The Greek that is translated as “warming himself at the fire” in most English translations is translated in Guhu-Samane with the idiom “he fire-cured (himself).”
Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. .
The Greek that is translated as “wineskins” in most English translations is translated in Guhu-Samane as “gourds.”
“Wineskins” caused “puzzlement [because] why would one put wine or any liquid into the skin of an animal since the skins just rot quickly? [But] it is conceded that a person wishing to store a liquid (wine or other) would not choose an old, but a new gourd. The people here are familiar with wine in the Eucharist and can readily conceive of how wine (literally ‘strong water’) could burst an old gourd and as such the argument is not lost.” (Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. .)
In Matumbi it is also translated as “gourd” (mapu’tu’), which just like wineskins become less flexible the older they are, and the verb associated with its breaking (“rip” in English) was translated as “burst.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Chukchi translating this concept presented an obstacle. Andrei S. Desnitsky explains (in: The Bible Translator 2018, p. 233ff. ): “This polysynthetic Paleo-Asiatic language is spoken by several thousand people living on the Chukotka peninsula beyond the polar circle, just opposite Alaska. Only reindeer breeding is possible there, no agriculture. (…) Needless to say, the process of fermentation is absolutely unknown to the Chukchi people. Alcoholic beverages (almost always strong) arrive in Chukotka in bottles and cause many problems for the local population, who had absolutely no experience of drinking alcohol before they met Russian and American traders. So the very idea of pouring vodka into any kind of leather sack sounds bizarre.
“Here, we managed to find a substitute. When Chukchis build a sledge, they tie wooden parts together with leather straps. For a new sledge they need to be fresh and flexible, since an old strap which has lost its elasticity would simply break and the whole construction would collapse. This was the choice we made in translating the verse into Chukchi. As for the continuation (‘no one after drinking old wine desires new wine’), the translators found another piece of leather equipment used for driving a dog sledge that is better if it is old and tested.”
The Greek that is translated into English as “vain” or “in vain” in English is (back-) translated in various ways:
“Passover” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
Many Romance languages follow the tradition from Latin that has one term for both “Easter” and “Passover” (pascha). Portuguese uses Páscoa for both, Italian uses Pascha, and French has Pâque for “Passover” and the identically pronounced Pâques for “Easter.”
In languages in francophone and lusophone (Portuguese speaking) Africa, indigenous languages typically use the Romance word for “Easter” as a loanword and often transliterate pesach/pascha. In Kinyarwanda and Rundi Pasika is used, in Swahili and Congo Swahili Pasaka, and in Lingala Pasika. In some cases, the transliteration of “Passover” is derived from the European language, such as Umbundu’s Pascoa (from Portuguese) and Bulu’s Pak (from French). In languages that use Pak or similar for both “Passover” and “Easter” (such as Adioukrou), the identical spelling “serves to reinforce the idea that this is one celebration, not two distinct ones” (source: Hill 2006).
As John Ellingworth (in The Bible Translator 1980, p 445f. ) points out “in most contexts only the presence or absence of the definite article distinguishes them [in French la pâque for Passover and Pâques for Easter]. Since most African languages do not have definite articles, there remains no way to distinguish between the two terms where the general population has borrowed the word for Easter and the Bible translators have borrowed the word for Passover to use in their translation. Some even consider the references to [Passover] before the death of Christ as prophetic!”
See also this devotion on YouVersion .
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Passover .
The Greek that is translated as “come after me” or “follow me” in English is translated in Guhu-Samane as “will tie my back.”
“Come after” caused “puzzlement [because] since to ‘come after’ means either to ‘follow’ or ‘chase’, and since the context has symbolic talk, it probably means to ‘follow’ but who can say? [But the idiom] ‘whoever will tie my back’ pictures people who, as they travel in the dark night, tie a rope from the leader to the ones following so they will not lose the trail or fall from a cliff, and although not all see the original implications, it is graphic.”
Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. .
The Greek that is translated as “justify” in English is translated into Tzotzil in two different ways. One of those is with Lec xij’ilatotic yu’un Dios ta sventa ti ta xc’ot ta o’ntonal ta xch’unel ti Jesucristoe (“we are seen well by God because of our faith in Jesus Christ”) (source: Aeilts, p. 118) and the other is “God sees as righteous” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.).
Other (back-) translations include:
The Greek and Latin that is translated as “taste death” in English is translated in Guhu-Samane as “die” because “the term suggests cannibalism to Papua New Guinea natives.”
Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. .
The Greek in James 4:7 that is translated as “submit to God” in English is translated as
See also not submit to God’s righteousness.