The Greek that is translated as “barley bread” (or: “barley loaf”) in English is translated in Elhomwe as “cheap bread.” Barely bread had the reputation of being cheaper than wheat (see here) and since neither barley nor its reputation are being known in Malawi, it was decided to translated explicitly.(Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
See also barley.
The Hebrew in Genesis 3:18 that is translated as “thistles” in English is translated in Elhomwe as epullathi or “bitter fruit” (which cannot be eaten). (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
See also thorns.
The Hebrew in 1 Kings 4:13 that is translated as “bronze bars” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe with “doors locked with iron bars.” Bronze is not known in Malawi. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Greek in 2 Corinthians 11:6 that is translated as “hair shaved” in English is translated in Elhomwe as “shave up the skin.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew in Genesis 4:11 that is translated as “opened its mouth to receive (your brother’s) blood” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe as “the soil drank (your brother’s) blood.” “The soil drinking blood” was a common expression during the wartime in neighboring Mozambique . (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Greek proverb in Acts 26:14 which is translated directly by some English versions as “kick against the goads (=a spiked stick used for driving cattle)” and refers to “pointless fighting” became “throw chaff into the wind” in the Khmer Standard Version translation of 2005 (the translators also considered “spit vertically upwards”). (Source David Clark)
In Lalana Chinantec it is translated as “as a bull which kicks a sharp stick which his owner holds so do you,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “you are doing the same as an ox that is hurting itself, kicking the sharp stick that people drive it with,” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac as “like a horse when it kicks the stick with which it is driven” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Elhomwe as “because you are against me, you are hurting yourself” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In Russian, the phrase Трудно тебе идти против рожна (Trudno tebe idti protiv rozhna) or “kick against the goads” is widely used as an idiom in every-day life, with the meaning of undertaking a risky action against constraint imposed by tradition or authority. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 63f.)
The Hebrew in Exodus 8:13 that is translated as “courtyards” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe as vaatte or “around the houses.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)