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Artikel in Faszination Bibel: Übersetzungen als Prisma — Die Bibel vollständiger erfassen durch globale Einblicke

in Prisma ist ein einfacher und gleichzeitig wunderbarer Gegenstand, der das, was von uns Menschen als weißes Licht wahrgenommen wird, in den sogenannten Spektralfarben darstellt. Der Bibel ist das Wunderbare daran natürlich vertraut: Immerhin wählt Gott im Ersten Buch Mose, Kapitel 9, als Zeichen seines Bundes mit Noah und den Menschen den Regenbogen – Resultat eines ganz ähnlichen Phänomens.

Licht ist ein Thema, das in der Bibel immer wieder aufgegriffen wird, entweder als Metapher oder als eine manchmal überwältigende Realität.

Als Mose auf dem Berg Sinai in die Gegenwart Gottes kam, nahm sein Gesicht einen so strahlenden Glanz an, dass er es nach seiner Rückkehr mit einem Tuch verhüllen musste (2. Mose 34,29). Als Jesus während seiner „Verklärung“ auf dem Berg zu beten begann, veränderte sich sein Gesicht und seine Kleidung wurde „leuchtend weiß“, ähnlich vielleicht den Kleidern der Menschen, die Gott in seiner Welt anbeten und deren Kleider wurden (Offb 7,14).

Den gesamten Artikel finden Sie in der September-Ausgabe 2025 in Faszination Bibel.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Cor. 10:8)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

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Article in Baptist News Global: How to read the Bible through the eyes of thousands of languages

If you’re anything like me, you may regularly look up Scripture in more than one English translation, perhaps to get a fresh take on an otherwise familiar text, or maybe when a word in our most trusted English Bible seems strange or difficult to understand and we want to verify it in another trusted translation.

We who can read our Bibles in English are blessed with a variety of translations — many of them with very high quality standards — far beyond what readers of any other language can access. In fact, there are about 900 different translations of the whole or part of the Bible in English alone.

Even this avalanche of translations has a limitation, though, one that new translations still won’t be able to solve: these English translations are bound to the inherent constraints of our language — English.

If you have studied other languages — or if you’ve simply been exposed to other forms or dialects of English — you know there can be ways to express a certain reality, idea or feeling in one form of language that just isn’t readily available in another form of language. For example, as a parent, the British English term “dummy” felt much more appropriate and meaningful than the American English “pacifier.”

See the rest of this article right here .

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Gal. 5:5)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

“Gal. 5:5 taken out of its context might be the basis of a sermon in which speaker and audience were included in the “we wait for the hope…,’ but the context of v. 4 indicates a contrast between Paul’s message and that of the Judaizers, and thus an exclusive we.”

Source: Velma B. Pickett in The Bible Translator 1964, p. 88f.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Dan. 9:6)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai translation and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation use the exclusive form, “since this is a prayer of confession addressed to God.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Mal. 1:4)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai translation and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation use the exclusive form (excluding the Lord).

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Mal. 1:9)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai translation and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation use the inclusive form (including the priests and Israel).

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Isa. 53:6)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai translation and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation, use the inclusive pronoun (“referring to the speakers and their fellow Judeans in exile”).