Language-specific Insights

lame

The Greek that is translated as “lame” in English is translated in various ways:

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

The Greek that is translated “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” or similar in English is translated as

  • “receive the gift of God which is the Holy Spirit” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “God will give his Spirit to you” in Chuj
  • “God will cause his Holy Spirit to possess you” in Teutila Cuicatec
  • “the Holy Spirit will come into your souls with his power” in Desano
  • “you will receive the Holy Spirit, Father God will give you that” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “God will send the Holy Spirit to live with you” Mezquital Otomi (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “you guys will receive Great Above Ones Spirit as a gift from right where Great Above One lives” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “you will receive the Straight Spirit as a gift to you” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also Receive the Holy Spirit.

uneducated and ordinary men

The Greek that is translated as “uneducated and ordinary men” or similar in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Lalana Chinantec: “people who were not learned, humble people
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “hadn’t studied a lot but were like anybody”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “had not studied long in school, truly ordinary people, that is not officials”
  • Chuj: “they had never studied, they were plain people”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “were not from important families and didn’t know paper (= didn’t have education)”
  • Totontepec Mixe: “they talked like people who plow” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bees’ wax [i.e., ignorant], unschooled men” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “can neither read nor write nor have they have received any official schooling”

captain of the temple

The Greek that is often translated as “captain of the temple” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Desano: “captain of the temple chief of the persons who guard the big temple”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “boss of the big church of the Jews”
  • Chuj: “chief of the guards of God’s house”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “church building leader”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “boss of the soldiers of the church
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “he who is over the soldiers of the temple”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “the chief of police of the big church” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

cut to the heart, hearts were troubled

The Greek that is translated as “cut to the heart” or “hearts were troubled” or alike in English is translated as “it entered squeezing in their spirits” in Chuj. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as “their heart hurt.”

See also troubled.

anoint (chrió)

The Greek chrió that is translated as “anoint” in English is translated in Chol as “choose.” Wilbur Aulie (in The Bible Translator 1957, p. 109ff. ) explains: “Another illustration of translating a figure in a non-figurative manner is the treatment of chrió ‘anoint’. In Luke 4:18, Acts 4:27 and 10:38, and in 2 Corinthians 1:21 it is metaphorical of consecration to office by God. We translated the metaphor ‘choose’.”

Other translations include “place as Savior” in Highland Popoluca, “appoint to rule” in Coatlán Mixe, “give work to do” in Tepeuxila Cuicatec, or “give office to be our Savior” in Chuj (source of this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).

In Elhomwe it is translated as “anoint to choose and to appoint.” Note that anointing is a common practice in Malawi. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also anoint.

cast lots

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “casting” or “drawing lots” in English is often translated with a specific idiom, such as “to take out bamboo slips” — 掣 籤 chè qiān (in most Mandarin Chinese Bibles), “each to pick-up which is-written (i.e. small sticks inscribed with characters and used as slots)” (Batak Toba), a term for divination by means of reed stalks (Toraja-Sa’dan).

In some cases a cultural equivalent is not available, or it is felt to be unsuitable in this situation, e.g. in Ekari where “to spin acorns” has the connotation of gambling, one may have to state the fact without mentioning the means, e.g. “it came to him,” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel). In Shipibo-Conibo there was no equivalent for “casting lots” so the translation for Mark 15:24 is descriptive: “they shook little things to decide what each one should take” (source: Nida 1952, p. 47).

Other solutions include:

  • Purari: “throw shells” (source: David Clark)
  • Kwara’ae (in Acts 1:26) “they played something like dice to find out who of the two God chose (God revealed his will that way)” (source: Carl Gross)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “draw straws”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec “raffle”
  • Chol “choose by a game” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “threw one or two little hard things that had a sign…to see which person it would be”
  • Kekchí: “try with luck”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “there were little things they played with that made evident who it would be who would be lucky”
  • Chuj: “enter luck upon them”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “put out luck” (Source for this and five above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Lacandon: “play with small stones in order to see who was going to win” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Matumbi: mpumbe a game of chance, typically done with a stone hidden in one hand while you present two fists to a guesser (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun a term for “gambling” is used. The same Inupiatun term is also used in Esther 3:7, “though there winning and losing is not in view, but rather choosing by chance” (source: Robert Bascom)

The stand-alone term that is translated “lots” in English is translated as “two pieces of potsherd” in Highland Totonac. (Source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)