Language-specific Insights

enslave and maltreat

The Greek in Acts 7:6 that is translates as “enslave (them) and maltreat (them)” or similar in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Lalana Chinantec: “they will become servants of other people, servant who don’t have any pay. The other people will mistreat them”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “mistreat them and force them to work for them”
  • Desano: “they will help in the work like slaves and the people will scold them and beat them hard”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “they will be servants and have suffering”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “will take your sons to be their property and will make them suffer”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “would be made laborers by force and be mistreated”
  • Highland Popoluca: “work them hard but not pay them” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

third hour

The Greek in Acts 2:15 that is translated as “third hour (of the day)” or “nine in the morning” in English is translated in Mende as “the morning sun is only just getting strong.” (Source: John Ellington)

It is translated as “still early” in Desano, as “up-sun (9 a.m.)” in Chuj, as “still not really high sun at all” in Chichimeca-Jonaz, and as “the sun is barely gone half way to the top” in San Mateo del Mar Huave. (Source: 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.

high priest

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “high priest” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “the ruler of the priests of our nation”
  • Chol: “very great priest” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “first over the priests”
  • Desano: “chief of the priests” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).
  • Uma: “Big Priest” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “high sacrificer” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa as “Most-important Priest of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Big leader of offerings” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

In Khoekhoe the translation for “high priest” is only capitalized when it refers to Jesus (as is Hebrews 2:17 et al.). (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also priest and chief priest.

proselyte

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

  • Isthmus Mixe: “those that entered the mind of the Israelites”
  • Desano: “people who are of the same religion as the Jews”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “people who were not Jews but have come to believe as the Jewish people believe”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “those who entered the mind of the Israelites”
  • Mayo: “those who live according to Jewish custom”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “people from other nations who believe the same as those of the nation of Israel”
  • Chuj: “those who have received the religion of the Israel people”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “those who entered the religion of the Jews”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “those who worship God as the Israel people do”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “those who joined with the Jews because they went to believing like them”
  • Falam Chin: “those who entered/joined the Jews’ religious party from other tribes” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

of one heart and soul

The Greek in Acts 4:32 that is translated as “of one heart and soul” or similar in English is translated as “like one single person in their souls” in Desano and “were all one inside” in Ayutla Mixtec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

repent, repentance

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The Greek, Ge’ez, Latin and Hebrew that is often translated as “repent” or “repentance” is (back-) translated in various ways (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • Western Kanjobal: “think in the soul”
  • Kekchí: “pain in the heart”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “turn the heart”
  • Pedi: “become untwisted”
  • Baoulé: “it hurts to make you quit it” (source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 137)
  • Balinese: “putting on a new mind”
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be sorry on account of one’s sins”
  • Uab Meto: “turn the heart upside down” (source for this and the two above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Central Mazahua / Chichimeca-Jonaz: “turn back the heart” (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
  • Suki: biaekwatrudap gjaeraesae: “turn with sorrow” (source: L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )
  • Yamba and Bulu: “turn over the heart” (source: W. Reyburn in The Bible Translator 1959, p. 1ff. )
  • Chichewa: kutembenuka mtima (“to be turned around in one’s heart”) (source: Ernst Wendland in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 319ff. )
  • Caribbean Javanese: mertobat (“tired of old life”)
  • Saramaccan: bia libi ko a Massa Gadu (“turn your life to the Lord God”)
  • Sranan Tongo: drai yu libi (“turn your life”) or kenki libi (“change life”)
  • Eastern Maroon Creole: dai yu libi (“turn your life”) (source for this and 3 above: Jabini 2015)
  • Eggon: “bow in the dust” (source: Kilgour, p. 80)
  • Embu: “change heart” (“2 Cor. 7:10 says ‘For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.’ In ordinary speech the terms ‘repent’ and ‘regret’ are used interchangeably in Embu, so that this verse comes out as: ‘godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no repentance,’ which is contradictory. The problem was solved by using ‘changing heart’ in the first, and ‘sadness’ in the second.”) (source: Jan Sterk)
  • Anuak: “liver falls down”
  • Kafa: “return from way of sin to God” (source for this and the one above: Loren Bliese)
  • Latvian: atgriezties (verb) / atgriešanās (noun) (“turn around / return” — see turn around / convert) (source: Katie Roth)
  • Obolo: igwugwu ikom: “turn back (from evil)” (source: Enene Enene)
  • Mairasi: make an end (of wrongdoing) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Luchazi: ku aluluka mutima: “turn in heart” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. )
  • Chokwe: kulinkonyeka: “fold back over” or “go back on oneself” (source D.B. Long in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 135ff. ).
  • Muna: dofetompa’ao dhosa bhe dodoli ne Lahata’ala: “radically-end sin and to turn to God” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Bacama: por-njiya: “fetch sand” (“Before the coming of Christianity 100 years ago, when the elders went to pray to the gods, they would take sand and throw it over each shoulder and down their backs while confessing their sins. Covering themselves with sand was a ritual to show that they were sorry for what they had done wrong, sort of like covering oneself with sackcloth and ashes. Now idol worship for the most part is abandoned in Bacama culture, but the Christian church has retained the phrase por-njiya to mean ‘repent, doing something to show sorrow for one’s sins’” — source: David Frank in this blog post .)
  • Enlhet “exchange innermosts.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
  • San Blas Kuna: “sorry for wrong done in the heart” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Desano: “change your bad deeds for good ones”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “put your hearts and minds on the good road”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “change your thinking about evil and walk in the way of God”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “just remember that you have done wicked, in order that you might do good”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “heart-return to God” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “get on the right road”
  • Isthmus Zapotec: “heart becomes soft” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Sabaot: “give one’s neck” — relating to traditional legal proceedings where someone who is convicted of a crime kneels before the aggrieved person who can either behead the accused or completely forgive (source Danny Foster in this recording )
  • Kâte: maŋ bârisiezo or “turn the insides around” (source: Renck 1990, p. 108)
  • Tibetan: ‘gyod tshangs byed (འགྱོད་​ཚངས་​བྱེད།), lit. “regret + pure” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Merina Malagasy: fifonana, deriving from mifona “meaning ‘to completely uproot so that something new can grow’ (a term also used for the loss of a baby tooth)” (source: Brigitte Rabarijaona)

“In Tzotzil two reflexive verbs to communicate the biblical concept of repentance are used. Xca’i jba means to know or to reflect inwardly on one’s self. This self inquiry or self examination is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son where Luke 15:17 records that ‘he came to his senses.’ Broke, starving, and slopping hogs, the prodigal admitted to himself that he was in the wrong place. The second reflexive verb ‘jsutes jba’ means turning away from what one is and turning to something else. In a sense, it is deciding against one’s self and toward someone else. It is similar to the attitude of the prodigal son when he said, ‘I will get up and go to my father’ (Luke 15:18).” (source: Aeilts 2009, p. 118)

See also: convert / conversion / turn back and see Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

complete verse (Acts 3:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 3:15:

  • Uma: “You did indeed kill Yesus. But God made him live again, since after all Yesus is the one that gives good life. We (excl.) here are witnesses, because we (excl.) have seen with our eyes [emphatic] that he lives again.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You killed the one who gives life, but God caused him to be alive again and we (excl.) can testify to this.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But the source of life forever you killed, however, God raised him from the dead. We can testify that Jesus was raised from the dead because we saw him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You had-the one who gives life -killed, but God, he made-him-alive again. And we (excl.) confirm that he truly came-alive because we (excl.) saw (him).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Really back to front is what you did for, as for that Jesus, he is the source of our life, but death is what you rewarded him with. However he was made alive again by God, and we (excl.) testify to this, for after he came alive again, we (excl.) indeed saw/met him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Desano: “You asked that death be given to the one who gives life. Him God the Chief resurrected after he was dead. This we saw that it happened to him.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)