Language-specific Insights

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

The Greek in Acts 2:38 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.

lame

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

uneducated and ordinary men

The Greek in Acts 4:13 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”

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.

cut to the heart, hearts were troubled

The Greek in Acts 2:37 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.

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.)

vision

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek that is translated as “vision” in English is translated in a variety in the following languages:

  • Chol: “as if in a dream” (source: Robert Bascom)
  • Obolo: ilaak ọkpọchieen̄ or “dreaming awake” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “a showing like dreams”
  • Desano: “see in a dream what God will send”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “see what God shows”
  • Mayo: “see things from God as in a dream”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “dream how it is going to be”
  • Chuj: “like dreaming they see”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “understand what they see as if in a dream”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
  • Mandarin Chinese: yì xiàng (异象 / 異象), lit. “different (or: strange) appearance.” (Source: Zetzsche)

The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”

See also see a vision.