The Greek phrase that is translated as “keep warm” into English was translated into Kahua as “dress well” since “keep warm” sounds very strange in the permanently hot local climate.
unstable
The term that is translated as “unstable” in English is rendered into Kahua with the simile that means “like butterflies.”
jewelry
In the Kahua culture, the generic term for jewelry refers only to things worn at weddings, so the Greek phrase that is translated as “jewelry” or “gold jewelry” is translated in Kahua as earrings and clamshells worn on the arms and legs.
travel through the whole island
In Kahua, unsurprisingly for an island language, there is a basic contrast in verbs of motion between travel by land and travel by sea. In Acts 13:4 it was explicit that Barnabas and Saul “sailed” to Cyprus, but once on the island, did they travel around by sea or by land? The translators assumed that the statement that is translated into English as “traveled through the whole island” implied travel by land, and used the appropriate verb.
wandering stars
The phrase that is translated into English as “wandering stars” is translated into Kahua with the idiom for shooting stars: “droppings of stars.”
sister
The Greek term that is translated as “sister” in English is rendered “elder sister” in Kahua because the church associated with the apostle John was assumed to be senior.
in childbirth, travail
The phrase that is translated in English versions as “in travail” or “in the pain of childbirth” is rendered in Kahua as “like a woman whose back is cracking.”
worldly people
The phrase that is translated as “worldly people” or “people who are controlled by their natural desires” in English versions is translated into Kahua with the idiom that says “people who follow their noses.”