difficult teaching, hard saying

The Greek in John 6:60 that is translated as “difficult teaching” or “hard saying” or alike in English is translated as “speaking that which is unclean” in Aguaruna, “words that hurt” in Umiray Dumaget Agta, “difficult words” in Yatzachi Zapotec, or “perplexing talk” in Alekano. (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

The English translation by Pakaluk (2021) has offensive language. He4 explains (p. 78f.): Sometimes translated as ‘This is a hard saying,’ but the word rendered ‘hard’ means dry, tough, and rough — thus, by implication, repulsive — and it is not any ‘saying’ that repels them, but the teaching itself.”

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