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Language: English
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(The Catholic Christian Community Bible [first English edition 1997, other translations into Indonesian, Chinese, Cebuano, Chavacano, French, Ilonggo, Korean, Quechuan, Spanish, and Tagalog] “for the Christian Communities of the Third World” uses the following introduction.)
Chosen lady: this is the way John greets the community of an unknown city. The Church is chosen and holy, just as the people in it are the chosen and holy ones of God.
John invites the people to have a steadfast and emphatic attitude toward those who do not accept the faith of the apostles. At the same time, he reminds them of the fundamental law for Christians; love.
To remain zealously faithful to the Truth is to love Christ who entrusted this truth to us. We need the whole truth and not only what is most pleasing to people today.
Down below are the introductions in the Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Cebuano, and Spanish editions.
Hinirang na Ginang: sa ganitong paraan binabati ni Juan ang pamayanan ng hindi nakikilalang lunsod. Hinirang at banal ang Iglesya tulad din ng mga tao roon na hinirang at ang mga banal ng Diyos.
Inaanyayahan ni Juan ang mga tao na magkaroon ng matatag at mariing aktitud sa mga hindi tumatanggap sa pananampalataya ng mga apostol. Gayundin naman, ipinagugunita niya ang pangunahing kautusan para sa mga Kristiyano: pag-ibig.
Kay Kristo tayo umiibig sa patuloy na katapatan natin sa katotohanang ipinagkatiwala niya sa atin. Dapat tayong maglingkod sa mga taong nangangailangan ng buong katotohanan, at hindi lamang ’yong kasiya-siya sa mga tao ngayon.
Translation: Cebuano
“Ang piniling Babaye”: paagi kini ni Juan pagtimbaya sa katilingban sa wala hiilhing syudad. Ang Simbahan pinili ug balaan, sama ra nga ang katawhan ini pinili ug gibalaan sa Diyos.
Si Juan nagdapit sa katawhan sa pag-angkon sa lig-on ug bug-at nga kinaiya alang sa wala modawat sa pagtoo sa apostoles. Sa samang higayon gipahinumdoman sila sa batakang balaod sa Kristyanos: ang gugma.
Ang pagpabiling mahinangpon nga matoohon sa Kamatuoran mao ang paghigugma ni Cristo nga nagbilin nato ining kamatuorana, sa pag-alagad sa katawhang nagkinahanglan sa tibuok nga kamatuoran ug dili lang sa maayo alang sa mga tawo karon.
Translation: Spanish
Dama elegida, Señora. Así saluda Juan a la comunidad de alguna ciudad que desconocemos. Elegida y santa es la Iglesia, como son elegidos de Dios y santos los que la integran.
Juan invita a una actitud muy firme y tajante frente a quienes no aceptan la fe de los apóstoles. Al mismo tiempo recuerda la ley fundamental del cristiano, el amor.
Permanecer celosamente fieles a la verdad es amar a Cristo, que nos confió esta verdad; es servir a los hombres, que necesitan toda la verdad y no solamente la que más se aprecia en un momento determinado.
The now commonly-used English idiom “two are better than one” (meaning that it is easier for two people who help each other to solve a problem than it is for one person to solve a problem alone) was first coined in 1560 in the Geneva Bible. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 274)
In Russian, the expression одна голова хорошо, а две лучше (odna golova khorosho, a dve luchshe — “one head is good but two heads are better”) is very popular today as well. It is also subject to all kinds of adaptations, for example: одна голова хорошо, а с туловищем лучше (odna golova khorosho, a s tulovishchem luchshe — “one head is fine, but with the body it is better”). The initial wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 11)
For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
The now commonly-used English idiom “physician heal thyself” (meaning to attend to one’s own faults rather than pointing out the faults of others) was first coined in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 287)
In Russian, the phrase врач! исцели Самого Себя (vrach! istseli Samogo Sebya) is also widely used as an idiom in every-day life. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 65.)
For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
(The Catholic Christian Community Bible [first English edition 1997, other translations into Indonesian, Chinese, Cebuano, Chavacano, French, Ilonggo, Korean, Quechuan, Spanish, and Tagalog] “for the Christian Communities of the Third World” uses the following introduction.)
The Book of Tobit is one of the later books of the Scriptures. It goes back two centuries before the Common Era. The original text, written in Aramaic, became lost but it had been translated into Greek.
In the last two centuries before Jesus, the dispersed Jews among the nations grew to be much more numerous than those who were living in Palestine. Even when living in foreign countries, far from the Promised Land, was considered a disgrace, they were doing quite well. Just as it would be the case later in the Christian world, many in the Jewish world discovered the benefits of that new vocation as minorities in the pagan world and to be the witnesses of divine revelation in the world. The families who wanted to remain faithful in their observance of the law were relying on their communities where the synagogue weekly worship was celebrated with reading the Scripture together.
However, they were aware that for the most part, the future of Judaism depended on the families’ transmission of their identity as people of God. It was necessary to prevent the Jews from intermingling with the people who surrounded them and to keep them from forgetting their vocation. In particular, the father of the family was to bear witness to the faith that he lived each day.
The author of the Book of Tobit wanted to provide the Jews with a model. To write his story, he took his inspiration from a story of “The Grateful Dead.” A generous man had discovered an unburied corpse and he had buried it with dignity. Later on, in the course of a journey, a stranger approached him, started to walk with him and he freed him from various dangers. When this generous man wanted to compensate him, the stranger revealed to him that he was the dead man whom he had buried and then he disappeared.
The author of the Book of Tobit used this plot and he introduced the angel… The old story of Tobit has not lost its value at a time when many Christians do not know anything about the path that Jesus proclaimed to us. We have relied too much on “the Church,” on the catechism being taught by priests, and very often, parents are not able to transmit the word of God.
El libro de Tobías es uno de los libros tardíos de la Biblia. Data de dos siglos antes de nuestra era. El original, que estaba escrito en arameo, se perdió; pero había sido traducido al griego.
En los dos últimos siglos antes de Jesús, los judíos dispersos entre las naciones llegaron a ser mucho más numerosos que los que vivían en Palestina. Aun cuando se considerara como una desgracia vivir en países extranjeros, lejos de la Tierra Prometida, no les iba tan mal. Muchos en el mundo judío, tal como ocurrirá más tarde en el mundo cristiano, descubrieron los beneficios de esa nueva vocación: vivir como minorías en el mundo pagano, ser testigos en el mundo de la revelación divina. Las familias que querían mantenerse fieles en la observancia de la Ley, se apoyaban en sus comunidades donde se celebraba el culto semanal de la sinagoga con la lectura en común de la Escritura.
Se daban cuenta sin embargo que el porvenir del judaísmo dependía en gran parte de la transmisión por la familia de su identidad como pueblo de Dios. Era preciso evitar que los judíos se mezclaran con los pueblos que los rodeaban y se olvidaran de su vocación. El padre de familia, en especial, debía dar testimonio de su fe vivida en lo cotiidiano.
El autor del libro de Tobías quiso darles un modelo. Para componer su historia, se inspiró en un cuento de la época llamado: “El muerto agradecido”. Un hombre generoso descubre un cadáver sin sepultura y lo entierra dignamente. Más tarde, durante un viaje, se le acerca un desconocido, se pone a caminar con él, le libra de varios peligros y, cuando quiere recompensarlo, el desconocido, antes de desaparecer, le revela que él era el muerto al que había dado sepultura.
El autor del libro de Tobías se aprovechó de esta trama, introdujo el ángel... La vieja historia de Tobías no ha perdido su valor en un tiempo en que muchos cristianos no saben nada del camino que Jesús nos anunció. Se ha confiado demasiado en “la Iglesia”, en el catecismo impartido por el sacerdote, y los padres, muy a menudo, no son capaces de transmitir la palabra de Dios.
(The Catholic Christian Community Bible [first English edition 1997, other translations into Indonesian, Chinese, Cebuano, Chavacano, French, Ilonggo, Korean, Quechuan, Spanish, and Tagalog] “for the Christian Communities of the Third World” uses the following introduction.)
Luke, a Syrian doctor, was converted to Christianity when the first missionaries left the Jerusalem and Caesarea communities to take the Gospel beyond the borders of the Jewish country. Luke then left his homeland to accompany the Apostle Paul.
He arrived in Rome, the capital of the then known world, where he stayed for at least two years. There he met Peter and Mark who were preaching among the Christians in Rome.
When he wrote his Gospel, various texts containing deeds and miracles of Jesus were available to him, the same texts which Mark and Matthew had used. In his travels, he had also picked up other stories that came from Jesus’ first disciples. These stories were preserved in the oldest churches of Jerusalem and Caesarea.
On this we have the witness of his first paragraph (1:1-4): he was concerned with finding the testimonies of the first ministers of the Word, this is the apostles.
Then it would be wrong to think that Luke wrote long after the events, as some people say, and elaborates on things he doesn’t know. Though the last corrections to his gospel were done about the year 70, the bulk is much older. This is the case specially for the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel telling us about Jesus’ infancy. They are the translations almost word to the word of a Hebrew or Aramaic writing from the first Christian generation based on information which his mother Mary must have supplied.
Luke’s cultural background was Greek and he was writing for Greek people. He omitted several Marcan details, dealing with Jewish laws and customs which would have been hard for his readers to understand.
Luke saw in the Gospel the power reconciling people with God and with one another. Therefore, he was concerned about giving us the parables of mercy and the words condemning money — a divisive factor between people. Likewise, Luke showed the very natural way Jesus treated women, who were completely marginalized by the world.
The Gospel of Luke has three sections (see Introduction to the New Testament):
– Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, 3:1–9:56;
– the journey to Jerusalem, 9:57–18:17;
– the arrival in Jerusalem and the passion, 18:18–23.
The last chapter on the apparitions of the risen Jesus will serve as an invitation to read the Book of Acts, which is a continuation of Luke’s Gospel.
Down below are the introductions in the Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Cebuano, and Spanish editions.
Naging Kristiyano si Lucas na isang doktor na taga-Siria nang magpadala ang mga pamayanan ng Jerusalem at Cesarea ng mga unang misyonero para ihatid ang Ebanghelyo sa labas ng lupain ng mga Judio. Hindi nagtagal, nilisan niya ang bayang sinilangan para sumama kay apostol Pablo.
Nakarating siya sa Roma, ang kapitolyo ng mundo noon. Mga dalawang taon siya roon at nakilala niya sina Pedro at Marcos na nangangaral sa mga Kristiyano sa Roma.
Sa pagsulat ng kanyang ebanghelyo, mga taong 70 noon, pinagbatayan niya ang iba’t ibang tekstong naglalaman ng mga gawa at himala ni Jesus na ginamit din nina Marcos at Mateo. Nakatulong din sa kanya ang iba pang mga kuwentong galing sa mga unang alagad ni Jesus na iningatan ng mga kauna-unahang Iglesya ng Jerusalem at Cesarea. Nalaman niya sa kanyang mga paglalakbay ang mga ito.
Sa mga ito hinango ni Lucas ang unang dalawang kabanata ng kanyang Ebanghelyo na nagsasalaysay ng kamusmusan ni Jesus. Hindi malayong si Maria mismo na ina ni Jesus ang nagbigay ng mga impormasyon ng nasabing mga kuwento.
Laki sa kulturang Griyego si Lucas at nagsulat siya para sa mga Griyego. Kaya naman di niya inuulit ang ilang detalyeng binabanggit ni Marcos tungkol sa mga batas at mga kaugaliang Judio na hindi gaanong maiintindihan ng kanyang mga mambabasang Griyego.
Nakita ni Lucas sa ebanghelyo ang kapangyarihang muling nagbubuklod sa mga tao at sa Diyos, at sa mga tao sa isa’t isa. Kaya binigyang-diin niya na maihatid sa atin ang mga talinhaga ng awa at ang mga salitang laban sa pera na dahilan ng pagkakawatak-watak ng mga tao. Ipinakita rin ni Lucas ang makataong pakikitungo ni Jesus sa mga babae na lubhang binabale-wala noon.
Translation: Cebuano
Si Lucas mananambal nga Sirio. Nakristyano siya sa pagbiya sa Jerusalem ug Caesarea sa unang mga misyonaryo aron pagsangyaw sa Ebanghelyo latas sa mga utlanan sa nasod sa mga Judio. Sukad adto, mibiya siya sa ila ug miuban ni Pablo, ang Apostol.
Miabot siya sa Roma, ang naila kaniadto nga ulohang syudad sa kalibotan, ug mipuyo didto mga duha ka tuig. Gikahinagbo niya didto si Pedro ug Marcos nga ining panahona, nagwali sa mga kristyano sa Roma.
Sa pagsulat niya sa Ebanghelyo, duna nay mga sinulat bahin sa mga buhat ug mga milagro ni Jesus nga iyang magamit nga gigamit sab ni Marcos ug Mateo. Apan sa iyang mga panaw, nakapanghagdaw pod siyag ubang istorya gikan sa unang mga tinun-an ni Jesus. Kining mga istoryaha hinipos gikan sa karaan na kaayong mga simbahan sa Jerusalem ug Caesarea.
Ingon ini ang unang duha ka ulohan sa Ebanghelyo ni Lucas nga naghisgot sa pagkatawo ni Jesus, nga tingali naggikan sa mga taho ni Maria mismo, ang inahan ni Jesus.
Si Lucas nagtubo sa Griyegong kultura ug nagsulat alang sa mga Griyego. Wala niya ilakip ang pipila ka detalye sa Ebanghelyo ni Marcos, labi na ang naghisgot sa mga balaod ug kostumbre sa mga Judio nga lisod sabton sa iyang magbabasa.
Sa Ebanghelyo nakita ni Lucas ang gahom sa pagpasig-uli sa katawhan ngadto sa Diyos ug sa usag usa. Mao nga gihatagan niyag gibug-aton ang mga sambingay sa pasaylo ug kaluoy. Gipanghimaraot niya ang salapi nga hinungdan sa pagkabahinbahin sa katawhan. Sa samang pagkaagi, gipakita ni Lucas ang talagsaong pagtagad nga gihatag ni Jesus sa kababayen-an, sa mga kabos ug sa tanang sinalikway sa kalibotan.
Translation: Spanish
El tercer Evangelio es obra de un discípulo de Pablo, un médico (Col 4,14) probablemente de origen sirio, que acompañó a Pablo en sus misiones (He 16,10). Tal vez fue en Grecia donde redactó su Evangelio y el libro de los Hechos. Para él eran dos partes de una misma obra, y tal vez tanto la una como la otra fueron terminadas el año 63 o 64.
Lucas conservó los dos grandes bloques de la catequesis primitiva de la Iglesia, que también conservó el Evangelio de Marcos: la actividad de Jesús en Galilea y sus últimos días en Jerusalén; pero insertó entre medio el contenido de otro documento que contenía muchos discursos de Jesús. Los colocó durante la subida de Jesús de Galilea a Jerusalén, para mostrar que la vida cristiana se desarrolla bajo el signo de la cruz.
Otro documento le proporcionó el contenido de sus dos primeros capítulos, consagrados a la infancia de Jesús. Tal documento conservaba el testimonio de la comunidad primitiva, de la que formaba parte María. Esos dos capítulos otorgan de partida al Evangelio de Lucas su carácter propio; si hubiera que caracterizarlo en pocas palabras, se podrían citar estas líneas que se leen en las Cartas pastorales:
“Acaba de manifestarse la bondad de Dios, nuestro Salvador, y su amor a los hombres... Él quiere que todos los hombres se salven y lleguen al conocimiento de la verdad” (Ti 2,11 y 1Tim 2,3).
Lucas se propuso manifestar ante todo la incomprensible “humanidad” de Dios que Jesús vino a revelarnos, y con esta convicción nos dio un evangelio que es el más humano de los cuatro. Se notará, por ejemplo, el cuidado que puso para recordar la actitud de Jesús con respecto a las mujeres: no compartió el prejuicio universal que las discriminaba.
Lucas recibió mucho de su maestro Pablo; puso de relieve las palabras de Jesús que recuerdan que la salvación es siempre y ante todo, no la recompensa por nuestros méritos, sino un don personal de Dios. Por eso quiso salvar las parábolas del capítulo 15 que ilustran la tan asombrosa misericordia de Dios
Después del evangelio de la infancia (1–2) se notan tres secciones:
– El ministerio de Jesús en Galilea: 3,1–9,56
– El viaje a Jerusalén atravesando Samaria: 9,57–18,17
– Los acontecimientos de Jerusalén: 18,18–23.
El último capítulo sobre las apariciones de Jesús es como una invitación a leer el libro de los Hechos, que es la continuación del Evangelio de Lucas.
The Hebrew in Hosea 5:2 that is translated in various ways in English translations (see here ), including “sin,” “slaughter,” “deceitfulness,” “rebel,” and “Shittim” as a place name (see Numbers 25:1, 33:49, Joshua 2:21, 3:1, Joel 3:18, and Micah 6:5 for other references to the place name), is translated by the Good News Translation and the New Living Translation as “Acacia City (or: Valley).” “Shittim” is a word for the Acacia tree and the translators chose “Acacia” since “Shittim,” especially as part of “pit dug deep in Shittim” or similar resembles a rude expression in English, especially when read aloud. (Source: de Blois / Dorn / van Steenbergen / Thompson, 2020)
The now commonly-used English idiom “sheep’s clothing” (meaning a person pretending to be harmless) was made popular in 1526 in the English New Testament translation of William Tyndale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 280)
In Russian, this phrase (Если слепой ведет слепого — Yesli slepoy vedet slepogo) is also widely used as an idiom. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 12)
In Latvian, the phrase vilks avju drēbēs or “wolf in sheep’s clothing” has become part of the standard lexicon, going back to the 1682 New Testament translation by Ernst Glück (source: Pēteris Vanags in Glück’s landmark translation of the Bible into Latvian ).
The Hebrew in Job 42:6 is translated in the English translation by E.L. Greenstein (2019) as:
That is why I am fed up;
I take pity of “dust and ashes!”
Greenstein explains this unconventional choice (p. XIXff.):
“Job’s response to the deity’s lengthy lecture on his prowess as creator and sustainer of the world — and on Job’s total lack of power and esoteric knowledge — is routinely interpreted as surrender. The verse (Job 42:6) has always stymied translators. The earliest translation, an Aramaic version found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, interprets: ‘Therefore I am poured out and boiled up, and I will become dust.’ The two verbs are parsed entirely differently from the way they are most often understood today. A typical modern translation of Job 42:6 is: ‘Therefore I despise myself (or: recant), and repent in dust and ashes.’
“The first part of this translation is a stretch, and the second part turns out, after advanced investigation, to be highly improbable. The verb in the first clause (mans’) is assumed to be transitive, in need of an object, and the translators supply that object, either explicitly or by implication. Concerning the widespread interpretation as ‘recant,’ it is an invention of the translator — no such usage is attested in ancient Hebrew. It assumes an implicit object, ‘words’ or the like, but no such expression occurs with this sense. Concerning the rendering ‘despise (myself),’ the closest phrase one can find occurs in Job 9:21: ‘I’m fed up with (despise) my life.’ However, the verb in question does not need an object. It occurs intransitively in the sense of ‘I am fed up’ in Job 7:16, where it is often rendered correctly. In other words, there is a very weak foundation in biblical parlance for the common rendering. It stems from the presumption of the translator that Job is repentant.
“The second verb phrase, ordinarily rendered ‘I repent,’ has other well-known usages. An often overlooked one is ‘to take pity, have compassion’ (for example, in Psalm 90:13). Those who translate ‘I repent’ tend to render the following words literally: ‘on dust and ashes.’ They assume that in Biblical Hebrew one can say, ‘I am doing such and such (in the present case, repenting) in / on dust and ashes.’ The assumption is false. An extensive examination of all phrases relating to performing an act in the dust, on the earth, and the like shows that another verb is required: if Job were ‘repenting’ or ‘regretting,’ he would have to be ‘sitting in / standing on / lying in / being in (and so forth) dust and ashes.’ No such complementary verb is found here. We ought therefore to adopt the same meaning for the phrase ‘dust and ashes’ here that we find in its two other occurrences, one in the haggling between Abraham and God concerning the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:27), where the patriarch humbly presents himself as no more than ‘dust and ashes,’ and the other in Job’s characterization of his abasement: ‘making me seem like dust and ashes’ (Job 30:19). The phrase is used figuratively of the wretched human condition.
“In this light, Job, in 42:6, is expressing defiance, not capitulation: ‘That is why I am fed up; I take pity on ‘dust and ashes!’ (= humanity).’ I note as well that in the preceding verses Job is mimicking the deity’s addresses to him from the storm (see there). Mimicry is the quintessence of parody. Parodic as well is Job’s assertion in 42:2: ‘you cannot be blocked from any scheme.’ Job is unmistakably alluding to the disdainful remark the deity makes about the builders of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:7: ‘they will not be blocked from anything they scheme to do.’ Consequently, Job is parodying God, not showing him respect. If God is all about power and not morality and justice, Job will not condone it through acceptance. This response may not accord with the image of a pious, Bontshe the Silent -type Job that most interpreters have wanted to find in this biblical book. However, Job’s defiance, a product of his absolute integrity, is not the only radical or surprising feature of the book in the reading presented and defended here.”
