| BEFORE DRV | AFTER KJV, NABRE |
| 3 And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. 4 And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. | KJV: 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. NABRE: 3 When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 [d][And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” |
Why is this change important?
“Woman, what is that to me and to thee?” clearly has a different meaning than either “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” or “Woman, how does your concern affect me?”. Both the KJV and NABRE can easily be misunderstood as Jesus being disrespectful toward his mother which was impossible because he never broke any commandments including “honor your father and your mother”. The KJV and NABRE translations also undermine Mary’s great role in aiding the faithful on the path to salvation by instructing “Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye”.
Additional Notes
When Catholics are attacked for “worshipping Mary”, it has no basis in reality. All faithful Christians are instructed by her in this text to “Do whatever he tells you”. Like the queen mother in ancient Israel, she has extra power and influence with God her Son (Jesus Christ) and also with God her Spouse (the Holy Spirit) and God her Father (and ours). As an aside, in my opinion, for once there is an improvement in the text to aid modern readers: “Do whatever he tells you” is more readable than “Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.” without compromising the underlying meaning.