The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “neighbor” in English is rendered into Babatana as “different man,” i.e. someone who is not one of your relatives. (Source: David Clark)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun, it is rendered as “a person outside of your building,” in Tzeltal as “your back and side” (implying position of the dwellings), in Indonesian and in Tae’ as “your fellow-man,” in Toraja-Sa’dan it is “your fellow earth-dweller,” in Shona (translation of 1966) as “another person like you,” in Kekchí “younger-brother-older-brother” (a compound which means all one’s neighbors in a community) (sources: Bratcher / Nida and Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Mairasi “your people” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Mezquital Otomi as “fellow being,” in Tzeltal as “companion,” in Isthmus Zapotec as “another,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “all people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in most modern German translations as Mitmensch or “fellow human being” (lit. “with + human being”).
In Matt 19:19, Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Luke 10:29 it is translated into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that refers to a person who is socially/physically near. Ixcatlán Mazatec also has a another term for “neighbor” that means “fellow humans-outsiders” which was not chosen for these passages. (Source: Robert Bascom)
In Noongar it is translated as moorta-boordak or “people nearby” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
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.)
In Purari society everyone marries, so the question was raised why in Acts 21:9 Philip’s daughters were unmarried. The final rendering into Purari tended to imply that they were all under 18, in order to avoid the implication that they were all so undesirable that nobody wanted to marry them.
The Greek in Acts 17:18 that is translated into English as “babbler” is translated in a number of different ways:
- Fuyug: “birdbrain” (source: David Clark)
- San Mateo del Mar Huave: “man who does not know how to close his mouth”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “much-talker man”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “loud-mouthed fellow”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “person who does nothing but talk”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “man who talks so much” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Low German: “know-it-all” (Klooksnaker) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
- Hausa: “owner of noise” (source: Hausa Common Language Bible Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “boaster” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “guy know who talks out of his own thinking” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
For various English translations, see Translation commentary on Acts 17:18.
In Purari there needed to be a specification in Acts 11:5 on who lowered the sheet, so it said “four people.”
The Greek that is translated into English as “gnashed their teeth” or “ground their teeth” is translated in Pwo Karen as “their eyes were green/blue with anger” (source: David Clark), in Yao as “they had itchy teeth” (“meaning they very anxious to destroy him”) (source: Nida / Reyburn, p. 56), in Estado de México Otomi as “gnashed their teeth at him to show anger” (to specify their emotion) (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.), in Coatlán Mixe as “ground their teeth in anger like wild hogs,” in Rincón Zapotec as “showed their teeth (like a dog) because of their anger” (source for this and before: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Gullah as suck dey teet or “suck their teeth” (source: David Frank).
In the the widely-used Mandarin Chinese Union Version it is translated with an existing Chinese proverb: yǎoyá qièchǐ (咬牙切齿 / 咬牙切齒) or “gnash teeth, grind teeth.” (Source: Zetzsche)
See also gnashing of teeth and contempt / scorn / ridicule / abuse.
The Greek in Acts 7:2 that is translated as “brothers and fathers” in English is translated in various ways:
- Purari: “younger and older brothers” (source: David Clark)
- Mairasi: “fathers, friends, in-laws & all” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Bariai: “companions and elders” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Teutila Cuicatec: “all of you, officials of our nation and my brothers”
- Isthmus Mixe: “old men and brothers” (according to order of respect)
- Lalana Chinantec “companions, men”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “you men, fathers”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “you who are our relatives, and you whom I made my fathers”
- Highland Popoluca: “my older uncles”
- Rincón Zapotec: “elders and brothers” (source for this and six above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
See also brothers and fathers.
In Kahua, it was not possible to omit a grammatical object in the passive voice construct that described that the lame man was carried in Acts 3:2. The translation added the “wantoks,” i.e. people of the same language group, probably from the same village.
