαίου

˱of˲_the sons ˱of˲_Zebedee

Matthew refers to James and John, who were the sons of Zebedee. You could include this information if that would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [of James and John, the sons of Zebedee,]

Note 4 topic: translate-symaction

προσκυνοῦσα

prostrating

In the woman’s culture, bowing down to a person was a way to honor a greater person. If it would be helpful in your language, you could refer to a similar action from your culture, or you could explain what bowing down means. Alternate translation: [prostrating herself] or [bowing down to him in respect]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotations

αἰτοῦσά τι παρ’ αὐτοῦ

It may be more natural in your language to have a direct quotation here. Alternate translation: [asking, “Will you please do something for me?”]

Parallel MAT 20:20

Section 20:20–28: The mother of James and John asked Jesus for something

20:20a

20:20b