The Greek that is translated as “fire is never quenched” in English is translated in Shor as “wildfire is never quenched.” Andrei S. Desnitsky explains (in: The Bible Translator 2018, p. 233ff. ): “Hell is described as a place where ‘the fire is never quenched.’ This is easy to render in probably any language but the translators into Shor (a Turkic language spoken in south-western Siberia) noticed that the direct rendering creates a rather positive image: what a nice place it must be, warm and full of light! This connotation disappeared as soon as they replaced the word ot (fire, light) with ört (wildfire).”
Language-specific Insights
Jesus calming the sea / throat singing
The following is a representation of the story of Jesus calming the sea in Shor with traditional throat singing. The singers are Lubov Arbachakova (with no instrument) and Irena Kiskurova:
A translation of the Russian subtitles into English:
0:11 Once Jesus was at the sea with his disciples.
0:24 A multitude of people gathered, and he began to teach them.
0:36 When evening came, He said to His disciples:
0:45 “Let’s move to the other side.”
0:48 The disciples asked the people to leave,
0:56 they were all in the boat together in Jesus and set out on the other side of the sea.
1:22 Suddenly there was a strong storm.
1:30 The waves beat the boat so that it was filled with water.
1:42 And Jesus at this time slept in the stern of the boat, laying his head on the steersman’s seat.
1:58 The disciples woke him up and said:
2:08 “Teacher! Do you really care that we are dying?”
2:11 Jesus stood up, calmed the wind, and said to the sea:
2:20 «Hush, shut up!»
2:23 The wind died down, and there was a complete calm on the sea.
2:35 And Jesus rebuked the disciples:
2:46 “Why are you so timid? Do you have absolutely no faith?”
2:52 They continued sailing, and the disciples spoke to each other with fear:
3:11 “Who is He, that even the wind and the sea listen to Him?”
Video provided by Bronwen Cleaver.
See also examples of Southern Altai throat singing.