Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the first reading and psalm

• Genesis 45:1 (3, 4, 15): "Brothers," when referring to all of Joseph’s brothers at this point, has to be translated as “younger brothers and older brothers” in languages that differentiate between younger and older siblings. Unlike when Joseph was still with his family and was the youngest of the brothers, Benjamin is now younger than him. When Benjamin is addressed by Joseph in Genesis 45:12, the term for “younger brother” is used. An example of a language that does that is Naro of Botswana.
• Genesis 45:1: "Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brothers” -- artwork by Sister Marie Claire (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India in a classical Indian style.
• Genesis 45:3: "Still alive" is translated in Japanese as “doing well” combined with a respectful prefix that communicates the respect that Joseph shows has to his father.
• Genesis 45:6: Complete verse in Newari (Nepal): "The famine has been in the land since two years ago, and no planting or harvesting will take place for another five years.”
• Genesis 45:7: “To preserve for you a remnant on earth” is literally “to establish for you a remainder on earth.” “Remnant” translates a noun related to a verb meaning to be left over or to remain after something has destroyed the rest. The ones left over (from the destructive famine) in this case are people of the future who will be born to individuals like the brothers; therefore the sense is “descendants.” (from the “Translation commentary on Genesis 45:7”)
• Genesis 45:7: “Kiss” is translated in Balanta-Kentohe (Guinea-Bissau) and Mandinka (Senegal) as “cheek-touching” and in San Blas Kuna (Colombia) as “smell the face.” Also many other translations from languages where kissing is not the norm.

• Psalm 133:1: Video-based resources for Psalm 133 by Scriptura. The first video is an overview and the second an introduction into the exegesis of Psalm 133.
• Psalm 133:2: “Aaron” is translated in Catalan Sign Language and Spanish Sign Language as “stones on chest plate” (see Exodus 28:15ff.). This opens a deeper understanding of the line “running down over the collar of his robes.” To the user of these sign languages the oil runs down Aaron’s robe and around the stones on the chest plate that represent the 12 tribes of Israel.
• Psalm 133:3: “The dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion” is translated in Chadian Arabic as “dew which falls on Hermon and the mountains of Zion.” This reflects the “Translation commentary on Psalm 133:3“ that says that “the figure of the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion can hardly be taken literally, given the great distance between Mount Hermon, in Syria, and Mount Zion (some 200 kilometers).” What this image does represent, though, is the whole of Israel, from the very north to the south.

Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the second reading

• Romans 11:1: “Abraham” is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language, with a sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12). Vietnamese Sign Language is an exception to this. Here it is translated with a sign that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see Abram). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own.
• Romans 11:29: The word rendered “irrevocable” by some translations basically means “without change of mind or heart.” It is used in this sense in 2 Corinthians 7:10, its only other occurrence in the New Testament. (See “Translation commentary on Romans 11:29”)
• Romans 11:29: Complete verse in Kankanaey (Philippines): “Because it’s not possible for God to change his mind concerning whom he has called and the blessings he has given.”
• Romans 11:30: “Disobedience” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec (Mexico) as “thing intentionally not understanding.”
• Romans 11:30: “Mercy”: The English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid.” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan, Friulian) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.” Amganad Ifugao (Philippines) has “what arises from a kind heart” and Shilluk (Sudan) “cry continually within.”
• Romans 11:30: Complete verse in Uma (Indonesia): “Long ago you did not submit to God. But at this time you have obtained God’s love, because of the rebelling of the Jews.”
• Romans 11:31: Complete verse in Uma (Indonesia): “Thus also the Jews. At this time the Jews are rebelling/rejecting so that God’s love arrives to you. But they as well will obtain God’s love, the same as you.”
• Romans 11:32: Complete verse in Western Bukidnon Manobo (Philippines): “As for God, He has shown that every human being is disobedient and worthy of being punished. He has shown this so that by means of this it might be possible also that He can pity everyone.”

Follow the links below to find a selection of message illustrations for the Gospel

• Matthew 15:11: Complete verse in Tagbanwa (Philippines): “It’s not what goes into the mouth of a person which causes him to be disgusting in the sight of God, but on the contrary the evil words which come out of his mouth.'” In Tenango Otomi (Mexico) it is: “Concerning the person who commits sin, it is not because of what he eats that he sins. That which makes a person sin is the evil word which comes from the person’s mouth.”
• Matthew 15:12: “Offend” means “to cause to stumble by putting some impediment in the way” in the original Greek (skandalizó). In Highland Totonac (Mexico) it is similarly translated as “to show the wrong road to.” In San Blas Kuna (Panama) it is “spoil the heart” and in Cherokee (USA) “trip someone up.”
• Matthew 15:12: “Pharisees” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully. Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law.” Scot McKnight in his English translation of the New Testament uses “Observant.” He explains: “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
• Matthew 15:13: Complete verse in Tenango Otomi (Mexico) “When Jesus replied, he said: ‘Concerning the people who are not in the hand of God, my Father in heaven will remove them from his people.”
• Matthew 15:13: “Every plant … will be rooted up” is a literal translation of the Greek text. The figure of a plant as a symbol for God’s true people has its background in Isaiah 60:21 and was used widely among the Jews, including the sect at Qumran. Jesus could not have made a stronger attack on the Pharisees than to accuse them of not being the true vine which God had planted. (See “Translation commentary on Matthew 15:13”)
• Matthew 15:14: The now commonly-used English idiom “the blind lead the blind” (as in when an inexperienced person is guiding someone a person who is equally inexperienced) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale (in the spelling “the blynde leede the blynde”).
• Matthew 15:18: Complete verse in Uma (Indonesia): “But evil words that appear from in our hearts, and that are uttered by our lips, that is what makes-evil people in the sight of God.” Yakan (Philippines): “But what comes out of the mouth of a person comes out of his liver, and that is what makes a person ritually-unclean.” Western Bukidnon Manobo (Philippines): “But the bad words which come out of the mouth of a person, they come from his breath, and this is the thing that really displeases God.”
• Matthew 15:21: Matthew 15:21-28 in Mexican Sign Language (and many other sign languages). This is a great example of a sign language translation that discloses emotive content not readily accessible in textual translation. At time stamp 2:44 Jesus responds to the woman (back-translation: “Jesus looked at her (with admiration and told her) ‘Woman, (you have) great faith! You asked me, and I have done it.’”) and displays a level of admiration and compassion that is difficult to put into words. You can also read the Christianity Today article Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians that addresses that very translation.
• Matthew 15:22: “Possessed by a demon” is translated in Matumbi (Tanzania) as “being drunk with a demon” and in Cherokee (USA) as “having something alive inside.”
• Matthew 15:24: “Lost” is translated in Mairasi (Papua New Guinea) as “their faces lengthened.”
• Matthew 15:26: “Dog” is translated by Sarah Ruden in her New Testament translation as “little doggy,” She explains “In the entire Greek Bible, only two passages use this diminutive (kunarion) of the word for ‘dog,’ a rare and largely comical word. This word choice weakens the usual sense of dogs as dirty and uncivilized and excluded from the home, much less from the table that symbolized God’s providential bounty.”
• Matthew 15:28: “You have great faith” is translated in Meyah Indonesia) as “your liver truly follows me.” The liver is seen as the seat of emotions in many cultures.