Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 62:9:
- Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Ordinary people are just air;
people of high (status) are just a lie;
if they are measured on a scale they are nothing;
they together with air are nothing” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) - Newari:
“Small people are only a breath.
Great people are not what they appear to be
from the outside.
But if you weigh them they seem light,
They are lighter than two puffs of wind.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon:
“The people, honorable-(possessional) or low, can- not -be-trusted.
They both (are) just has-no value; they (are) lighter than wind.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation) - Laarim:
“People who are not important, they are just people like breath,
and people who be important, they are like a lie.
If we think about them,
they are all just people to be nothing, to be like a breath.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation) - Kwere:
“All people are like a mere breath,
everyone, old and young, they are of little value.
When they are weighed, all of them together are lighter than a breath.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) - Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Watu ni kama pumzi,
wote wa bure.
Iwapo unawapima hawana na uzito wowote,
wote kwa pamoja wepesi kuzidi pumzi.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation) - English:
“People who are considered to be unimportant are as worthless/unreliable as a breath of air;
people who are considered to be important also really amount to nothing/cannot be trusted to help us.
If you put them all on a scale, it would be as if
they weighed less than a puff of air.” (Source: Translation for Translators)