Language-specific Insights

scribe

The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”

Here are a number of its (back-) translations:

  • Yaka: “clerk in God’s house”
  • Amganad Ifugao: “man who wrote and taught in the synagogue”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “teaching-writer” (“an attempt to emphasize their dual function”)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “book-wise person”
  • San Blas Kuna: “one who knew the Jews’ ways”
  • Loma: “educated one”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “one knowing holy paper”
  • Central Mazahua: “writer of holy words”
  • Indonesian: “expert in the Torah”
  • Pamona: “man skilled in the ordinances” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Sinhala: “bearer-of-the-law”
  • Marathi: “one-learned-in-the-Scriptures”
  • Shona (1966): “expert of the law”
  • Balinese: “expert of the books of Torah”
  • Ekari: “one knowing paper/book”
  • Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “teachers of law”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “writer”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “person who teaches the law which Moses wrote”
  • Alekano: “man who knows wisdom” (source for this and four above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Saint Lucian Creole French: titcha lwa sé Jwif-la (“teacher of the law of the Jews”) (source: David Frank in Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project, 1998)
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “one who teaches the holy writings”
  • Atatláhuca Mixtec: “teacher of the words of the law”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “teacher of the religious law”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
  • Sumau: “law-knowing men” (source: this blog post by Todd Owen)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and the 1998 translation by Walter Jens: “interpreter of scriptures” (Schriftausleger)
  • English translation by Scot McKnight (The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)

enemy of all righteousness

The Greek in Acts 13:10 that is often translated as “enemy of all righteousness” in English is translated in the following ways:

See also enemy / foe.

desolating sacrilege

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “desolating sacrilege” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “a fearful and repulsive image” (source: Newari Back Translation), in Yucateco as “the hated (thing) which does terrible destruction,” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the foul object which desolates the town,” and in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “loathsome thing which destroys” (source for the last three: Bratcher / Nida).

babbler

The Greek in Acts 17:18 that is translated into English as “babbler” is translated in a number of different ways:

  • Fuyug: “birdbrain” (source: David Clark)
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “man who does not know how to close his mouth”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “much-talker man”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “loud-mouthed fellow”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “person who does nothing but talk”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “man who talks so much” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Low German: “know-it-all” (Klooksnaker) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
  • Hausa: “owner of noise” (source: Hausa Common Language Bible Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “boaster” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “guy know who talks out of his own thinking” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

For various English translations, see Translation commentary on Acts 17:18.

living oracles, living words

The Greek in Acts 7:38 that is translated as “living oracles” or “living words” or similar in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “word of God that will never finish”
  • Copainalá Zoque: “word that told us how to live”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “good words for us that we might obtain the good life”
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “words of life”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “word of God”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “the law which spoke of life” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “the indestructible words of God” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “words of good living” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “Good Message of Great Above One’s about life” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit

The Greek in Acts 2:38 that is translated “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” or similar in English is translated as

  • “receive the gift of God which is the Holy Spirit” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “God will give his Spirit to you” in Chuj
  • “God will cause his Holy Spirit to possess you” in Teutila Cuicatec
  • “the Holy Spirit will come into your souls with his power” in Desano
  • “you will receive the Holy Spirit, Father God will give you that” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
  • “God will send the Holy Spirit to live with you” Mezquital Otomi (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • “you guys will receive Great Above Ones Spirit as a gift from right where Great Above One lives” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “you will receive the Straight Spirit as a gift to you” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also Receive the Holy Spirit.

author of life

The Greek in Acts 3:15 that is translated as “author of life” in English is translated as

resurrection

The Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )

Likewise, in Matumbi yu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)

In Kalmyk and Russia Buriat it is translated as “revival” and in Tuvan as “coming back to life, reviving again.” (Source for this and one above: Alexey Somov in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 51ff. )

See also resurrect / rise again (Jesus).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Resurrection .