The Greek in Acts 1:8 that is translated in English as “to the ends of the earth” or similar is translated in Enlhet as “everywhere” because it would have had negative spiritual implication in the worldview of the native language speakers if translated more literally. (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
The Greek that is translated as “room upstairs” of “upper room” in English is translated in a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, with bala-xāna, “small room” of “children’s room.” “It is safe to say that the cultural structure of the Uighurs influenced the choice of this word for the translation. At the time of the translation, the attic room commonly used by the Uighurs living in East Turkistan was known as “bala-khana”, due to its smaller size compared to other rooms. Therefore, it is understood that the translators translated the source text by considering word choices such as this that would help society understand the text better. This choice of the translators can again be explained by the concept of cultural equivalents.” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. )
Isthmus Mixe: “the top floor of a more than one story house” (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“house of God where they kept the stones on which were written the commandments of God” in Morelos Nahuatl
“small holy house which was of the skins of animals, in it were the stones which contained the ten commandments” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
“church inside which the slates on which God’s law was written were kept” in Teutila Cuicatec (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
“Tent of meeting God” in Nigerian Fulfulde (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
“the tent of the testimony showing that God is present” in Elhomwe (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
“God’s shelter together with the box of the law which confirmed his talk” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
“Great Above One’s Cloth House” in Mairiasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
The Greek in Acts 1:8 that is translated “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” in English is translated as “when God’s Holy Spirit descends and possesses you” in Teutila Cuicatec. (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in Acts 16:19 that is translated as “marketplace” in English is translated here in Teutila Cuicatec and San Mateo del Mar Huave as “town hall.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in Acts 1:1 that is translated “about all that Jesus began to do and teach” in English is translated as “many of the different things that Jesus did and taught” in Teutila Cuicatec. Hyperbole is not acceptable in that language. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek and Hebrew terms that are translated as “hypocrite” in English typically have a counterpart in most languages. According to Bratcher / Nida (1961, p. 225), they can be categorized into the following categories:
those which employ some concept of “two” or “double”
those which make use of some expression of “mouth” or “speaking”
those which are based upon some special cultural feature
those which employ a non-metaphorical phrase
Following is a list of (back-) translations from some languages:
Mazahua: “have a swollen mouth” (from too much speaking)
Tai Dam: “have a straight mouth and a crooked heart”
Kongo: “the bitterness of white” (an idiom based on the fact that white-wash looks nice but tastes bitter)
Merina Malagasy: “spread a clean carpet” (an expression used in Madagascar to describe one who covers up the dirt of an unswept floor just before the arrival of guests)
Zanaki: “those who make themselves out to be good”
Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “those who deceive” (this and all examples above acc. to Bratcher / Nida 1961, p. 225)
Kafa: “one who makes as if his belly is clean” (source: Loren Bliese)
Bauzi: “good on top person” (source: David Briley in Kroneman (2004), p. 502)
Tibetan: kha chos pa (ཁ་ཆོས་པ།), lit. “mouth + religion + person” (used for instance in Matt. 7:5) or sgyu zog can (སྒྱུ་ཟོག་ཅན།), lit. “deception + fraud + person” (used for instance in Matt. 24:51) (source: gSungrab website )
Low German: “actor in a comedy” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
Lélé: ne kub so or “make mouth two” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Latvian term liekulis was likely coined by the Bible translation of Ernst Glück (1654–1705) in the late 17th century and is still being used today (source ).
The English version of Sarah Ruden (2021) uses “play-actor.” She explains (p. li): “A hupokrites is fundamentally an actor. The word has deep negativity in the Gospels on two counts: professional actors were not respectable people in the ancient world, and traditional Judaism did not countenance any kind of playacting. I write ‘play-actor’ throughout.”
